The Water Pump in the Grosser Garten in Dresden
Christian Ernst Stölzel
1792 – Dresden – 1837
Das Rüger Brünnlein – The Rüger Fountain in the Grosser Garten in Dresden 1833
etching and drypoint on wove paper; 96 x 128 mm (3 3/4 x 5 1/16 inches)
with the monogram in upper left corner St. fc.
inscribed beneath the image Das Rüger Brünnlein, Gr. Gart. Octbr. 1833
not in Nagler
provenance
John S. Phillips, Philadelphia; bequeathed in 1876 to
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts;
de-accessioned in 1985 and acquired by
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Muriel and Philip Berman Gift in 1985; acc. nos. 1985-52-15914)
de-accessioned in 2017
A fine impression with wide margins all round.
Stölzel received his first training with his father Christian Friedrich Stoelzel who was court engraver and associate professor of engraving at the Dresden Academy. The son started out making drawings after old masters and later received a fellowship from the king of Saxony that allowed him to travel to Italy. After returning to Dresden in 1828, he made his name with an engraving after Raphael’s Coronation of the Virgin (painted for the church of S. Francesco in Perugia; now in the Vatican Museums). Completed in 1832, it became the entry ticket for Christian Ernst’s memberships to the academies in both Dresden in 1833 and Perugia in 1834. Like his father, he eventually became professor for engraving in Dresden.
The younger Stölzel’s work consists mainly of reproductive engravings after paintings and drawings by older masters. As a private study from nature, the present print stands out. It shows a view in the Großer Garten in Dresden, with the fountain that gives the work its title visible to the far right. A woman can be seen filling water in jugs for herself and her friend who is resting nearby on the bridge. This charming scene was meant as a New Year’s greeting card.
