FRANZ KAISERMANN (1765-1833)

THE 'GROTTA DI CAPRI'
Watercolour & bodycolour over etched outlines
29 x 41 cm
 
 
 
 
 
Born in Switzerland, Kaisermann travelled to Rome in 1789 to work as an assistant for his fellow countryman, the artist Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros. Once settled, he produced numerous views of the city and its monuments, catering (like his friend and mentor) to the then-booming tourist industry. The artist had arrived at a perfect moment: with travel growing more and more affordable and convenient, many of the new tourists came from more varied backgrounds than their aristocratic and wealthy predecessors in the mid-18th century. Kaisermann responded to a growing demand for affordable works as souvenirs: these watercolours over etched outlines - a technique learned of course from Ducros - allowed him to recreate commercially desirable views swiftly, with the added advantage that he was able to produce the print basis for the pictures himself, where Ducros had relied on Volpato.
 
A pen & ink study for the present subject was offered at Cambi Casa d’Asti, Genoa, 29.05.2018, Lot 26. No further examples of this particular work have appeared at auction in the past twenty years, suggesting that it may have been a unique work within Kaisermann’s oeuvre. The view shown is likely a romanticised one, showing part of the caves around the famous Grotta Azzurra (the Blue Grotto) near Capri.