Lot 260 Rα

The traditional title of this image "The Ventian Lady" draws the observer's attention to the most obvious element of the Berlin artist Carl Ludwig Becker's style. After completing his training at the academy of his hometown, whose president he would later become, Becker moved to Rome in 1845 before leaving for a longer stay in Venice. More so than the Roman, the Venetian school's unique palette and way of seeing had a lasting influence on Becker's artistic development, even following his return to Berlin. The school's painterly charm, sublimity and depiction of matter and atmosphere liberated from outlines all appear in exemplary clarity within this work, which Boetticher dates to 1879.