Lot 1214 Dα

This painting was probably made during one of Schuch's visits to his friend and later biographer Karl Hagemeister in Ferch on Lake Schwielow (1878 and 1881). It was there that, under Hagemeister's tutelege, Schuch discovered the beauty of the forests and lakes of the Mark landscape. In a letter thought to be dated to the spring of 1881, Schuch writes, “I have set myself specific tasks for today, to paint things which I measured out in recent landscape sketches, which are always more usable than so-called motifs. I am so happy to have arrived in a region that does not beguile with a plethora of new subjects, but instead provides studies for those motifs already brought to canvas. Air, water, earth, grass, and the like which can be observed in varying lights and then utilised again and again in the studio...” (cit. from the German in cat. "Carl Schuch", ed. by G. Boehm, R. Dorn und F. A. Morat, Mannheim and Munich 1986, p. 90). A further example of Schuch's landscapes from this region is provided by his “Hohlweg bei Ferch” painted in 1881 (Berlin Museum, Berlin, in cat. "Carl Schuch", op. cit., no. 66).