Wilhelm Johann Karl Zahn

Wilhelm Johann Karl Zahn
Wilhelm Zahn, by C. Newmann, 1848).
Born	21 August 1800 Rodenberg, Germany
Died	22 August 1871 Berlin, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	Painter, Architect, Illustrator, inventor
Notable work	The Most Beautiful Ornaments and the Most Notable Pictures from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiæ (1828–30)

Wilhelm Johann Karl Zahn (21 August 1800 in Rodenberg, Schaumburg – 22 August 1871 in Berlin) was a German architect, painter, art critic and design researcher particularly of Roman interior designs found in the ruins of Pompeii. Wilhelm was born as the fourth of five children of painter Bernhard Zahn, and his wife, Christiane, née Weis according to church records. He attended high schools in Bückeburg and Rinteln where he received a universal education. It was in Rinteln where Zahn studied the classics under a Professor Stein who Zahn remembered with particular affection.

Professional Development

Zahn received lessons in architecture and painting from Andreas Range and Sebastian Weygandt, a portrait painter, in Kassel, Germany. He also studied under German neoclassical architect and garden designer, Heinrich Christoph Jussow. Around 1823/24, while he was in Paris with his brother Georg and Johann Wilhelm Nahl, he attended the studios of Jean-Victor Bertin, a French landscape painter, and Antoine-Jean Gros, a French neoclassical artist known for his historical paintings completed under the patronage of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Following Zahn's stay in Paris, beginning in 1824, he spent three years in Italy, particularly in Pompeii, where he made numerous tracings of wall frescoes in the ruins and in the Museo Borbonico (now the National Archaeological Museum, Naples). He superintended excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii; cast the finest bronzes and silver vases for the Museum Borbonico; After Zahn's return from Italy in 1827, he met celebrated poet and naturalist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Together with the Grand Duke of Weimar, Goethe introduced Zahn to then Crown Prince, later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the Humboldt brothers, Prince Wittgenstein, Schinkel and the sculptor Rauch, as well as other art lovers who promoted the publication of Zahn's drawings from Pompeii. In 1829, Zahn became professor in the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. As an architect and interior designer, he decorated many fine houses and villas in the Pompeiian style in England and the United States.

Works

Zahn's portfolio “The most beautiful ornaments and strangest paintings from Pompeii, Herculanum and Stabiae” published by Verlag Reimer between 1828 and 1830 with 100 plates, many of them printed in color using an improved process in color lithography Zahn invented in 1818. He later continued the successful publication with two more volumes of the same size. In addition, he brought out epoch-spanning model works with ornaments. The focus of his research interest was to obtain templates for arts and crafts. However, with increasing scientific research into antiquity and other art epochs, less importance was attached to his publications.

• The Most Beautiful Ornaments and the Most Notable Pictures from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiæ (1828–30)
• Ornaments of All Classical Periods of Art based on the originals in their peculiar colors (1832–48) Reimer, Berlin, 20 volumes with 100 plates.
• The most beautiful ornaments and curious paintings from Pompeii, Herculanum and Stabiae, from the original drawings made on the spot 2nd episode. Reimer, Berlin (1842–1844).
• The most beautiful ornaments and most remarkable paintings from Pompeii, Herculanum and Stabiae from the original drawings made on the spot 3rd episode. Reimer, Berlin (1852-1859)
• Exquisite ornaments from the entire field of fine arts Reimer, Berlin (1842-1844); 5 volumes with 25 plates.
  • 2nd edition 1853
  • 3rd edition 1870 (Internet Archive)

Sampling of reproductions of Frescos and Mosaics from Pompeii and Herculaneum by Wilhelm Zahn

