Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe DUCROS 1748, Moudon-1810, Losanna

This painting (1) depicts a foreshortening of the inside of the so-called Neptune’s Grotto at Tivoli: a large cavern in the rock wall underneath the town where the river Aniene flows after a “Large Waterfall”. (2) The Neptune’s Grotto was one of the most notorious attractions of Tivoli and represented a fundamental stop for the “Grand-Tourists” of the 18th century.

The following is a 1794 description by an anonymous traveller:

“The grotto is in the depths, where the river, immediately past the large waterfall, vertically falls down from high rocks. A narrow path leads to these depths […] along the rock wall, but one must be careful not to make a fatal jump […]. The grotto seems to be shaped by Nature and partially carved by the falling waters. It looks like a 15 feet high building, as much wide, that is transparent on three sides. The imposing view of water precipitating for five storeys, the sound, the thunder of this powerful element, sometimes frightens, sometimes elicits pleasure and admiration; the body is shaken and the spirit gets confused. The whole grotto, and its vault, are wonderfully covered by moss and herbs of a beautiful green tone. You stand there, on the smooth stones, you get wet and yet you remain; the scene is too odd and extraordinary to leave immediately.”(3)

Our painting represents the inside of the grotto. We can see the large dark and massive arch of the vault, behind which the waterfall runs on some rocks towards the foreground. Two gentlemen are depicted on the smooth stones described by the anonymous traveller; one is standing, already contemplating the grandiose view, whereas the other one is cautiously moving with the help of a local guide. Two other men are coming from the path on the right, followed by a dog. An additional dog is sniffing the plants in the foreground.

In my opinion this painting is by the Swiss painter Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros who arrived in Rome in 1776. After a trip to Sicily with a group of Dutch “Grand-Tourists”, he settled in the Eternal City in 1778. Even if in 1770s and in the early 1780s the Roman market of views and landscapes was dominated by Jakob Philipp Hackert (1737-1807), Ducros could find his own place: in 1780 he formed a partnership with the Roman engraver Giovanni Volpato (1735-1803), successfully selling hand-colored engravings reproducing ancient monuments. Moreover, he specialized in the technique of watercolors, that Hackert disregarded being famous for his brown ink drawings. These large watercolors painted with bright shades represent well-known sites, such as the Tivoli and Terni waterfalls or famous Roman monuments, which soon became Ducros’ “mark” who, thus, secured his own niche in the Roman art market. When Hackert left to Naples in 1786, Ducros further consolidated his position and worked with increasing success, at last helped by two assistants, Franz Kaisermann and Filippo Giuntotardi. In 1793, Ducros was compelled to leave Rome for Naples where he lived until 1805 (4), and where he also painted seascapes. In 1800/1801 he visited Malta Island. Back to Rome in 1805, the artist remained there until 1807. Then he moved moved back to Switzerland where, in 1809, he was appointed director of Berne Academy. Unfortunately, he died before he could get this position.

While watercolors by Ducros are present in several private and public collections, he only made few oil paintings. In fact, he used this technique just in a short period of time during the first half of 1780s. To 1785 dated two paintings, apparently missing at the moment, both described in the Roman art journal Memorie per le Belle Arti, which additionally tells us that they were commissioned by a certain “Milord Breadalbane”.  Still according to the journal reporter, Ducros had painted another oil with the view of Syracuse and a wood in the foreground where Cicero uncovers the tomb of Archimedes, probably commissioned by Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803) (5). While these works are still missing, a painting with a view of the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli is rather well-known (6). The catalogue of Kenwood exhibition of 1985 tells us about Ducros’ oil paintings production:

“Between 1782 and 1785 Ducros painted several ‘conversation pieces’ in oil. This type of portrait, fashionable since Pompeo Batoni painted his masterpieces, was taken up by many […] But Ducros did not persevere in this particular field, being more at ease with the large water-colour landscapes which were to become his speciality after 1785.” (7)

