Lot 2281 Dα

Oswald Achenbach skilfully arranges the individual elements of the landscape, the ruins of the aqueduct, the trees in the foreground and the town on the mountain in the distance, to evoke the vastness of the Campagna. The trees in the centre of the painting occupy the space from top to bottom, but allow a view of the city in the background, situated on a rocky outcrop. The tower of a Baroque church and the façade of a Medieval building form a striking silhouette, illuminated by the warm evening light. Achenbach also painted the same city from a different angle, whereby the tall trees do not form the centre of the image, but act as repoussoir motifs on either side (cf. J. Heinrich Schmidt: Oswald Achenbach, 2nd ed., Düsseldorf 1946, p. 6, fig. 61).