COPIA OMAGGIO • COMPLIMENTARY COPY EDIZIONI PRC

[Arte]
the si rende conto che “Il Giardino inglese
di Caserta” del 1792
la carta vincente è il
e, a destra,
“L’eruzione del Vesuvio”
suo talento artistico. (particolare) del 1774.
«Attende senza tregua The English Garden at
Caserta and, right, The
a dipingere e disegnare,
ma è sempre affa-
(detail), 1774.
Eruption of Vesuvius
bile, sa circondarsi di
simpatia e farebbe di
ciascuno un proprio discepolo. Anch’io ne
sono rimasto conquistato: si mostra paziente
di fronte alle mie lacune e insiste in primo
luogo per la nettezza del disegno, poi per la
sicurezza e la chiarezza della lumeggiatura»
spiega lo scrittore. «Quando dipinge ad
acquarello tiene pronte sempre tre tinte:
comincia a lavorare il fondo usandole una
dopo l’altra; ed ecco che, come per incanto,
nasce il quadro». Una tecnica che gli permette
di dipingere decine di capolavori, che
sono stati riuniti di recente da Cesare De
Seta nella mostra “Jakob Philipp Hackert
(1737-1807). La linea analitica della pittura
di paesaggio in Europa” allestita alla Reggia
di Caserta.
La veduta di Capri
Numerose le opere che testimoniano la
capacità dell’artista di “ritrarre” il paesaggio
grazie ad un’attenzione minuziosa
the Bourbons”. Hackert also painted a rustic
country scene from the village of San Leucio,
famed for its silk factories.
At the Bourbon court
Goethe was one of Hackert’s great friends
and admirers. He recounts: “Out painting in
the fields, every day Hackert received a visit
from Count Andrej Razumovskji, the Russian
Minister to Naples. The King of Naples
hunters saw the two of them together and
informed their sovereign that a foreign painter
was in the area, working on behalf of the
Russian court.”
Ferdinand IV of Bourbon became curious and
asked to meet the artist. He was so impressed
that he offered him the much sought-after post
of court painter. Hackert accepted right away,
and his career really took off. With the King’s
support, he plunged headlong into a world of
hunting parties, ceremonies, banquets and
balls. The King put him up in an apartment at
Palazzo Francavilla in Naples. Goethe came
to meet him here in 1811, and was greatly
impressed by the esteem in which he was
held by his Bourbon hosts: “Hackert belonged
to that class of person who most certainly are
the arbiters of their own fate. A great many
art lovers sought him out and commissioned
him; a great many amateurs held him up as
an example. As a painter he was esteemed
but not envied; he could always be himself,
without causing harm to anyone else.”
Aside from his most excellent character,
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