Striking States of Nature
German painter Oswald Achenbach (1827-1905) studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, as did his elder brother, the painter Andreas Achenbach (1815-1910). Oswald’s brother was the main influence on him, other than his teacher, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807-1863). At a very early stage in his artistic development, he began to prepare studies for landscapes in the area around Düsseldorf, sketching boulders, rocks, bushes, trees and people. From 1843 he went on many study tours, visiting Bavaria in 1843 and northern Italy and Switzerland in 1845. The Bavarian and Italian Alps stimulated him to create a unified approach to landscape painting. Achenbach's favorite theme was the striking states of nature: a moonlit night, thunderclouds, fog, and so on. In the present work, his effective approach doubles the real-life event in pursuit of the same goal--a powerful visual impression.