Lot 2151 Dα

Michael Neher came from a family of artists in Biberach which brought forth several painters. He studied at the Munich academy for three years as of 1813 and was taught there by the court painter Matthias Klotz, the genre painter Angelo Quaglio the Elder and by the architectural painter Domenico Quaglio from 1818 onwards. After his training, Neher travelled to Italy in 1819, where he resided for some time in Trento before travelling the length of the country, from the north to Naples, until 1823. He had both friendly and professional contact to many artists such as Ernst Fries, Oehme, Ludwig Richter and the Nazarene circle of Overbeck and Cornelius, but especially with the group of South German painters in the entourage of King Ludwig of Bavaria. He shared a studio with Heinrich Maria von Hess, who encouraged the then 23 year old Neher to pursue architectural painting. He dedicated himself to this genre for the rest of his life, becoming one of the most influential German architecture painters of the early 19th century.
This work was painted in 1851 and depicts the former free imperial city of Donauwörth, located at the mouth of the river Wörnitz where it flows into the Danube. In this painting, the mature and already highly successful painter Neher impressively proves his skill in accurately depicting the historic city, combining it with the elegant, and often humorous, figural staffage typical of the Biedermeier era. In this case, a young woman drops her washing basket in surprise when water rains down on her from a drainpipe above.
The work captures the view of an idyllic corner inside Donauwörth's city walls. The location depicted is Spitalgasse looking towards the Holy Cross Church. On the left, we see the part of the old city walls with an opening to the small river Wörlitz, where the inhabitants of Donauwörth used to wash and dry their laundry. In the background we catch a glimpse of the round tower of the Riedertor between the city's gables. In the centre of the work, the viewer's gaze is led along the narrow alleys and crowded homes towards the distinctive spire of the Holy Cross Church.
This painting will be included in Günther Meier's forthcoming catalogue raisonné.