Johannes Doell

Johannes Doell made the first illustrated catalogue of Luigi Palma di Cesnola's collection, and the purchase it was meant to prepare never happened. His dates of birth and death are not recorded. Cesnola, who was also Russian consul, offered the collection to the Imperial Hermitage in 1870. The keeper, Leo Stefani, was keen, and the Ministry of the Imperial Court paid for Doell, then an assistant to the keeper, to travel to Cyprus^2,3.

He reached Larnaca in June 1870 with four months and 1,200 roubles beyond his salary. He lodged in Cesnola's house for eight weeks and listed the Golgoi statues, vases, lamps and glass¹. Cesnola reported on 16 August that Doell had finished the Golgoi catalogue the day before². That day Cesnola set his terms: 80,000 silver roubles for everything or 68,000 for Golgoi alone¹. According to Karageorghis, Bukina and their co-authors, Alexander II forbade the deal, and the Hermitage later offered only 3,000 roubles for selected pieces³.

Doell lectured on 12 December 1872 and published Die Sammlung Cesnola in 1873, with 17 plates³. He wrote that the provenances rested only on Cesnola's statements¹. G. L. Feuardent wrote in 1881 that for many objects "we can only rely on the faithful description given by Doell"⁶. At the 1883 libel trial, translations from Doell's memoir were identified in evidence, to be used later in support of Feuardent's claims⁵.