Jacob Philipp Hackert, A packed mule with festive... Lot 19

Jacob Philipp Hackert, A packed mule with festive decorations. Oil on wood. 1804. 35,7 x 27,4 cm. Signed, dated and numbered "5." on verso. Framed. //rg/39,7/4 This previously unpublished panel painting was created during Hackert's last active creative years. It probably belongs to the animal studies Hackert made either on Mrs. Woodburn's estate in Settignano or on his own estate in Careggi near Florence. According to Nordhoff, these documented his "love of animals, on the one hand, and his penchant for small detail in his pictures, on the other" (C. Nordhoff, Jakob Philipp Hackert, vol. II, Berlin 1994, p. 158, at cat. no. 322). In 1802 Hackert wrote to Count Dönhoff that he "paints not only goats, but also donkeys 'openly according to nature but so that they become finished pictures'" (quoted in C. Nordhoff, op. cit., p. 204, at cat.-no. 447). In fact, the mule is not intended as staffage, for example to enliven a landscape; rather Hackert portrayed him with subtle empathy as an independent and sensible being. The heavily packed donkey is struggling up a dirt road past an oak tree, with wooded slopes stretching out in the background. Although the animal's head is largely obscured by a muzzle and festively adorned halter, its exposed, forward-facing eyes and pricked ears reveal its stoic stamina. The authenticity of the present work was confirmed by Dr. Claudia Nordhoff, Rome. The work will be added to the Jacob Philipp Hackert Archive. Taxation: differential taxed (VAT: Margin Scheme).