To these “conversation pieces” belong two additional oil on canvas, even though they depict characters in a landscape context. Both works of art were commissioned by a very high-ranking patron, the Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich Romanov: the future Tsar Paul I (1754-1801), who visited Rome in February 1782 with his wife Maria Feodorovna (born Princess of Württemberg, 1759-1828) her brother, Prince Friedrich of Württemberg, the future King Friedrich I (1754-1816), and Prince Nicolai Borisovich Yusupov. Although the noble couple travelled incognito under the name “Counts of North”, their presence in Rome awoke great interest and their movements, their visits to monuments and to artists’ ateliers were commented, for instance, by the Diario Ordinario newspaper, published by the Chracas brothers. On March 9, 1782, they went on a trip to Tivoli guided by the landscape painter Jakob Philipp Hackert; also this event was commented by the Diario Ordinario (8). Despite the Roman newspaper did not mentioned Ducros’ presence, he was certainly part of the group who followed the Grand Dukes. Indeed, he was asked to document their visit to Neptune’s Grotto in a painting now at Pawlovsk .(9) In the foreground there are some masterly painted figures depicted with every detail of their clothes. We can see a lady with an imperial bearing, certainly the Grand Duchess, offering her hand to a lord in a deep-red cloak, her husband; he holds an umbrella over his wife’s head, perhaps because in the humid atmosphere of the grotto some drops might have fallen. Other characters of the imperial couple’s entourage arrive from their right. The painting shows the grotto from a more distant perspective than the one in our painting; besides, the large waterfall is represented on the left while Tivoli buildings are depicted at the summit of the rock wall.

Ducros also painted the pendant of this canvas representing the Grand Dukes during their visit to the Roman Forum (10); here as well, the characters are depicted with great care and the figure of the young Grand Duchess stands out, clearly taller than her husband.

For what concerns our painting, its excellent description of figures clearly marks a difference when compared to the multitude of representations of the grotto by famous and less famous painters. Two gentlemen, escorted by two local guides, have already reached the water at the centre of the painting; while one is visible only from his back, the face of the second one, though partially covered by his hat, can be recognized by his profile. He is wearing white trousers and a red jacket, the sleeves of which show the laces of his shirt – equally white. From the right, two other gentlemen are getting closer. The one on the left, wearing a turquoise coat, a silvery waistcoat with a lace jabot and elegant white silk stockings, has put his left hand in his trousers pocket with nonchalance. Moving broadly the other hand, he shows the grotto pointing out by means of his saber as if it was a cane: he is apparently explaining something to his companion. This last one is keeping a folder under his arm, listening with attention; his right hand is raised and pointing with a finger, as if he was only awaiting for the right moment to interrupt the speaker and add an important detail. Unlike the character at his side, he is wearing some boots that are less elegant but more suitable to the humid environment, his coat is in a less extravagant color, and, instead of the saber, he is holding a cane. We can gather that this man belongs to a lower social class; his folder might suggest he is a scholar, thoroughly competent in leading the visit to the grotto. The artist’s mastery in painting the figures of the gentlemen and of their guide is really striking. The round cheek and slight double chin face of the man in turquoise is as much visible as the rather hollow cheek face of his companion. It is fairly evident that they must relate to real people, thus suggesting they must be portraits.

These analogies in depicting figures allow us to compare our painting to the canvas now at Pawlovsk. Both paintings are the same sizes, and same sizes are also the figures compared to the surrounding grotto. Likely similar is also the representation of the dark rock and the partition of the image space in shade and light. The large leaf green plants, visible on the lower side, also appear on the left of the water in Pawlovsk painting.

