The 19th century - an era of upheaval, decline and new beginnings. In the midst of change, a landscape painter who knows how to capture the horizons where history, present and future meet. Carl Rottmann, who would remain devoted to monumental landscape painting throughout his life, immortalized not mere sections of nature, but sites of historical activity, relics of human civilization. His views will earn him the favor of a king and lead to a break with idealized classicism.
Born the son of a university drawing teacher, Rottmann is predestined to pursue a career in the performing arts. He learns to hold a paintbrush even before he takes his first steps. His father teaches and encourages the young talent. Rottmann spends his youth in the company of artists and free spirits, soaking up influences from Johann Christian Xeller and George Augustus Wallis. It is the pre-Alpine landscapes that awaken Rottmann's sense of aesthetics, his passion for nature, for the traces of history that rise up in it. The mountains and hills, Heidelberg Castle, the Neckar River are among Rottmann's earliest motifs. But the domestic world becomes narrow for him. The young man travels through Germany and Austria, finds inspiration in the Salzburg countryside. In Munich he finally meets his destiny. His marriage to Friederike Sckell brings him to the attention of none other than the Bavarian king.
Just thirty years old and in the prime of his creative power, Rottmann's world suddenly expands. Ludwig I wants a view of Palermo, finances the young painter's trip to Sicily. Rottmann finds himself at a crossroads. The fate of his future work depends on the monarch's approval or disapproval. But he masters the test. Ludwig I becomes an open admirer of Rottmann, who does not shy away from depicting decay and transience. The regent commissioned several cycles of paintings from his favorite landscape painter. The first comprises 28 paintings of Italian landscapes in fresco technique and is to adorn the arcades of the Munich Hofgarten. Rottmann worked for three years on the commission, the completed result of which fell victim far too early to the inclement German weather, the influence of a nearby fountain, and wanton vandalism. But Rottmann knows nothing of this when he begins a second cycle of paintings in 1833. At the request of the king he was to immortalize 38 views of ancient Greek sites. Rottmann undertook an extended trip to Greece, experienced hardships and unrest. Back in Munich, he works under the scrupulous observation of the king, who checks the progress of his work almost daily. But progress was slow. Constantly, new decisions are made about technique, painting background, colors and the exhibition site. The undertaking turns into an odyssey. Rottmann's vision was reduced to 23 works, the completion took almost a third of his life. Although Rottmann was appointed court painter in 1841, shortly after the completion of the Greece cycle, he died, exhausted and tormented by pain, at the age of only 53, of an abdominal disease.
The 19th century - an era of upheaval, decline and new beginnings. In the midst of change, a landscape painter who knows how to capture the horizons where history, present and future meet. Carl Rottmann, who would remain devoted to monumental landscape painting throughout his life, immortalized not mere sections of nature, but sites of historical activity, relics of human civilization. His views will earn him the favor of a king and lead to a break with idealized classicism.
Born the son of a university drawing teacher, Rottmann is predestined to pursue a career in the performing arts. He learns to hold a paintbrush even before he takes his first steps. His father teaches and encourages the young talent. Rottmann spends his youth in the company of artists and free spirits, soaking up influences from Johann Christian Xeller and George Augustus Wallis. It is the pre-Alpine landscapes that awaken Rottmann's sense of aesthetics, his passion for nature, for the traces of history that rise up in it. The mountains and hills, Heidelberg Castle, the Neckar River are among Rottmann's earliest motifs. But the domestic world becomes narrow for him. The young man travels through Germany and Austria, finds inspiration in the Salzburg countryside. In Munich he finally meets his destiny. His marriage to Friederike Sckell brings him to the attention of none other than the Bavarian king.
Just thirty years old and in the prime of his creative power, Rottmann's world suddenly expands. Ludwig I wants a view of Palermo, finances the young painter's trip to Sicily. Rottmann finds himself at a crossroads. The fate of his future work depends on the monarch's approval or disapproval. But he masters the test. Ludwig I becomes an open admirer of Rottmann, who does not shy away from depicting decay and transience. The regent commissioned several cycles of paintings from his favorite landscape painter. The first comprises 28 paintings of Italian landscapes in fresco technique and is to adorn the arcades of the Munich Hofgarten. Rottmann worked for three years on the commission, the completed result of which fell victim far too early to the inclement German weather, the influence of a nearby fountain, and wanton vandalism. But Rottmann knows nothing of this when he begins a second cycle of paintings in 1833. At the request of the king he was to immortalize 38 views of ancient Greek sites. Rottmann undertook an extended trip to Greece, experienced hardships and unrest. Back in Munich, he works under the scrupulous observation of the king, who checks the progress of his work almost daily. But progress was slow. Constantly, new decisions are made about technique, painting background, colors and the exhibition site. The undertaking turns into an odyssey. Rottmann's vision was reduced to 23 works, the completion took almost a third of his life. Although Rottmann was appointed court painter in 1841, shortly after the completion of the Greece cycle, he died, exhausted and tormented by pain, at the age of only 53, of an abdominal disease.
Page 1 / 1