Lot 2227 Dα

The life and work of the painter Rudolph Suhrlandt were closely connected with the Duchy of Mecklenburg - not only because he was born in Ludwigslust, but above all because of the generous support he received from the prince both during his training at the Dresden Academy and afterwards during his stays in Vienna and Rome. After Suhrlandt's return from Italy in 1816, Grand Duke Frederick Franz I employed him as court painter. Even as such, Suhrlandt was still allowed to travel extensively to London, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and the Netherlands, where he became a highly sought-after portrait painter.
The present work, dated 1825, with its wide view of the Anio valley near Tivoli, was apparently not painted whilst in Italy, but rather several years later in Mecklenburg. Suhrlandt has created a quintessential work of German Romanticism, animated by the pastoral atmosphere of a woodland at early sunset and dominated by the power of the rushing torrent.