Hermann Corrodi (Frascati 1844- Rome 1905), “The Sabil Qaitbay on the esplanade of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem”, second half of the 19th century.
Oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm.
Signed “H. Corrodi Jerusalem” lower left.
The painting depicts a view of the Qayt Bay fountain, still located next to the Al-Ashrafiyya Madrasa, along the promenade leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Qayt Bay fountain, also known as Sabil Qaitbay, is an example of Mamluk architecture, built by the homonymous Sultan at the end of the 15th century; between 1882 and 1883, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, a great patron, had the building restored by his collaborators, giving it the appearance visible today.
The sabil is a type of public fountain typical of Islamic architecture; always located near a mosque, its function is to provide visitors with clean, drinkable water for refreshment and ritual ablutions before prayer. The scene, set at dusk, shows some Muslim men sitting in a contemplative posture; amber lights and earthy shadows are reflected on the placid surface of a small body of water. A little further on, two women, recognizable by the colored veils worn on their heads, converse in the shade of sycamore trees.
Reality and fantasy meet, as often happens, in Corrodi's canvases: the painting, although signed as if it had been created live in the Holy City, was in reality probably executed later in his studio, based on sketches from his trip.
This can be established by observing the details: the fountain's architecture appears modified, seeming more slender and thin in the artist's work; although the decorative frieze of the pointed dome resembles the original, the grated windows on the sides are missing. The presence of the figures themselves is an artifice, as is the unnatural positioning of the sycamore trees arranged around the Sabil Qaitbay.
Similar in subject and style of representation is “The Sacred Fountain in front of the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem,” purchased by German Emperor Wilhelm II for his private collection.
A work that evokes distant landscapes and peoples, adapted to the taste of the painter's Western patrons and their personal conception of the East.
BIOGRAPHY
Hermann Corrodi was born in 1844, the son of the Zurich painter Salomon Corrodi. The father, Salomon, was of Italian origin and despite his Swiss background and studies, he moved first to Milan and then to Florence, where he met and married a wealthy compatriot; finally, he moved to Rome, the city where he settled permanently. It was in the province of Rome, in the municipality of Frascati, that Hermann Corrodi was born, in the summer house where the family used to vacation. Along with his younger brother Arnold, Hermann was initially instructed in painting by his father in a naturalism rich in luminous and chromatic effects; the two brothers were later sent to Geneva, where they studied under the painter and engraver Alexandre Calame, before returning to Rome to complete their studies at the Academy of St. Luke. In 1866, he joined an association of German painters in the city, the Deutsches Künstlerverein. The two Corrodi brothers then traveled around Europe, coming into contact with established artists and wealthy patrons; in Paris, where they went in 1872, they met the painters of historical and neoclassical scenes Ernst Meissonier and Jean-Léon Gérôme, and then briefly stayed in London as guests of the Dutch painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema. At the end of the year, they visited the international exhibition in Munich; at the beginning of 1873, they spent a few weeks in Capri before attending the annual exhibition in Vienna, where Hermann Corrodi was awarded a gold medal for a painting titled "Pine Forest." In 1874, his brother Arnold, with whom he shared a studio in Rome, died prematurely, and Hermann fell into a deep depression that put an interruption to his artistic activity.
Having overcome his grief two years later, he resumed his painting career; following his marriage to an English woman, he managed to gain recognition and commissions from England as well. He then resumed the travels that had characterized his youth, but this time moving to the East, a region that fascinated the artist as the cradle of the most important monotheistic religions. Corrodi visited Constantinople, then Syria and Egypt; among his most important clients was German Emperor Wilhelm II, who bought the canvas "The Sacred Fountain in front of the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem" for his private collection, while the British royals bought some of his Cypriot views. During the summer months, he moved to Germany, where in Baden-Baden and Homburg he held painting studios for nobles and the imperial court.
In 1892, another tragedy struck Corrodi: his Roman house-studio, where the painter kept all his works, as well as his collection of oriental objects and his deceased brother's paintings, caught fire; the fire was devastating. In the early 1900s, he commissioned a palace for his new house-studio, with an attached space for his exhibitions; unfortunately, Corrodi passed away prematurely in 1905, without ever seeing his home completed.
Even following the destructive fire of 1892, the painter's works are rare and difficult to find, mainly preserved in private collections; two of his watercolors are in the Municipal Gallery of Palazzo Braschi, while the landscape "Napoleon's Tower in Corsica" is exhibited in the halls of Palazzo Montecitorio. Other paintings by him are preserved in Zurich, including etchings of river landscapes and the oil on canvas "Charles V's Tower near La Spezia." In the English Royal Collection are deposited the works purchased by Queen Victoria, including Roman views, "Queen Victoria on the Terrace of Villa Palmieri," and "Mermaids in a Cave in Capri."
