Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg

Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf, a Viennese-born architect and theatrical painter, studied architecture and architectural painting at the city’s academy and subsequently undertook study trips to Germany and Italy. In the initial stages of his career he worked mostly as a scene and theatrical painter. Entrusted later with an increasing number of important commissions, Hetzendorf was named imperial court architect in 1775. Honorary appointments came his way at an early stage. He was made an honorary member of the Imperial Academy in Augsburg in 1758, elevated to the imperial peerage in 1766 and given the noble title of von Hohenberg. By 1770 at the latest he was professor of architecture at the Vienna Academy and from 1772 to 1816 headed its department of architecture. A further indication of Hetzendorf’s reputation was his appointment as the first German-speaking member of the Académie de France in Rome in 1773. His principal architectural works include the striking Gloriette or ‘temple of renown’ in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace, a work he completed in 1775, and the Roman Ruins he also installed there in 1778, which were modelled on the temple built for the Roman Emperor Vespasian by his son Titus.

These two architectural capricci in portrait format, which were designed as companion pieces, are extremely rare. Hetzendorf produced just three etchings of imaginary ancient buildings that Erwin Hainisch grouped together under the heading Three Imaginary Ancient Ruins in 1949. The third of these works An Architectural Capriccio with Bizarre Figures in landscape format was on offer in 2018 in our catalogue Selected Works XVIII (no. 24, p. 66 ff.). The two present impressions are trial proofs before letters. In the monograph on the artist he published in 1949 Hainisch reproduced two prints of the finished state with letters, but regrettably failed to provide any information on their provenance. That our prints are eminently rare is confirmed by the fact that neither of the etchings is to be found in the collections housed in such leading museums as the Albertina and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna or the collections in Amsterdam, London and New York.

There can be no mistaking the impact Giovanni Battista Piranesi had on Hetzendorf’s imagery. The Grotteschi set of etchings that Piranesi produced between 1747 and 1749 and the Carceri series probably exercised a decisive influence. French Piranésiens such as Charles Michel-Ange Challe and Jean-Laurent Legeay certainly also provided the artist with stylistic inspiration. Both etchings have been executed in a technically highly sophisticated, extremely detailed and refined manner that illustrates the artist’s consummate mastery of the medium. Hetzendorf has used stage biting to produce very subtle tonal and atmospheric transitions, and his exuberant creative imagination is truly astonishing. The sheer variety of narrative and decorative pictorial elements makes it hard for the viewer’s eye to rest and focus. Superb, rich and sharp early impressions with even margins. Minor ageing and traces of handling, otherwise in excellent condition.

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