Lot 632 | Franz Ittenbach | Madonna

ITTENBACH, FRANZ
1813 Königswinter - 1879 Düsseldorf

Title: Madonna.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 36 x 29.5cm.
Notation: Signed lower right: F. Ittenbach.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Franz Ittenbach, the most significant among the Dusseldorf Nazarenes, is born in Königswinter in 1813. He begins his studies in 1832, from 1837 on as master student of Wilhelm von Schadow. Schadow is the director of the academy who shapes the Dusseldorf School of Painting through the orientation of teaching towards history painting. First known as a portraitist, Ittenbach was commissioned to paint the church of St Apollinaris in Remagen and travelled to Rome for two years to study. There he joined the circle of Nazarenes around Friedrich Overbeck, who devoted themselves to biblical history painting in the style of the Italian masters of the late Middle Ages.
Ittenbach's programmatic paintings in Remagen are still a masterpiece of 19th century Neo-Gothic. Here he found his primary theme of the Christian story of salvation. In addition to wall paintings, he also created altar frescoes and panels as well as small devotional paintings. In particular, an idealised type of Mary is expressed, which also manifests itself in the present portrait "Madonna". Already the characteristic inclination of the head and the lowered gaze create a devotional atmosphere that makes the viewer pause.