Hermann Prell, Half-Length Portrait of a Pharisee, 1885, Chalk

Hermann Prell (1854 Leipzig - 1922 Dresden-Loschwitz). Half-length portrait of a Pharisee, 1885. Study for the right figure to the painting "Judas Ischarioth" from 1886. Drawing heightened with opaque white in pencil and black chalk on beige-gray wove paper (papier vélin), 34 x 27.8 cm, 52 x 45 cm (mount), signed, dated and inscribed "H. PRELL 1885 zu 'Judas'".

Minimally browned, margins backed with adhesive tape, collection stamp on reverse.



- In the shadow of betrayal -


about the work

The painting is the design for the head of the Pharisee who offers Judas the coins in one of Herrmann Prell's major works, the painting "Betrayal of Judas", completed in 1886. The painting belongs to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and is illustrated in: Adolf Rosenberg: Prell, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1901, p. 21 (Fig. 19). In the Thieme-Becker it is specifically highlighted (vol. 27, p. 376).

Hermann Prell, The Betrayal of Judas, 1886.

The monumental-looking head, which fills the picture and is distinguished by the ornamented robe, is almost turned into a lost profile, which is justified in the executed painting by the turning of the Pharisee towards Judas. Despite the fact that the sitter withdraws from the viewer by turning away, it was necessary to artistically elaborate the motivation of the purchase of one of Christ's disciples, which is why the drawing is focused on the expression of the face, while the 'accessories' receive a rather summary treatment. In the characterization of the face, Hermann Prell masters a balancing act: since the Pharisee, despite his destructive actions, is an actor in the history of salvation, the head has to show a dignity corresponding to this event, but at the same time the physiognomy must also bear witness to the intriguing attitude leading to the betrayal. To solve this dilemma, Prell refers to traditional depictions of apostles' heads, shading the face to indicate the obdurate darkness of the spirit and moving the base of the nose slightly upward, while the mouth part drops, thus giving physiognomic expression to the motivation of the action. The fatal drama attached to the betrayal is expressed in the monumentalization of the head as well as in the thunderous white highlights that contrast with the darkness of the chalk. In the form of a study considered by the artist himself to be an independent work, this drawing reveals the pictorial problems and the idea-finding process of monumental painting.


About the artist

In 1872 Prell, who was one of the most important representatives of monumental painting of his time, began studying painting at the Dresden Art Academy with Theodor Grosse and continued his studies in 1876 with Carl Gussow at the Berlin Academy. In 1878 Hans von Marées taught him in Rome. More influential for his oeuvre, however, were Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, with whom Prell had been friends since his student days and collaborated on several occasions.
Prell's first major work, which established his reputation as a monumental painter, was the frescoes of the banqueting hall in the Berlin Architects' House, commissioned by the state in 1881/82 and depicting the epochs of architecture. Following this, Prell went to Italy for two years to study fresco painting intensively. Further major commissions followed. These included monumental frescoes in the town halls of Worms (1884), Hildesheim (1882-92), Danzig (1895) and Dresden, the painting of the staircase of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Breslau (1893/94), the throne room of the German Embassy in Rome (1896-99) and the staircase of the Albertinum in Dresden (1900-1904).
from 1886 Prell taught at the Berlin Art Academy, and in 1892 he was appointed professor at the Dresden Art Academy to head the master studio for history painting. Among his students were Osmar Schindler and Hans Unger. During his time in Dresden, Prell belonged to the group around Carl Bantzer, which later formed the Goppeln artists' colony.
An extensive collection from Hermann Prell's estate is kept at the Städtische Galerie Dresden. Otto Schiller and Martin Schauss made busts and Walter Witting an honorary medal of Hermann Prell. In the Roemer Museum in Hildesheim, an entire room was formerly dedicated to Hermann Prell. In 1945, a large number of Prell's important works were lost.

"Starting from studies, Prell focused on an ideal style based on the forms of the High Renaissance, but aimed at naturalistic-illusionist effect. In the overall composition of his cycles, Prell strove to ignore the wall in the Baroque sense and to give the visitor a feeling of spatial expansion through fictitious breakthroughs of the same."

Hans Vollmer in Thieme-Becker


Selection of public collections that own works by Hermann Prell:

Albertinum Dresden, Städtische Kunstsammlung Chemnitz, Stadtmuseum Bautzen.