Provenance
Dr. Carl Steinbart [1852-1923], Berlin, by 1885.[1] (Kunsthandlung Fritz Gurlitt, Berlin), in 1886.[2] Julie Ginsberg, Berlin, by 1897.[3] Dr. Arthur von Weinberg [1860-1943], Frankfurt-am-Main, by 1904; by inheritance to his adopted daughters, Charlotte Frederike, Princess Ferdinand Lobkowicz [1896-1973], Frankfurt-am-main, and Marie Elisabeth, Gräfin von Spreti [1892-1969]; presumably by inheritance to Marie Elisabeth's daughter, Alexandra-Beatrix Scherping [b. 1929, née Countess von Spreti], Schloss Pähl, Bavaria. (Galerie Bruno Meissner, Zurich), by 1975;[4] purchased 1976 by NGA.
[1] Steinbart's name is written three times in various locations on the reverse of the panel; see notes and photos in NGA curatorial files.
[2] The Gurlitt name is given in Rolf Andree, _Arnold Böcklin: Die Gemälde_, Basel and Munich, 1977: 451, no. 378, repro.
[3] Mrs. Ginsberg lent the painting to an 1897 exhibition in Berlin.
[4] Provenance provided by Galerie Bruno Meissner. See also letter dated 3 August 1976 from Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz in NGA curatorial files.
Accession Number
1976.36.1
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
overall: 113.8 x 180.5 cm (44 13/16 x 71 1/16 in.) | framed: 142.24 × 210.19 × 8.26 cm (56 × 82 3/4 × 3 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew W. Mellon Fund
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Swiss
Background & Context
Background Story
Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) was a Swiss painter known for his mythological subjects that combine the academic tradition of history painting with the fantastical imagination of Symbolism. The Sanctuary of Hercules from 1884 depicts a temple dedicated to Hercules in a landscape that combines classical architecture with the dark, mysterious atmosphere that distinguishes Böcklin's best work. The 1884 date places this in Böcklin's most productive period, when his mythological paintings had achieved the combination of academic precision and imaginative atmosphere that influenced the development of Symbolism throughout Europe.
Cultural Impact
Böcklin's Sanctuary of Hercules is important in the development of Symbolist painting because it combines the academic tradition of classical subject painting with the dark, mysterious atmosphere that would define Symbolism. The temple, the landscape, and the mythological subject are rendered with the precision of academic painting, but the atmosphere is Böcklin's own—a combination of classical clarity and mysterious foreboding that would influence the Symbolist painters who followed him.
Why It Matters
The Sanctuary of Hercules is Böcklin's academic precision meeting Symbolist atmosphere: a temple dedicated to Hercules rendered with the clarity of classical subject painting but infused with the dark, mysterious atmosphere that would define Symbolism. The 1884 painting influenced the Symbolist painters who followed Böcklin throughout Europe.
![Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/e6890364-4d99-4684-a62b-5060ee3c3446/full/400,/0/default.jpg)