Therefore, I would like to formulate the hypothesis that Ducros painted our canvas at the same time, when he was also painting the View of Neptune’s Grotto at Tivoli now at Pawlosk, perhaps around 1782. The gentlemen represented in our painting might be members of the group who travelled with the Russian Grand Dukes; maybe one of them wished to have a souvenir of their staying in Tivoli for himself, commissioning Ducros to paint a canvas. In our painting, Ducros only shows the grotto with the waterfall in the background, maybe because his client thus requested it to him. The contrast between the clear water, masterfully painted in its transparency and immateriality, and the massive rocks of the grotto, variously lighted (from total dark, to half-light, to sunny areas) discloses once and again the artist’s mastery and makes this canvas a masterpiece.

It might be possible to give a name to the only face clearly visible among the gentlemen, the one wearing a turquoise coat. He could be identified with a member of the Grand Dukes’ entourage, Prince Nicolai Borisovich Yusupov (1750-1831), a great art lover and owner of one of the most important collections of his period (11). There are two portraits of the Prince, by Heinrich Friedrich Füger  (1751-1818, (12) and by Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder (1751-1830)(13) which show the young Russian nobleman’s round face, slight double chin and pointed nose, comparable to the features of the gentleman in our painting.

Whereas the man to his side, depicted with the dignity of a professor and carrying a folder, could be identified with one of the four scholars who followed the Grand Dukes during their trip: that it is to say the poet Friedrich Maximilian Klinger (1752-1831), lector of Pavel Petrovich; Ludwig Heinrich Nicolay (1737-1820), Director of the Science Academy of St. Petersburg; Andrej Samborskij (1732-1815), theologian; Franz Hermann Lafermière (1737-1796)(4), Swiss librarian of the imperial couple.

Though characters identification can only be an attempt to interpreting the painting, indeed this canvas excels both in figures representation and grotto rendering with the waterfall in the background. This painting can be considered as one of Ducros’ masterpieces and equals the quality and the importance of the canvas commissioned by the Russian Grand Dukes, now at Pawlovsk.

General literature on Ducros: Images of the Grand Tour: Louis Ducros 1748-1810. Kenwood, The Iveagh Bequest, 1985. –Louis Ducros 1748-1810. Paesaggi d’Italia all’epoca di Goethe. exhibition catalogue edited by Pierre Chessex, Rome 1987. –Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros. Un peintre suisse en Italie. Exhibition catalogue edited by Jörg Zutter, Lausanne, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts 1998.

                                                                                                            Dr. Claudia Nordhoff

NOTES

1) I saw the painting on May 18, 2012. Also Pierre Chessex saw it in 2006 and confirmed the attribution to Ducros (this attribution is present in a letter (dated to February 2006) by Dr. Thomas Loertscher & Partner, Spiegel bei Bern, a Gallery that acted for the previous owner.

2) The course of the Aniene was diverted after the flood of 1826 and the waterfalls, famous in the 18th century, are no longer visited as in the past. However, the Neptune’s Grotto has remained unchanged. About this subject see Sante Viola, Cronaca delle diverse vicende del fiume Aniene in Tivoli, Rome, 1835, p. 54-58.

3) Tagebuch einer Reise nach Italien, im Jahre 1794. Mannheim 1802, p. 134: “Die Grotte liegt in der Tiefe, wo sich der Fluß gleich nach dem großen Wasserfall über die hohen Felsen senkrecht herunter stürzet; in diese Tiefen zu kommen, führt ein schmaler Fußpfad […] längs den Felsen hin, und wer seine Sinne nicht recht zusammen behaltet, kann da leicht einen fatalen Sprung machen. […] Diese Grotte scheint von der Natur geschaffen, und theils durch das herunter strömende Wasser ausgehöhlt zu seyn. Solche stellt ein 15 Schuh hohes und eben so breites Gebäude vor, welches auf drey Seiten durchsichtig ist. Der majestätische Anblick des, über 5 Etagen hoch herunterstürzenden Wassers, das Geräusche, das Getöse, ja das Donnern dieses gewaltigen Elementes, verursachet abwechselnd Schrecken und Bewunderung, so wie Vergnügen; der ganze Cörper wird erschüttert, und der Geist weis sich kaum zu finden; die Grotte ist ringsumher, so wie auch das Innere des Gewölbes mit Moos und Kräuter von prächtiger grüner Farbe bewachsen. Man steht da auf den glatten Steinen, wird naß, und man bleibet dennoch stehen; die Scene ist zu fremd und zu auffallend, als daß man solche so geschwinde wieder verlassen könnte.” See also Reise ins unterirdische Italien. Grotten und Höhlen in der Goethezeit., exhibition  catalogue, Hrsg. Fritz Emslander, Frankfurt a. M., 2002.

