Lot 1511 Dα

In this work, a panoramic landscape bathed in the warm light of the evening sun opens up before the viewer's eyes, as they are led by a tall rock formation with a round temple at its summit on the left, over gently rolling hills and rivers towards a large lake in the distance. The landscape is populated in the foreground by a group of figures in classical costume shown returning from the hunt with their dogs, spears, bows and birds, whilst an old man sits on the right edge of the work.
Johann Nepomuk Schödlberger was born in Vienna in 1779. He learnt landscape painting during his sojourns to Italy and by studying the works of old masters such as Jacob van Ruisdael and Claude Lorrain. Both the composition with its bright, warm lighting as well as individual motifs such as the rocky waterfall (reminiscent of the landscape around Tivoli) and the mythological figures in the foreground clearly display the influence of the great French landscape painter. The figural group represents the goddess Diana and her retinue passing by the poet Homer as they return from the hunt.
Schödlberger was famed for his classical Arcadian landscapes, and his patrons included Emperor Francis I and King Ludwig I of Bavaria. He began teaching at the Vienna Art Academy in 1816, where Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller was among his pupils.