(Frankfurt/Main 1789-1872 Vienna) A view of Persenbeug Castle and Ybbs upon the Danube, titled on the mount, signed and dated J. Alt 1823, watercolour on paper, 43 x 59 cm, old mount, framed, damaged (two tears to upper margin), (Hu)

Jacob Alt came to Vienna from Frankfurt am Main in 1810. Contrary to earlier assumptions he did not study history painting at the Vienna Academy but had to make a living after having founded a family. Between 1813 and 1820 he worked for the Kunstverlag Artaria and created the series "Mahlerische und merkwürdige Ansichten der verschiedenen Provinzen der österreichischen Monarchie und der benachbarten Länder". Thereafter he edited the series "Donau-Ansichten vom Ursprung bis zum Ausflusse ins Schwarze Meer" which comprised 264 sheets and which was published by the lithographic company Adolph Kunike in Vienna in 1826. The present sheet may fall into this period and is to date to 1824. It shows the artist on the threshold of depicting ideal landscapes to rendering reality topographically. In our sheet he combines the compact appearance of Persenbeug castle above the Danube river with a very pittoresque foreground in which trees and peasants can be seen. The colouring is quite restrained. Jacob Alt painted the castle from the west. In the right background one can see the town of Ybbs with its parish church St. Lorenz. (Compare: Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Maria Luise Sternath (Eds.), Rudolf von Alt 1812-1905, Exhibtion catalogue, Vienna 2005, pp. 65-73.)

We are grateful to Dr. Maria Luise Sternath, Vienna, for the scientific support.