Carl Wilhelm Götzloff German, 1799-1866

Painted circa 1850.

Together with Carl Rottmann, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (see lot 325) and Wilhelm von Schadow, Carl Wilhelm Götzloff belongs to the great German landscape painters of the nineteenth century. The greatest influence on Götzloff’s career was the artist’s encounter with the marvels of Italy and its radiant southern light. Painting almost exclusively Italian views, Götzloff's best landscapes are characterised by minute detail, clear articulation of depth, and masterful rendering of light, as exemplified by the present work. The illuminated background sets the foreground into relief, backlighting every detail, from the foliage of the trees to the figures. Similarly, the lone figure beneath the cyprus trees to the left draws the eye deeper into the composition across the bay of Palermo towards majestic Mount Pellegrino.

Like many nineteenth century painters, Götzloff was drawn to the majesty of the Italian landscape and to the charm of its people. The present work is an ambitious and masterfully executed composition that combines a rendering of Palermo’s scenic beauty with a depiction of the picturesque Italian peasantry.

Born in Dresden, Götzloff received his training at the city's Academy of Fine Arts, at which Caspar David Friedrich was a tutor. After his first journey to Italy in 1825, Götzloff decided to move permanently to Naples, where he lived until his death in 1866. It is therefore not surprising that his oeuvre should centre on Naples and its beautiful surroundings, albeit Götzloff’s frequent visits to Sicily and travels along the south Italian coastline. Mount Pellegrino is thus a rare work by the artist, not only by virtue of its large scale, which denotes the importance that the artist gave this composition, but also because of its subject matter.

It is possible that Götzloff either decided to depict this specific view because it particularly inspired him, or that he was executing a specific commission. In the nineteenth century, an artist’s choice of subject matter was rarely solely inspired by his surroundings, but also informed by commercial considerations, such as the demands of potential patrons. The development of international tourism in the nineteenth century meant that a new breed of traveller was able to visit the beauty spots of Europe, and views of places high on the agenda of travellers, such as Naples and Palermo, became increasingly popular as tourist momentos of visits there. Whereas travellers on the Grand Tour a century earlier had largely been content with straight ‘veduti’, now demand arose for a more anecdotal reportage which placed greater emphasis on human interest. The enduring appeal of Mount Pellegrino is testimony to Götzloff’s extraordinary skill at capturing Italy’s beauty.

 A similar, much smaller view of Palermo with Monte Pellegrino with different staffage is in the collection of the Hamburger Kunsthalle (see E.A. Lentes, Carl Wilhelm Götzloff: Ein Dresdner Romantiker mit neapolitanischer Heimat, Stuttgart & Zurich, 1996, no. 119, pl. 103).