Jakob Philipp Hackert

  • 1737–1807
  • Stages: 3

Prenzlau 1737 – San Piero di Careggi 1807

Prussian landscape painter, from 1786 court painter to Ferdinand IV. Goethe visits him on 28 February 1787 in the wing of Palazzo Francavilla the king has granted him, and sketches his character in a few lines: a decided, shrewd man who, for all his unremitting work, knows how to enjoy life. At Caserta, in mid-March, he puts him up in the old palace: Hackert makes everyone his pupil, and tells Goethe that he has talent but cannot do anything. It is he again who, in May, gets him shown Hamilton's secret collections. The bond lasts: after the painter's death it is Goethe who edits his biography, "Philipp Hackert" (1811), from his papers.

Main image: AI reconstruction at the age 50, as in 1787, based on the period portrait (SPUN, 2026).

Jakob Philipp Hackert
The period portrait. Augusto Nicodemo, portrait of Jakob Philipp Hackert, 1797. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Sources: J. W. Goethe, Italienische Reise; J. W. Goethe, Philipp Hackert (1811).

Jakob Philipp Hackert (ricostruzione AI)
Palazzo Sessa, Hamilton and Emma

Hamilton has made a fine life for himself: rooms in the English taste and a corner view perhaps unique, and after ranging through every realm of creation he has arrived at a beautiful woman.

Palazzo Sessa, Vico Santa Maria a Cappella Vecchia, 80121 Napoli
The palace of Caserta, Hackert and Emma

A guest of Hackert in the old palace, beside the new one «like the Escorial».

Reggia di Caserta, Piazza Carlo di Borbone, 81100 Caserta
Palazzo Francavilla, visiting Hackert

First visit to Jakob Philipp Hackert, the landscape painter favoured by the king and queen, who lives in a wing of the Palazzo Francavilla: a man who combines incessant work with the enjoyment of life.

Via Chiaia 139, 80121 Napoli

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