Lot 443: Runge, Philipp Otto1777 Wolgast - 1810 Hamburg Der Tempel des Glücks.

Runge, Philipp Otto
1777 Wolgast - 1810 Hamburg

Der Tempel des Glücks.
Black silhouette collage (leaf gold, partially coloured green). 28,2 x 32,2cm. Framed. Examined in the frame.

Exhibition:
Hamburger Kunsthalle/Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich 2010/2011, Cat.-No. 261,
fig.

Provenance:
Private collection, Rhineland

Literature:
Berts, Markus et al.(ed.): Kosmos Runge - Der Morgen der Romantik, München 2010, Cat.-No.
261, p.346 et seq. with fig. (published for the first time.)

Since his childhood, Philip Otto Runge has been dedicated to the silhouette and has since then developed it into a subtle, intuitive use of design. A striking example of this is the work presented here which is presumably an early work. [Translated from Cosima Schwark, in the publication mentioned above, p.346.]

In a series of allegorical representations of temples using this same technique, the artist concerns himself with the social themes of contentment and personal happiness. Accordingly, this is the focus of our work presented above. On the inscription, underneath the dome the phrase "Der Tempel des Glücks" [translated: "The Temple of Happiness"] is written and the vault is crowned by the goddess Fortuna holding a ball and veil. These reminds us of the fragility of happiness. In and around the temple are very detailed scenes clustered together: In the interior a couple is sitting at a table facing each other; to their left two children are playing; across from them a group of people are celebrating at a table; to their right is a hermit praying in a cave, while a man climbs the outside steps to go to church; and under them two hunters are taking a break and having a drink. Amongst the crowd the old and young are depicted together aspiring to be complete and happy by being generous and abstentious.

Naivety, romanticism, and optimism are portrayed by the artist as his world view, in which he combines reality and fantasy. So let's understand his silhouette "as a symbol of an ideal society, considered at a time characterized by upheaval since the French Revolution. Intuitively he carried through his early romantic ideas, taking on the zeitgeist and already using a symbolic language, which became a characteristic of his work. The unity of all things, that Runge later formulated in his work, seems to be addressed earlier in this silhouette. " [Translated from Cosima Schwank, ibid.]