(Dresden 1810–1867)
A View of Dresden at Sunset, signed (in ligature), dated ACastell 1861, oil on canvas laid down on board, 25.5 x 35 cm, framed

Provenance:
Sale, Grisebach, Berlin, 1 December 2021, Lot 139;
Private Collection, Germany.

Johann Anton Castell was a German landscape painter. Castell originally started studying at the Dresden Akademie in 1827 but was dismissed for neglecting his duties. He then was taken on by Norwegian landscape painter Johann Christian Clausen Dahl who encouraged him to copy works from other artists to perfect his technique and to travel to diversify his subject matters. As a result, despite being based in Dresden for most of his life, Castell also painted many landscapes from Bohemia, Switzerland Tyrol and Vienna.

Castell often made use of atmospheric perspective, choosing to place architectural elements in the background with a path or a winding body of water. This works makes no exception, as it shows an elevated view of Albrechtsberg Palace along the Elbe, with the river winding towards a distant Dresden. Castell frames his cityscape with a pictorial natural backdrop, furthering the feeling of distance and allowing nature and architecture to interact in a distinctive Romantic manner.

Completed in 1854, Albrechtsberg Palace was designed in a neoclassical style by the Prussian court at the request of the Prussian King Frederick William IV’s brother Prince Albert of Prussia. Although it had previously been the sight of vineyards and a manor, Adolf Lohse designed the plans for the current building.