Lot number 3710 - Auction 155
BILDNIS EINES GELEHRTEN ODER ARZTES MIT THERMOMETHER

FRANZ XAVER HORNÖCK 1751 Schönau (Lower Bavaria) - 18 January 1822 Salzburg PORTRAIT OF A SCHOLAR OR DOCTOR WITH A THERMOMETER Oil on canvas. 61 x 42 cm (F. 71.5 x 52.5 cm). Signed and dated lower left: "F. Xaver Hornöck pinxit 1809". Old rest., wavy and dirty surface, min. damaged, frame. The painting shows the bust of a middle-aged man dressed in bourgeois clothing, who looks at the viewer in a calm, concentrated manner. In his left hand he holds a thermometer, whose carefully reproduced scale is unmistakably to be understood as a deliberately placed attribute. The restrained, dark clothing without any representative insignia and the simple background draw the viewer's gaze entirely to the physiognomy and gesture. Hornöck dispenses with any form of Baroque representation or heroic exaggeration. Instead, he creates a sober portrait focused on inner attitude, which characterises the subject as a representative of an enlightened, rational understanding of the world. The thermometer here functions not merely as a professional symbol, but as an emblem of the Enlightenment: it stands for measurability, empirical knowledge and scientific rationality - central concepts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By 1800, the thermometer had developed from a scientific innovation into an established instrument of medical and scientific practice, thus becoming a symbol of the belief in progress. The subject thus appears as a physician, natural scientist or educated Enlightenment figure, defined not by professional insignia but by knowledge and methodical thinking. The calm seriousness of his facial expression underscores this self-image of a person committed to reason and observation. Stylistically, the work stands at the threshold between late Baroque and Classicism. The clear composition, muted colours and psychological insight into the subject correspond to the portrait ideal of the Enlightenment, which values truthfulness and character over external glamour. Hornöck proves himself here to be a sensitive portraitist of a new bourgeois-scientific elite. The painting is an impressive testimony to the intellectual climate around 1800: it embodies the transition from a theologically influenced worldview to a way of thinking determined by reason, science and experience. In this respect, the portrait is not only an individual portrait, but also a programmatic image of the Enlightenment. Provenance: Private collection, Rhineland.