(Düsseldorf 1827–1905) Evening Worship at San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, signed Osw. Achenbach, illegible inscription on the reverse, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 52.5 cm, framed, (Rei)

Oswald Achenbach undertook many journeys to Italy. On his third journey, in 1857, he discovered Rome. Oswald Achenbach’s Italian vedute were very well received by his contemporary public. The zenith of his artistic creativity was the period from 1870 to 1895. E. Mai comments, “This quarter century during which Achenbach produced paintings of classical Italian views was, in effect, his way of expressing the sunny optimism of the epoch. Achenbach participated doubly in the greatness, splendour and celebrations of the Gründerzeit period with its material wellbeing. His first contribution was to serve the longing for Italy, one which, since the period of Romanticism, was integral to the bond of friendship between Italy and Germania - a bond unilaterally instigated by the northern partner and therefore programmatic in nature – by providing the artistic backdrop in the form of his beautiful landscapes. His second was to satisfy the fundamental desire of the upper middle-classes to ostentatiously demonstrate their assiduousness in the quest for knowledge, through the material splendour of his large-format colourism, splendidly finished in ornate gold frames. He was a representative of that which official Salon painting from Paris to Berlin understood as grande peinture. It is indisputable that Achenbach understood how to endorse this upper middle-class world of beautiful illusions through his paintings in an expert and mercantile manner, lending these flights of fancy the appearance of brilliant reality. (Published by Martina Sitt, Andreas and Oswald Achenbach, Das A und O der Landschaft, Düsseldorf 1997, exhibition catalogue, p. 55f). M. Potthoff writes in her monograph on Oswald Achenbach: “In analysing the works of other artists and artistic styles, as well as the media of the period, an image of Italy emerges which is novel since the time of Goethe and needs to be understood in terms of the nascent trend of tourism and the role of magazine illustrations and photography in forming tastes.”(M. Potthoff, Oswald Achenbach, Sein Künstlerisches Wirken zur Hochzeit des Bürgertums, Cologne-Berlin 1995, p. 166.) Potthof concludes that, “the German image of Italy becomes one of colour, resulting in paintings which in their choice of scene often reflect the Italian tradition but in their interpretation create new and visionary views. Achenbach’s importance to the art world lies in the role he played in modernising this style of painting.” (M. Potthof, op. cit., p.167) Compare literature: Martina Sitt (publishers), Andreas und Oswald Achenbach, Das A und O der Landschaft, Düsseldorf 1997, exhibition catalogue, ill. p.125. Provenance: Private Swiss property