BP-catalogue2023#Final - Flipbook - Page 42
Elle est ensuite vendue aux enchères en 1808 par
la ville de Bâle qui était devenue peu auparavant
propriétaire du palais d’été des margraves6. Elle
est acquise peu après cette dispersion, avec une
autre miniature par Thomas Lefébure (1636-1720)
représentant Sainte Cécile, par son organisateur,
le peintre Conrad Cramm7. Les deux miniatures, de
mêmes dimensions, sont restées ensemble jusqu’à la
vente de la collection de l’affichiste et typographe
français Raymond Gid en 2022. Toutes deux étaient
encadrées de manière identique et somptueuse
au dix-neuvième siècle, probablement par son
propriétaire d’alors, le collectionneur Baron Hugo
de Bethmann.
Une miniature représentant Alexandre, Apelle et
Campaspe, qui ne se confond sans doute pas avec
la présente, fut exposée à l’exposition annuelle de
l’Académie des Beaux-Arts de Berlin en 17868. Elle
avait pour pendant un Pygmalion et Galathée. Si
aucun vélin de ce sujet n’est aujourd’hui conservé,
une gravure et une peinture sur cuivre de petites
dimensions (19,5 x 13,9 cm) en documentent la
composition9.
Born in Bern, Werner remained there until 1649,
learning his trade with his father, himself a painter.
To complete his training, he lived in Basel for a few
years, then in Frankfurt where he collaborated with
Matthaüs Merian (1621-1687). Werner was then in
Rome between 1652 and 1654. Called by Louis XIV,
he lived in Paris from 1662 to 1667. He then went
to Augsburg and Munich and probably to Vienna.
He returned to Bern in 1682 and founded an art
academy there. He then became director of the
Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. He left the
city in 1707 and died in Bern in 1710.
Although Werner produced paintings, it is above all
his miniatures that have provoked the admiration of
amateurs. About fifty of them are preserved today
and their delicate workmanship and sophisticated
compositions make them small jewels. The production
of these sheets, all without exception executed on
vellum, spans the period between 1662, the date on a
masterly self-portrait now in the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London1, and 1685, when Werner was
already in Berlin.
In this gouache, Werner depicts the moment when
Alexander, having noticed that Apelles, his favorite
artist, had fallen in love with his mistress Campaspe
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naked, gave her up to him. The artist has represented
the scene in a rich palace with a large painting of
the Three Graces and, above a richly decorated
doorframe, two antique statuettes and a painting that
appears to represent Cephalus and Procris. In the
foreground, the artist has represented his instruments,
brushes, paint boxes, paper and rags all gathered in
a crate on one side of which he has signed in capital
letters.
The present miniature has a remarkable provenance.
It is mentioned in 1688, under the number 1 (which
corresponds to the numbering visible on the back
of the drawing) in the inventory of the collections
of the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, Frederick VII
Magnus, in his palace in Basel: “ Die Historie von
Alexander Magno, welcher seine Liebste dem
Apelles vermählt, von Werner gemählt ”2. Nine other
works by Werner are mentioned: seven paintings including the Triumph of Galatea recently acquired
by the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe -, one miniature (Diana
bathing3) and one engraving - a copy of the
allegorical portrait made on the occasion of the
death of Frederick VI, the predecessor of Frederick
Magnus4. The present miniature is again described
in an inventory of the margrave’s possessions drawn
up in 1736: “ Die Historie von Alexander Magnus, der
seine Maitresse dem Apelles überläßt, in Miniatur,
von Werner ”5.)
It was subsequently sold at auction in 1808 by the city
of Basel, which had shortly before become the owner
of the margraves’ summer palace6. Shortly after the
sale, it was acquired by its organizer, the painter
Conrad Cramm7, together with another miniature by
Thomas Lefébure (1636-1720) depicting St. Cecilia.
The two miniatures, bearing the same dimensions,
remained together until the sale of the collection of
the French poster artist Raymond Gid in 2022. Both
were identically and lavishly framed in the nineteenth
century, probably by its then owner, the collector
Baron Hugo de Bethmann.
A miniature depicting Alexander, Apelles and
Campaspe, which is probably not the same as the
present one, was exhibited at the annual exhibition
of the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin in 17868. Its
pendant was a Pygmalion and Galatea. Although no
vellum of this subject is known today, an engraving
and a small copper painting (19.5 x 13.9 cm)
document its composition9.
H. Vey, op. cit., 2002, pp. 12, 14-16.
C. Roth, op. cit., 1912, p. 245.
8
J. Glaesemer, op. cit., 1974, p. 226 n° 222.
9
J. Glaesemer, op. cit., 1974, p. 218 n° 169 (gravure) et vente Sotheby’s, New York, 28 janvier 2010, lot 281a (cuivre).
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