(Vienna 1824–1892) Austrian Infantry Camp in Lombardy, signed, inscribed and dated Richter Mailand 1858, on the reverse remains of an old label, inscribed: Wilhelm Richter gemalt in Mailand 185(8) Österreichisches Friedenslager bei So(mma) in der Lombardei (painted in Milan 185(8) Austrian Peace Camp near So(mma ?) in Lombardy), oil on canvas, 115.5 x 143.5 cm, framed, (W)

The painting probably shows a military camp belonging to the k.k. Hungarian infantry regiment FZM (Feldzeugmeister) Franz Graf Gyulay no. 33. The painting is probably identical to a work of Richter’s presented in 1859 at the annual exhibition of the St Anna art academy and which was auctioned off for 235 florins (see Wurzbach, Biographies Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, vol. 26, p. 65f). The article by Wurzbach in his biography on Wilhelm Richter quotes the title as Peace Camp near Somma.
The portrait, genre and military painter Wilhelm Richter was a pupil at the Vienna Academy under Johann Nepomuk Ender and Leopold Kupelwieser. He was active at k.k. headquarters as a battle painter during the campaigns of 1848, 1859, 1864 and 1866. “The large number of works depicting soldiers and battles on these battlefields are extremely vivid, and quickly earned (…) Richter a reputation as an excellent battle painter (…). By frequently and regularly exhibiting at the St Anna exhibitions (from 1838), with the Austrian Kunstverein and at the 2nd international art exhibition in Vienna (1871), Richter consistently demonstrated the high quality of his lively style of painting”. (Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon vol. 9, p. 131)