Lot 1183 Dα

Carl Christian Sparmann is considered one of the most important of Johann Christian Clausen Dahl's pupils at the Dresden Academy. Following his apprenticeship he was called to Arenberg Palace near Constance as drawing teacher to Prince Louis Napoleon, the later Emperor Napoleon III. This was in the year 1836, the year when this work was painted, which explains the artist's knowledge of this Swiss region of Lake Constance. Louis Napoleon himself returned to Arenberg in 1837 to visit his mother Hortense Beauharnais as she lay dying.
Although the circumstances under which this work was made are not known, the fine detail of the vegetation and the view of the lake in the distance reveal the influence of the Dresden Romantics on Sparmann's artistic style.