(Grünstadt 1719–1768 Darmstadt)
Romulus and Hersilia,
oil on canvas, 120.8 x 151.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Gerhard Kölsch for confirming the attribution to Johann Conrad Seekatz. His certificate accompanies the present painting.

The present painting is arguably the single most ambitious composition by Seekatz. Depicting an event from the history of Rome and hitherto unknown to scholars, it dates to Seekatz’s late period, and is a testimony to the artist’s devotion to mythological Baroque painting in an unusual ‘grand manner’. The present work affords invaluable insight into the multifaceted oeuvre of the Darmstadt-based painter. Johann Conrad Seekatz was appointed court painter to Landgrave Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1753. In Darmstadt, Seekatz painted biblical and mythological subjects, as well as animal pieces and occasionally also portraits. He received numerous commissions not only from Privy Councillor Goethe, but also from the Count de Thoranc, known as ‘Royal Lieutenant’ (see Goethe’s Poetry and Truth). Around 1765, Seekatz began to devote himself to a group of large mythological subjects, such as the Narcissus in Frankfurt (Freies Deutsches Hochstift / Frankfurter Goethe-Museum, inv. no. IV-1970-006, oil on canvas, 81.5 x 103.3 cm).

A highlight of Seekatz’s late period is the series of seventeen sopraporte in Braunshardt Palace for George William of Hesse, brother of Landgrave Louis VIII (today Wolfsgarten Palace and Schlossmuseum Darmstadt). The present composition is unusual. Iconographically, there are very few depictions of Romulus and Hersilia. One of the overdoor paintings originally in Schloss Braunshardt depicts the fight between Sabines and Romans, with the Sabine women intervening to keep the fighting men apart, a very similar iconography (Darmstadt, Schlossmuseum).

Apparently, Romulus and Hersilia were a topic of some interest for the court of the Landgrave. Louis VIII, primarily known for his love of the opera and Parforce-hunting (a grand spectacle popularised by the Sun King Louis XIV, whereby the stag is ‘fixed’ by hounds, before being dispatched by the Prince or Landgrave personally) was also a keen Austrophile. He had been appointed imperial field marshal and can be seen wearing his imperial uniform in many portraits. Furthermore, he made expensive presents to the imperial court in Vienna (see R. Pons, Die Kunst der Loyalität: Ludwig VIII. von Hessen-Darmstadt [1691–1768] und der Wiener Kaiserhof, Marburg 2009). One of the highlights of his life appears to have been the meeting with Emperor Joseph II in Heusenstamm prior to the emperor’s coronation in Frankfurt in 1764. Considering the Landgraves immense devotion to the Habsburg cause, a curious fact demands to be addressed, that might offer an explanation for the rare iconography of the Braunshardt painting and also the present composition.

Romolo ed Ersilia, was an opera composed by Johann Adolph Hasse, based on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio to celebrate the wedding of Archduke Leopold and the Infanta Maria Ludovica. It premiered on the 6th of August 1765, the very same year Seekatz painted the Braunshardt overdoors. There is no evidence that William or Louis were present at the wedding, but it is not unreasonable to argue that there seems to be a connection between Seekatz work in Braunshardt in 1765 and this opera, especially when considering that Louis VIII was an avid opera lover (he would even die of a stroke during an opera performance in 1768) and would surely have known of the new composition, especially as it was meant to celebrate an alliance of a dynasty he so admired. The present painting might have been a commission related to the imperial wedding or the decoration of Braunshardt palace. A similar compositional scheme was employed by Seekatz in a painting in a private collection, Berlin, depicting the meeting between Caesar and Cleopatra.

The compositional scheme with the bridge connecting a tower to a larger building can also be seen in his Dance on the village street (oil on canvas, 28.5 x 43.3 cm, Städel, Frankfurt am Main, inv. no. 1679). During a recent cleaning of the present painting, the figure of a female goddess, perhaps Athena or Minerva, descending from a cloud and crowning Romulus, was revealed beneath later overpaint. This compositional feature is also present in the Frankfurt Narcissus as well as in Caesar and Cleopatra in Berlin. The present composition reveals several stylistic features that securely tie it to Seekatz’s oeuvre. The draperies, with their deep, sharp, and angular folds, as well as the cloaks floating freely in the wind, appear entirely typical of Seekatz’s art. The rendering of the main protagonists stands out for its light, vibrant, and in parts sketchy brushwork. Especially in the passage of the sky, the paint is applied so thinly that reddish underpainting shines through; by contrast, other areas show what is almost an impasto treatment, which lends the depiction a most lively and even virtuoso character. Seekatz employed this sketchy style as an artistic means of expression around 1760–65 (compare Apollo Chasing Daphne, circa 1765, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, and Allegory of the Four Seasons, circa 1762, Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Frankfurt am Main). What is also typical of this period, which marks the transition to the artist’s late work, is not least the palette of light-coloured pastel shades, dominated by pink, light blue, turquoise, and brownish nuances. The stylistic features and similarities in terms of figure style and composition described above allow us to date the painting around 1765.