HARTMANN, Johannes Jakob - b. ~1680 Kuttenberg, d. ~1731 Praha - WGA

HARTMANN, Johannes Jakob

(b. ~1680 Kuttenberg, d. ~1731 Praha)

Bohemian painter, the most important landscape painter in Bohemia in the early eighteenth century. Although little is known about his early training, he lived from 1702 in Prague, where he was able to study the collections of Rudolph II. He updated themes found in Flemish art of the sixteenth-century for eighteenth-century audiences, and was particularly influenced by the works of Gillis van Coninxloo and Jan Brueghel the Elder.

His paintings were much sought after by his contemporaries and found their way into the Imperial Collections in Vienna, Bamberg, Prague and Schleissheim and into the castles of Bohemia. His sons, Franz Anton (1694-1728) and Wenzel Johann (1700-1745) were also painters.

Landscape with St John the Baptist Preaching
Landscape with St John the Baptist Preaching by

Landscape with St John the Baptist Preaching

The pair of landscapes painted on large copper plates. Landscape with the Conversion of St Paul and Landscape with St John the Baptist Preaching, show the influence of Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Landscape with the Conversion of St Paul
Landscape with the Conversion of St Paul by

Landscape with the Conversion of St Paul

The pair of landscapes painted on large copper plates. Landscape with the Conversion of St Paul and Landscape with St John the Baptist Preaching, show the influence of Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Lot and his Daughters
Lot and his Daughters by

Lot and his Daughters

Johannes Jakob Hartmann was the most important landscape painter in Bohemia in the early eighteenth century. He updated themes found in Flemish art of the sixteenth-century for eighteenth-century audiences,

The present picture depicts the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:1-28), two cities which God razed to the ground because they failed to show hospitality to two angels sent by Him. In the background the city of Sodom is burning.

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