View of Livorno from the Sanctuary of Montenero (1800)

signed, dated and titled lower left: “Filippo Hackert, depise 1800 / View of Livorno taken from Montenero”

Provenance: Montenero, Villa Mayer (?); Augsburg, private collection; London, Dover Street Gallery (1998); private collection

Bibliography: C. Nordhoff, Due capolavori per una regina: scoperte su una coppia di quadri di Jackob Philipp Hackert, in “Bollettino d’Arte” 128, 2004, pp. 115-122, fig. 4.

In 1799, the life and career of Jakob Philipp Hackert (1737–1807), a leading figure in European landscape painting between the 18th and 19th centuries, underwent a sudden and traumatic change. As court artist to the King of Naples for over twenty years, Hackert enjoyed a position of exceptional prestige in the Kingdom: he had the sovereign’s complete trust, resided permanently at Palazzo Francavilla and held a vast collection of drawings, studies and paintings, the fruit of a mature and recognised career. However, this balance, built up over time, was overturned by the revolutionary events that shook southern Italy.

As early as December 1798, Ferdinand IV and the court were forced to take refuge in Palermo; the following year, Naples plunged into a spiral of violence and instability that culminated in the so-called Lazzaroni revolution and the French occupation. In this context, Hackert lost not only his official position, but also the material security and social recognition he had achieved over decades of work. Forced to abandon his home, he witnessed the dispersal of a significant part of his life’s work. The resulting sense of loss and profound bitterness emerges with extraordinary intensity in the long letter addressed to the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton, one of the most touching and revealing documents in his biography.

Paradoxically, decisive help came from a French officer, General Rey, who offered the artist protection and made his escape possible. This gesture saved Hackert, but irreversibly compromised his position at the Bourbon court. On 20 March 1799, he left Naples together with his brother Georg, the painter Friedrich Wilhelm Tischbein and the Danish consul Christian Heigelin. The journey north was long and dangerous: the group encountered pirate ships and finally arrived in Livorno, where they were subjected to the strict quarantine required for those coming from territories considered at risk.

With the possibility of moving to England now out of the question – impractical both because of the political situation and the lack of concrete prospects – Hackert decided to stay in Tuscany. Pisa became his first residence: a city far removed from the grand political scene, but rich in scenic and cultural attractions. Here, the artist gradually regained his balance after the dramatic months he had experienced in Naples. As he himself recalls in a letter dated 1801, this period was marked by intense and focused work, carried out in a relatively calm and concentrated environment.

The works produced during these years testify to a renewed interest in the direct observation of nature and atmospheric phenomena. Hackert looked at the landscape with an almost scientific attention, investigating the light, the movement of the clouds, the sudden rains, the storms and the mists that veiled the horizon. This gave rise to small and medium-sized paintings, conceived as personal exercises and moments of pictorial reflection rather than works intended for the market. Alongside these more intimate compositions, the artist also produced views from life, as evidenced by two small paintings depicting the sea bridge in Pisa, a precious visual testimony to the place where he spent the first year of his exile.

Hackert was nevertheless aware that his artistic survival could not be based solely on introspection. In order to rebuild his career, he needed to re-establish relationships with cultured and influential patrons. In this perspective, Florence stood out as a natural point of reference: an artistic centre of primary importance, easily accessible from Pisa and a fundamental hub of cultural relations. A letter from his brother Georg to the engraver Raffaello Morghen, dated September 1799, reveals that his network of contacts in Rome was still active. Morghen immediately set about selling Georg’s engravings, while some of Philipp’s works were sent to collectors and officials connected with the Florentine milieu.

In this climate of slow but concrete reconstruction, Hackert began work on several large landscapes between Pisa and Livorno, executed on his own initiative but clearly intended for high-ranking patrons. There are two main works from this period: the View of the Medici Aqueduct near Pisa from 1799, perhaps conceived as a gift for Grand Duke Ferdinand III, then in exile and engaged in important infrastructure projects in the Pisa area; and the View of Livorno from the Sanctuary of Montenero, executed the following year, probably intended as a companion piece to the previous one. The two canvases share not only formal similarities but also a precise geographical layout, forming part of an ideal visual route connecting Pisa, the Arno plain and the port of Livorno.

In the View of Livorno from the Sanctuary of Montenero, Hackert demonstrates an extraordinary ability to combine topographical precision with a poetic construction of the landscape. The vantage point is the hill of Montenero, dominated by the famous sanctuary, which offers a sweeping view of the coast and the hinterland. On the left lies the city of Livorno, with its harbour bustling with numerous boats; the 14th-century Torre del Fanale, destroyed in 1941, and the Torre del Marzocco from 1439 can be recognised, while the octagonal dome of the church of Santa Caterina, built in 1720 in the Venezia Nuova district, emerges from among the rooftops. To the right lies the Arno plain, with the 11th-century Romanesque church of San Piero a Grado – built, according to tradition, on the site where the apostle Peter landed – with its bell tower, destroyed in 1911. Beyond the plain, Pisa stands out, recognisable by its cathedral, leaning tower and baptistery; in the background, veiled by a light atmospheric mist, the Apuan Alps stand out.

The landscape is animated by discreet but eloquent presences: a shepherd with his flock, a wealthy family probably visiting the sanctuary, the villas scattered on the slopes of Montenero, including the one belonging to the Codda family, which still exists today. These elements introduce a dimension of everyday life that dialogues with the monumentality of the view and reinforces its narrative character. The descriptions of contemporary travellers, such as Joseph von Rehfues and Ernst Moritz Arndt, confirm the accuracy of Hackert’s representation and help to understand the fame of the place as a privileged panoramic observation point.

One detail in the scene takes on a significance that is anything but marginal: the presence, in front of the harbour, of a small naval squadron accompanied by the smoke of cannon fire. In the absence of warlike events in Livorno between 1799 and 1801, this element should be interpreted in a symbolic and celebratory key. It is plausible that Hackert wanted to allude to the landing of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples in June 1800. This interpretation is significantly corroborated by an engraving by François Morel, based on a drawing by Omobono Roselli, which depicts the arrival of the sovereign from a similar viewpoint and is clearly inspired by the composition of the painting.

According to the testimony of the previous owners, the View of Livorno from the Sanctuary of Montenero and its pendant come from Villa Mayer in Montenero, near the sanctuary, then the residence of the family of German merchants of the same name who moved from Augsburg to Tuscany in the second half of the 18th century. Again according to family tradition – although there is no documentary evidence – the painting was executed by Hackert from this villa, observing the panorama directly and then rendering it on canvas with exceptional precision and sensitivity to light.

In this regard, it is significant to note that Hackert, who died in 1807 in San Piero a Careggi, near Florence, was buried in Livorno, in the Giardino degli Olandesi (Garden of the Dutch). The city that had welcomed him during his flight from Naples and inspired some of his most thoughtful views thus became the guardian of his memory. From the summit of Montenero, with his gaze embracing the port, the plain and the city, Hackert transforms the landscape into a silent narrative: every ship, every tower, every ray of light seems to bear witness to a thread of continuity between life and art, between historical chaos and formal harmony. From this perspective, the View of Livorno from the Sanctuary of Montenero is not only an undisputed masterpiece of early 19th-century landscape painting, but also a true autobiographical testimony: an image of order and serenity born out of the turmoil of history, a silent declaration of faith in the ability of art to outlast the vicissitudes of life.

Stefano Bosi