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  Floating mythological figure from Pompeii
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  Frieze from the Temple of Isis in Pompeii
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  Designs from the walls of the House of the Dioscuri aka House of Castor and Pollux
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  Drawing of Venus Pescatrice (fisherwoman) from the Casa della Pescatrice VII 9 63,60 Pompeii.jpg
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  Fresco depicting winged Cupid and Psyche from the west wall of the exedra in the Casa di Bronzi aka Casa della Parete Nera in Pompeii
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  Fresco from the House of the (Ancient) Hunt aka House of Daedalus and Pasiphae in Pompeii
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  Frescoed wall for a house on the Street of Merchants in Pompeii
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  Frescoed wall from a tavern on the Strada di Mercurio in Pompeii excavated in 1829
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  Frescoed wall from the Casa dei Bronzi aka Casa della Parete Nera in Pompeii
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  Frescoed wall from the Casa dei Capitelli Colorati in Pompeii excavated in 1833
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  Frescoed wall from the Casa del Granduca di Toscana in Pompeii
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  Frescoed wall from the Casa della seconda Fontana di Mosaico (House of the Second - aka Small- Mosaic Fountain in Pompeii
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  Frescoed wall from the Casa della seconda Fontana di Mosaico (House of the Second (Small) Mosaic Fountain in Pompeii excavated in 1827
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  Frescoed wall from the Villa of Diomedes Pompeii
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  Mosaics from the Temple of Venus (left) and Casa dell Iside (et Io) (Right) Pompeii
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  Painted columns and capitals from Casa delle Baccanti,, Casa di Sallustio, Casa del Centauro, Casa dei Capitelli Colorati, Casa del Poeta Tragico in Pompeii
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  Wall pattern from the Casa del Centauro in Pompeii excavated in 1829
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  Watercolor of a wall fresco from a house between the Forum and the Temple of Hercules in Pompeii
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  Fresco from Herculaneum (Apollo, god of music and the arts, watching a female artist)
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  Cross-section of the Casa d'Argo aka Casa di Perseo e Medusa in Herculaneum excavated between 1828-1838
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  Painted capitals from the Casa d'Argo in Herculaneum excavated in 1830

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Zahn, Johann Karl Wilhelm" . Encyclopedia Americana.
• Alfred Gotthold Meyer (1898), "Zahn, Wilhelm Johann Karl", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 44, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 668–670
• Max Schasler: Studies on the characteristics of important contemporary artists, XXXII "Wilhelm Zahn". In: Schasler's Ztschr. "The Dioscuri". 8th year, no. 28–35, 1863, pp. 209–210, 217-219, 225-227, 233-235, 241-243, 249-250, 255-256, 261-262
• Joachim Migl: The pictures in print. Techniques and Importance. In: Marion Mannsperger, Joachim Migl (eds.): Pictures from Pompeii. Second hand antiquity. Traces in Württemberg (exhibition catalog Stuttgart 1998). 1998, p. 27-40.
• Joachim Migl: Wilhelm Zahn's documentation of Pompeian wall paintings as an early color lithograph (with an excursus on technology by Boris Fuchs Scientific aspects). In: Volker Benad-Wagenhoff, Silvia Werfel (ed.): Printing ink between alchemy and high-tech. Annual conference of the International Working Group on Printing History (IAD), November 9 to 11, 2001 in Stuttgart (= contributions to the history of printing). tape 2, 2003, p. 39-60.
• Sylva van der Heyden: Zahn, Wilhelm. In: Bénédicte Savoy, France Nerlich (ed.): Paris apprenticeship. A lexicon of the training of German painters in the French capital. tape 1: 1793–1843. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-029057-8, p. 322-323.
• Arnd Hennemeyer: Wilhelm Zahn's Pompeii publication. An Incunabula of Color Lithography. In: Uta Hassler (ed.): Painting technique & colorants of the Semper period. Hirmer, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-7774-2369-2, p. 98-123.
• María Ocón Fernández: Wilhelm Zahn's work on the wall paintings of Pompeii. Relationship between original, document and copy. In: Uta Hassler (ed.): Polychromy & Knowledge. Hirmer, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-7774-3333-2, pp. 76–97.

External links

• Works by or about Wilhelm Johann Karl Zahn at Internet Archive
• Letter from Johann Wolfgang Goethe to Wilhelm Johann Carl Zahn, Weimar, March 10, 1832. on zeno.org
• Wilhelm Zahn's diary about his first meeting with Goethe (pdf in German)