Christian August Lobeck, Classical Scholar, Lithograph by Engelmann, circa 1850
€ 175
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1850
Mapmaker / artist
Engelmann (lithographer), L. Zöllner, Berlin (printer)
Publisher
H. L. Voigt, Königsberg in Prussia
Technique
Lithograph
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
28 × 22 cm (11.0 × 8.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-52
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good condition for its age. Light toning; small chips and short tears along the left edge, small dark spots in the lower left margin and a few tiny white marks in the image. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
A lithographed portrait of the classical scholar Christian August Lobeck, shown in strict profile to the right, bust length, with thick tousled hair, deeply lined features and a high white stock beneath a dark buttoned coat. The image is drawn in soft crayon tones on the stone and vignetted into a rounded field of shading. Beneath it is the facsimile signature "Lobeck", and the sheet carries three lines of lettering: "Lith. v. Engelmann" at lower left, "Druck v. L. Zöllner in Berlin" at lower right, and at the foot "Verlag v. H. L. Voigt in Koenigsberg i/P." (published by H. L. Voigt in Königsberg in Prussia).
Lobeck (1781 to 1860) was born in Naumburg and taught at the University of Königsberg from 1814 until his death, for more than four decades one of the leading figures of German classical scholarship. His Aglaophamus of 1829, a critical study of the ancient Greek mysteries, swept away generations of speculation about secret wisdom in the cults of Eleusis and Samothrace and remains a landmark in the study of Greek religion. He also published widely on Greek grammar and word formation.
The Königsberg imprint ties the print to the city where Lobeck spent his career, and the sitter's age in the portrait, together with the style of the lithography, suggests a date around 1850, late in his long tenure.
Lithography gave the German portrait print its characteristic softness in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, and this sheet shows the medium at its best: the hair is drawn with quick, broken strokes, the face built up in delicate gradations, and the profile set crisply against the darker ground.
A fine portrait for a classicist, a university library or a collection of German academic portraits, and a reminder of the great age of Prussian scholarship in Königsberg, today Kaliningrad.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
