Wilhelm von Kobell
Mannheim 1766 – 1853 Munich
The Brothers Dalberg in Schloss Herrnsheim, 1787
Watercolor and gouache on its original mount
58.3 x 43.8 cm
Signed lower left “Wilhelmus Kobell 1787”
LITERATURE
Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter, 1929, p. 202, ill.
Exhib. cat. Mannheim 1931, Städtisches Schlossmuseum Mannheim Feb./March 1931, Ferdinand, Franz and Wilhelm Kobell, p. 15, cat. no. 65B.
Exhib. cat. Karlsruhe 1961, Badischer Kunstverein 25.06.1961-03.09.1961, Aus Karlsruher Privatbesitz 1790-1940, cat. no. 86.
Siegfried Wichmann, Wilhelm von Kobell, Monograph and Critical Catalog raisonné, Munich 1970, cat. no. 58, ill. (full page) p. 171.
Exhib. cat. Mannheim 1993, Museum für Kunst-, Stadt- und Theatergeschichte des Reiß Museums, Von Mannheim nach München: Die Künsterfamilie Kobell, cat. no. IX.
PROVENANCE
Von Dalberg family, Schloss Herrnsheim
Cornelius Wilhelm Karl Freiherr von Heyl (1874-1954)
Philipp Herrmann, Karlsruhe (1899-1968)
Private collection, Munich
This fully executed watercolor of large format represents a room in Schloß Herrnsheim in which four young men are present. On the right stands Karl Theodor von Dalberg (1744-1817), Doctor of Law as of 1787 (the year the watercolour was executed)and coadjutor of the diocese of Mainz and the Hochstift of Worms. In 1800 he became Bishop of Constance and in 1802 Prince Bishop and Elector of Mainz. Dalberg was acquainted with the intellectual luminaries of the age: with Wieland, Herder, Goethe, Schiller and Wilhelm von Humboldt and was himself an active writer.
At the piano sits his brother Johann Friedrich (1752-1812) member of the Cathedral Chapter of Trier, Worms and Speyer, as well as distinguished composer and music theorist.
The figure between the two seated men is probably another family member; in the background sits the artist Wilhelm von Kobell (as mentioned in the exhibition catalogue, Mannheim 1993, p.38) who shields his face from the viewer. An engraved portrait of Moses Mendelsohn by Johann Gotthard Müller hangs over the table bearing books and papers. Its date "1787" is the same year as this group portrait and shows a current, close affinity of Kobell and the brothers Dalberg with this great figure of the Enlightenment.
One of a pair. For more information on the other one click here: Wolfgang Heribert von Dalberg