4) As a consequence of the French revolution and terror, a hostile atmosphere had developed in Rome towards the French, which in 1793 caused the lynching of the French Embassy secretary, Nicolas Jean Hugon de Basseville. After this event many artists and foreigners, also from other countries, left the city.

5) Memorie per le Belle Arti I, 1785, p. 55-56.

6) Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros, “View of the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli”. Private collection. Oil on canvas, 78 x 108 cm, unsigned. On this painting see D. & M., Perception of nature. A selection of 18th and 19th century oil paintings and sketches, gallery catalogue, Munich 2002, p. 14 (entry by Claudia Nordhoff).

7) See catalogue of  Kenwood exhibition 1985, p. 77.

8) Diario Ordinario n. 754, March 1782, p. 9. Hackert was given an “enamelled gold box” for his services; moreover, he was asked to paint several views of Tivoli and of other sites visited by the Grand Dukes. Also Johann Wolfgang von Goethe commented this event in his biography on the painter (Werke. Vol. 46, Winckelmann/Philipp Hackert, Weimar 1891, p. 227, chapter Grand Duke and Grand Duchess).

9) Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros, “The Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna visiting the Neptune’s Grotto at Tivoli”, Pawlovsk, Palace Museum. Oil on canvas, 99 x 137 cm. On this painting see kenwood exhibition catalogue 1985, entry 56; see also Grand Tour. Il fascino dell’Italia nel XVIII secolo, exhibition catalogue edited by Andrew Wilton and Ilaria Bignamini, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni 1997, entry 96. This painting was engraved by Raffaello Morghen (1758-1833); on the engraving see Kenwood exhibition catalogue, 1985, ill. p. 78.

10) Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros, “The Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna visiting the Roman Forum”, Pawlovsk, Palace Museum. Oil on canvas, 99 x 137 cm. On this painting see Grand Tour. Il fascino dell’Italia nel XVIII secolo, exhibition catalogue edited by Andrew Wilton and Ilaria Bignamini, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni 1997, entry 95.

11) On Yusupov as an art collector see Ljubov‘ Savinskaja, La collection de peintures de Nikolai Borissovitch Youssoupoff. In: Hubert Robert et Saint-Pétersbourg. Les commandes de la famille Impériale et des Princes russes entre 1773 et 1802, exhibition catalogue edited by Hélène Moulin, Valence, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d‘Histoire naturelle 1999, S. 72-87. Savinskaja saw the painting in a picture and asserts that the character in the turquoise coat can be identified with Prince Yusupov (e-mail dated to May 21 2012). I thank Ljubov‘ Savinskaja for her kind help.

12) Heinrich Friedrich Füger, “Portrait of the Prince Yusupov”. St. Petersburg, Hermitage. Oil on canvas, 112 x 87 cm. This portrait was probably painted around 1781.

13) Johann Baptist Lampi The Elder, “Portrait of the Prince Yusupov”. St. Petersburg, Hermitage, oil on canvas, cm 72×57.

14) About this subject see Anna Ananieva, Erinnerung und Imagination. Der Landschaftspark von Pawlowsk im europäischen Gartendiskurs zwischen 1777 und 1828. In: exhibition catalogue Krieg und Frieden – eine deutsche Zarin in Schloß Pawlowsk. Munich, Haus der Kunst 2001, p. 16.