DISCOVERY

 

FRANZ PFORR ( b. Frankfurt, Germany 1788; d. 1812 Albano, Italy)

German painter and draughtsman; founded with Friedrich Overbeck the St. Luke Brotherhood ( called the Nazarenes ).  Pforr was based in Rome from 1810 until his early death.

 

Figures in a Crowd, circa 1808-1812

9 x 5 ½ in. / 23 x 14 cm.

Ink over pencil on paper

No signature or inscriptions

 

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany (as unidentified artist), until 1999

Christie’s Amsterdam, Sale of “Art and Antiques from German Noble Houses”, March 24, 1999, lot 522 (as Peter von Cornelius)

Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe (here attributed by Fred R. Kline to Franz Pforr)

Private Collection & Estate, Santa Fe, NM

 

 

Consulting Scholars

The Pforr authorship was first atributed by Fred R. Kline and authenticated in written expertise by Dr. Colin J. Bailey (Edinburg) and Dr. Jens Christian Jensen (Hamburg).

 

Note:

Both Bailey and Jensen agree to Pforr, with no alternative suggestions. Bailey sees a stylistic similarity with Pforr's 1811 drawing Adelheid and Weislingen (Frankfurt). Bailey further suggests that the scene might depict Martin Luther and that the drawing could be from a project unfinished at Pforr's early death. Jensen suggests, and Fred Kline agrees, that it may be a sketch for the various crowds in Pforr's painting The Entrance of Emperor Rudolph in Basel; Bailey, however, disagrees. Jensen suggests a technical (ink over faint pencil) relationship to Pforr's drawings for Schiller's William Tell in the Meadow at Altorf.

Pforr's drawings are extremely rare. No drawings or paintings by Pforr appear to be in public collections in the United States and very few are held in European public collections.

 

Exhibition

Fred R. Kline Gallery, “Selected Old Master Drawings”, August 2001, #5 Franz Pforr

 

Publication

"Franz Pforr, Figures in the Crowd: at www.klinegallery.com from 2001

 

 

Private Collection

By appointment