(Kassel 1815–1910 Düsseldorf)
The homecoming of the fishermen in stormy seas, signed, dated A. Achenbach (18)71, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 96 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
Christie’s New York, 30 October 1985, lot 116;
Private Collection, Germany.

After studying at the Academy in Düsseldorf, Andreas Achenbach undertook several trips throughout Europe that were to shape his style.
Accompanied by his father he travelled to the Netherlands and Paris in the 1830s. There, he was confronted with the Dutch Masters, Theodore Gudin (1802-1880) and his followers and with Eugène Isabey (1803-1886). Achenbach then took a liking to painting rough sea landscapes with shipwrecks and foamy waters.

A separate corpus of works, depicting Nordic landscapes, is a testimony of his travels up north, while a collection of Italian motifs can be linked to his two-year stay in Italy between 1843 and 1845.

Achenbach, especially after the 1860s, enjoyed depicting men and sailors struggling against nature as well as rescue operations. In fact, one of his most important paintings of shipwrecks has to be the ‘Untergang der President’, where we see the famous passenger liner SS President being swallowed by the ocean.
The present work, with its agitated subject and the boats almost crashing onto the shore, is typical of his production. Although industrialisation is not a major component of his oeuvre, Achenbach liked to include steamboats in his maritime paintings, as here we can see the dark smoke rising in the background, adding a further dramatic element in the composition.

Achenbach’s importance for art history was already recognised during his lifetime, and he is now considered one of Germany’s most important 19th century landscape painters.