1357 - Oswald Achenbach (1827 Düsseldorf – 1905, ibid.)

Oswald Achenbach (1827 Düsseldorf – 1905, ibid.) “Near Naples.” Original title This work by Oswald Achenbach, dated 1878, is presumably the painting described by Boetticher, which the artist first exhibited in 1879 at the Berlin Academy Exhibition (cat. no. 4), followed by the 1880 Annual Exhibition at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna and the 1883 exhibition of the Saxon Art Association in Dresden. The painting depicts an evening scene on the beach of the Gulf of Naples; with a scene in the foreground featuring fishermen and a group of distinguished guests who are about to board the fishermen’s small rowboats to be taken out to sea by them and enjoy the magnificent panoramic view of Mount Vesuvius in the soft evening light of the setting sun. This draws the viewer directly into the landscape and the scene, as if one were about to step into one of the boats oneself. For his painting, Achenbach chose a vantage point on Chiaia, which to this day offers the best and most beautiful view of the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius. In a series of different versions, the artist painted both the landscape motif and the scene on multiple occasions. Stylistically, this Naples landscape reveals Achenbach as a significant precursor to the Impressionists, who developed his own style through his engagement with Courbet and Turner. The primary source of atmosphere is the distinctive Mediterranean light and color palette, which Achenbach employed here in a masterful, striking, and nuanced manner. These lighting and color effects result in a modern, Impressionist dissolution of contours and pictorial elements. Achenbach, a leading representative of the Düsseldorf School of Painting and an influential professor at the Academy of Fine Arts (1863–1872), is considered one of the most significant German landscape painters of the 19th century; Independently of French Impressionism, he developed comparable stylistic devices and artistic intentions. Since his first major trip to Italy in 1850, the country had been the primary subject and source of inspiration for his art. Even while teaching, Achenbach undertook numerous journeys. The basis for this work, “Near Naples,” consists of the oil and pencil sketches that Achenbach created during his long journey through Italy in 1871–72, which took him via Florence and Rome to Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Capri, and Ischia. Drawing from this vast repertoire of motifs and the profound impressions he had experienced firsthand, he later composed, in his studio, an ever-changing series of Italian landscapes that brought him fame and acclaim not only in Germany. Oil on canvas; signed and dated on the reverse “Osw. Achenbach 1878.” 65.5 cm x 92 cm. Framed. See/Lit.: Cat. “53rd Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, Berlin, 1879,” p. 1, no. 4; Boetticher, Vol. II/1, pp. 10–14, no. 88. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1878.