Lot 1574 Rα

Heinrich Hermanns was born in Düsseldorf and later studied at the then world-famous Düsseldorf Academy, where he was most influenced by the work of Eugen Dücker. He then took a series of extensive educational sojourns to various foreign countries including Italy, but it was Dutch city views that became most strongly connected with his oeuvre.
After returning from his travels, Hermanns became a founding member of the “Freie Vereinigung Düsseldorfer Künstler” whose aim was to fuse the artistic ideals of the Hague and Barbizon schools with the principles of Impressionism.
This large panorama of a Dutch canal perfectly exemplifies these artistic ambitions, capturing the impression of the misty, humid day, the reflections in the water and the wet pavement running along the canal, the light shining through the lush foliage of the trees, the busy vegetable sellers, and the hazy contours of the church in the distance. Hermanns captures this in vivid colours and broad brushstrokes on an unusually large canvas to create a work which is without doubt one of his greatest masterpieces.