Johann Erdmann Hummel (Kassel 1769-1852 Berlin)
Lot 62 FROM A GERMAN PRIVATE COLLECTION

Johann Erdmann Hummel (Kassel 1769-1852 Berlin)

At the fortune teller's

Closed7 December 2016

Price Realised

GBP 11,250

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Johann Erdmann Hummel (Kassel 1769-1852 Berlin)
At the fortune teller's
with inscriptions 't' and 'Tb'
black chalk, pen and black ink, grey wash, with detailed perspective lines, watermark C & I Honig
14¼ x 16 3/8 in. (36 x 41.4 cm.)

G. Engelbrecht; Amsler & Ruthardt, Berlin, 28-9 October 1924, lot 235.
C. Heumann (L. 555b, twice and 2841a); Ketterer, Stuttgart, 29 November 1957, lot 144
Bernhard Himmelheber, and by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

This is closely related to a drawing of the same composition but without the perspective lines, apparently in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett (image in Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, no. 20007365). It appears to precede the Berlin drawing. Prof. Dr. Thimann has proposed that the drawing was made circa 1815.

Hummel was known as ‘Perspektiv-Hummel’. His paintings and drawings often demonstrate a profound interest in architecture and perspective. He taught these subjects at the Berliner Akademie from 1809 and published his theories about them in Die Freie Perspektive, from 1824/25. The artist’s skill at rendering perspective and different textures is especially clear in a series of paintings showing the Granite Dish in the Berlin Lustgarten, one of which is in the the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin (C. Keisch, The Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin, London, 2005, no. 54, ill.).


We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Michael Thimann for suggesting the attribution to Hummel and for his assistance in cataloguing this drawing.