View of Assisi 27 - 1828

Curator: Friedrich Maximilian Hessemer created this pencil drawing titled "View of Assisi" sometime in 1827 or 1828. It's currently held at the Städel Museum. Editor: It’s ethereal, almost ghostly. The faint lines, the pale paper... it feels less like a representation and more like a memory of Assisi. The architecture seems to fade into the landscape. Curator: That's interesting, especially considering the Neoclassical interest in rational order! The selection of Assisi isn't arbitrary. It ties into a broader European interest in idealizing the past. Think of Assisi, with its prominent religious structures, as representing a kind of spiritual and architectural purity that was believed to have been lost. Editor: I see what you mean. Though subtly, the composition emphasizes the verticality of the bell tower and the other structures on the hill, lending a certain grandness to the scene, even in its sketch-like state. And yet, that grandness is muted by the pervasive softness of the lines. Curator: Exactly. The drawing could have been used later for larger prints, where this preliminary sketch captures both topographical accuracy, but more significantly a mood that touches upon a renewed spiritual awareness percolating within early 19th century thought. Editor: The restrained palette, almost monochromatic, reinforces the feeling of a distant time, reinforcing a visual encoding. Did Hessemer make this on site or recreate it later? Curator: It was made onsite and likely for engravings of architecture. Architectural drawing was experiencing increasing prominence as urban planning increased throughout European centers. I feel this speaks to the democratization of information during this time. Editor: Absolutely, it’s intriguing how the precision demanded by architectural rendering merges with the evocative power of landscape. The way the foliage is rendered is also so deliberate, not merely decorative. Curator: It offers an invitation, I think, for the viewer to imagine Assisi—not just as a place, but as an idea, a source of potential and inspiration at a time when industrialization and revolution threatened to engulf the continent. Editor: A faded utopia perhaps? Thank you for sharing the interesting points about Hessemer’s influences. I will definitely revisit this piece now, considering the impact the social climate had on the art of this period. Curator: Thank you! Seeing your view, focused on pure aesthetics, helps show how "View of Assisi" manages to be both a rendering and something much more profound.