FRANZ LUDWIG HERMANN (GERMAN, 1723-1791) The Dedication of ...

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FRANZ LUDWIG HERMANN (GERMAN, 1723-1791) The Dedication of the Temple of Solomon Oil on canvas, 173 x 354cm Signed and inscribed Invenit & Pinxit Anno MDCCXX Franz Ludwig Hermann was thought to have been born in Ettal, Bavaria in 1723, although 1710 has also been suggested as his date of birth. Not a great deal has been written about his life, however we do know he was the son of the painter Franz Georg the Younger (1692–1768), with whom he received his artistic training. Ludwig Hermann was educated at the Noble Academy of the Ettal Benedictines. After he married in 1750, he predominantly lived and worked in the Lake Constance region, where he is said to have painted ceiling frescoes in more than twenty churches. Hermann was also a court painter for the Prince-Bishopric of Constance, a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. One of Hermann’s many commissions around lake Constance, was Münsterlingen Abbey. In fact, the only work by Herrmann in a UK public collection is a portrait of Anna Gertrude Hofner, Abbess of Münsterlingen, which is housed in the Bowes Museum, Durham. While a drawing titled The Archangel Michael Banishing Vice, from 1782 is held in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Monumental in scale, The Dedication of the Temple of Solomon (1760) is one of several known works Hermann created depicting King Solomon. Solomon was the son of David and is believed to be responsible for undertaking construction of the First Temple and home for the Ark of the Covenant on what it thought to be the site of the present-day Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock presides in Jerusalem. The painting depicts a fantastical view of the Temple, where early Jewish iconography sits alongside more contemporary Italianate Mannerism. The viewers’ attention is drawn primarily to the large plume of smoke arising from the centre of the picture, which symbolises an overpowering cloud that interrupted the dedication ceremony as a sign from God, indicating Solomon’s success in creating an exalted house and seat for the Ark. Solomon kneels in the foreground as he leads the assembly in prayer, flanked by lion cubs, soldiers and an entourage. The dedication was concluded with musical celebration and sacrifices said to have included twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. Much of the architectural language in the painting is borrowed from 17th century prints such as those of Jan Luyken (Amsterdam 1649-1712). We see objects associated with historical accounts of the Temple such as the raised sacrificial alter and Brazen Sea, a large bronze sculpture that stood in the Inner Court of the Temple and was formed of twelve oxen beneath a large basin. We can also see the ten bronze lavers present in the composition, which are described in the bible as being placed around the Temple building itself, five on the north side and the other five on the south, being used for washing the hands and feet of the priests before ritual service. The bottom flanks of the picture are filled with attendants, minstrels and perhaps merchants. Whilst the door of the temple is open and we catch a tantalising glimpse inside its gilded entrance hall, which led the way to the most sacred room of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, which in turn housed the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred relic for both Christians and the Israelites, containing the two stone tables bearing the Ten Commandments.