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Source Description
Influenced by the landscapes of Claude Lorrain and seventeenth-century Dutch artists, the German Jakob Philipp Hackert was one of the most successful landscape artists based in late 18th-century Rome. His precise renderings of beautiful and historic sites attracted an international clientele on the European grand tour. This finished drawing depicts one of Italy's most spectacular natural phenomena, the Marmore waterfall at Terni, located north of Rome. Hackert carefully crafted the composition so that the detailed cliffs covered with foliage frame the tiered cascade from its soaring heights to its final emptying in the foreground. Hackert was known for traveling to the countryside on foot with large portfolios so that he could execute complete wash drawings like this one directly in nature. He probably drew this scene during one such sketching tour in 1776, or 1778.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
150986
label
The Waterfall of Marmore at Terni
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
150986
contentType
drawing
title
The Waterfall of Marmore at Terni
description
Influenced by the landscapes of Claude Lorrain and seventeenth-century Dutch artists, the German Jakob Philipp Hackert was one of the most successful landscape artists based in late 18th-century Rome. His precise renderings of beautiful and historic sites attracted an international clientele on the European grand tour. This finished drawing depicts one of Italy's most spectacular natural phenomena, the Marmore waterfall at Terni, located north of Rome. Hackert carefully crafted the composition so that the detailed cliffs covered with foliage frame the tiered cascade from its soaring heights to its final emptying in the foreground. Hackert was known for traveling to the countryside on foot with large portfolios so that he could execute complete wash drawings like this one directly in nature. He probably drew this scene during one such sketching tour in 1776, or 1778.
date
1776–78
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79934068
creators
2962
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 52.2 x 39.9 cm (20 9/16 x 15 11/16 in.)
cul
Germany, 18th century
accession
1982.4
Source extras
tec
pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, with white gouache and graphite
tombstone
The Waterfall of Marmore at Terni, 1776–78. Philipp Hackert (German, 1737–1807). Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, with white gouache and graphite; sheet: 52.2 x 39.9 cm (20 9/16 x 15 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1982.40
supportMaterials
description
cream(3) laid paper
collection
DR - German
inscriptions
inscription
on fragments of old mount, now removed, in brown ink: No. 177. 13. [crossed out] / No: 17.; in graphite: No ["o" underlined] 27.; in graphite: 116
didYouKnow
This work recalls the words written by the artist's close friend, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who declared that an artist should "give his work of art a content and a form through which it appears both natural and beyond Nature."
citations
citation
Krönig, Wolfgang. 1971. "Sepia-zeichnungen aus der Umgebung Neapels von Philipp Hackert". Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch / Hrsg. Im Auftr. Der Freunde Des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums Und Des Museums Ludwig E.V., Köln. 175-204.
page_number
p. 192.
citation
Goldfarb, Hilliard, "Defining 'Naive and Sentimental' Landscape. Schiller, Hackert, Koch, and the Romantic Experience," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982: pp. 282-296.
page_number
pp. 281, 286-88
citation
Goldfarb, Hilliard T. “Defining ‘Naive and Sentimental’ Landscape Schiller, Hackert, Koch, and the Romantic Experience.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 69, no. 9 (November 1982): 282–296.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 286, figs. 4-5, Cover
citation
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Heroismus und Idylle: Formen der Landschaft um 1800 : bei Jacob Philipp Hackert, Joseph Anton Koch und Johann Christian Reinhart : [Ausstellung]. Koln: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 1984.
page_number
pp. 98-99
citation
Nordhoff, Claudia, and Hans Reimer. Jakob Philipp Hackert, 1737-1807: Verzeichnis seiner Werke. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1994.
page_number
2:54, under no. 131, 434-35, no. 1140, 438, under no. 1150
citation
Chiarini, Paolo. Il paesaggio secondo natura: Jacob Philipp Hackert e la sua cerchia. Roma: Artemide, 1994.
page_number
p. 216, under no. 59
citation
Wilcox, Timothy. Francis Towne. London: Tate Gallery Pub, 1997.
page_number
pp. 138-38, under no. 65
citation
Weidner, Thomas, and Philipp Hackert. Jakob Philipp Hackert: Landschaftsmaler im 18. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1998.
page_number
pp. 87, 221, nos. 54, 60.
citation
Ducros, Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe, Jörg Zutter, and Pierre Chessex. Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros: un peintre suisse en Italie. Milan: Skira, 1998.
page_number
p. 44
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 64, p. 10, pp.158-59, p.292-93; Reproduced: 159
citation
Ducros, Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe, and Pierre Chessex. <em>Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros: A Swiss Painter in Italy.</em> Dublin: National Gallery of Ireland, 2003.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 37, fig. 40
citation
Ducros, Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe, and Pierre Chessex. Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros: A Swiss Painter in Italy. [Dublin]: National Gallery of Ireland, 2003.
page_number
p. 37
citation
Brilli, Attilio, Simonetta Neri, and Gabriella Tomassini. La Cascata delle Marmore: Uno scenario del Grand Tour XVII-XVIII secolo. Castello: Edimond, 2010.
page_number
p. 196
citation
Nordhoff, Claudia, "Der grosse Weg" : Jakob Philipp Hackert als Zeichner nach der Natur. Pantheon. 58 (2000): 128-137.
page_number
p. 128
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-30 11:07:34.499000
sourceId
150986
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - German
med
pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, with white gouache and graphite
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
15c0a0cd87456cc0