Henrich Max Imhof

HEINRICH MAX IMHOF (Switzerland, 1795/98–Rome, 1869).
“Hagar and Ishmael,” Rome, 1849.
Carrara marble.
With an inscription on the base.
Reference: Dieter Ulrich, “Imhof, Heinrich Max,” in Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HLS), version dated January 22, 2008. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/022035/2008-01-22/ accessed October 10, 2025.
In good condition.
Measurements: 23 x 73 x 46 cm.

Possessing great expressive power and technical refinement, the sculpture up for auction was carved from Carrara marble by Heinrich Max Imhof, a Swiss sculptor based in Rome and a leading figure of international Neoclassicism. The scene recreates the dramatic biblical episode of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert of Beersheba, when, after running out of water, mother and son are left to fend for themselves before being rescued by divine intervention. Imhof focuses the emotional impact on the dialogue between the two figures: Ishmael, half-naked and exhausted, looks up at his mother while holding out the empty vessel, while Hagar bows her head and raises a hand to her forehead in a restrained gesture of grief. Far from resorting to exaggerated drama, the sculptor transforms suffering into a scene of serene intensity, in keeping with the neoclassical ideals of balance, beauty, and expressive restraint. The delicate idealization of the faces and anatomies, along with the virtuosity in the treatment of the drapery and the various surfaces of the marble, demonstrates Imhof’s remarkable technical skill and sculptural sensitivity.

The significance of this piece is heightened by the history of the model itself. Imhof conceived the composition in 1842 under the title “Hagar with the Fainting Ishmael” for Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna, thus linking it directly to one of the major patronage circles of imperial Russia; that version later entered the collections of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The composition’s success led to the creation of other versions intended for institutions and collectors, especially after the presentation of Imhof’s works at the Royal Academy in London in 1846, while a plaster model dated 1845 is preserved at the Kunstmuseum Bern. This version, dated in Rome in 1849, should therefore be understood as part of the dissemination of one of the sculptor’s most celebrated models.

A student of the sculptor Johann Gottfried Ebel and later trained in Stuttgart, Imhof settled permanently in Rome in the 1820s, becoming part of the international artistic community that had transformed the city into the leading European center of Neoclassical sculpture. His artistic style developed under the influence of the traditions of Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, characterized by formal purity, expressive serenity, and a refined treatment of marble.