Hans Rottenhammer

At first glance this tremendously impressive, brilliantly treated sheet is faintly reminiscent of The Battle of the Sea Gods, the famous engraving made by Andrea Mantegna in 1485 which decisively influenced subsequent portrayals of this classical theme. Mantegna depicts the story of the envious and malicious Telchines, one-time gods who turned into demons and were ultimately drowned by Poseidon, and combines it with an episode from Virgil’s Aeneid, in which the jealous Juno unleashes a sea storm on Aeneas.

The subject matter requires a very different interpretation in the present drawing, however, which stands out for its enigmatic and highly original iconography. Sea gods, hippocampi and human figures are engaged in a fierce struggle that unfolds against the backdrop of a dark sea cave. In the extreme right foreground Neptune thrusts his trident at an enemy who is attempting to snatch his horse. Another human figure reins in the horse of the second sea god on the left, while at the top a furious fighter overpowers the third sea god, whose upturned countenance conveys a sense of powerless despair. In the imagery of antiquity the violent, instinct-driven sea gods were frequently depicted together with abducted women and served as symbols of unbridled eroticism and sensuality. In the present work, however, this imagery undergoes an inversion. Several graceful young women gathered in a rock niche on the left are following the violent struggle with unchecked curiosity. They are not prey but vigilant spectators, which is evidenced most clearly by the casual, self-confident pose of the woman at the front draped in the flimsiest of veils who raises her forefinger as she comments on the subjugation of the sea gods. Consequently, this innovative reversal of the ancient iconography should be seen rather as a symbol of the taming of base human instincts, a philosophical and moralising amplification that is more in keeping with the ideals and refinement of an exquisite court culture, such as that in Prague under Rudolf II.

In this connection Dr. Heiner Borggrefe draws attention to various stylistic criteria that would favour an attribution to Hans Rottenhammer, an intriguing artistic personality whose maniera drew on very diverse sources of inspiration and thus frequently finds extremely varied and heterogeneous forms of expression. The linework and the vibrant, skilfully applied white heightening, for instance, resemble the style of the works portraying the raising of Lazarus that are to be found in Vienna and Chatsworth (catalogue Hans Rottenhammer, begehrt – vergessen – neu entdeckt, edited by H. Borggrefe, L. Konecny, V. Lüpkes, V. Vinas, Weserrenaissance-Museum, Schloss Brake, National Gallery, Prague, 2008–09, p. 115, figs. 163, 165). Typological details such as Neptune’s head (see the signed sheet in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, cat. 2008–09, p. 147, no. 51), the characteristic Rottenhammer face of the third woman from the left and the expressive gestures of the horses’ heads are further pictorial elements that would suggest an attribution to Rottenhammer or at least place the sheet within his immediate circle. A detailed expert report drawn up by Dr. Heiner Borggrefe dated 27 November 2025 is available.
 

EUR 58,000