Lot 2276 D α

This group of works, lots 2276-2282, passed down directly from Adolf Seel through his family to the present day, is highly informative in that it reveals the artist's interests and working methods. Already during his lifetime, Adolf Seel was considered a leading architectural painter of the Düsseldorf School. His travels after studying at the Academy took him to Italy, Spain and Portugal, but also to Northern Africa and the Middle East, Egypt, and Palestine.

The first work in this group, the cloister of the Abbey of San Gregorio in Venice with a view of the dome of Santa Maria della Salute, is an expression of the enthusiasm for Italy that gripped many German artists in the 19th century and which also prompted Adolf Seel to travel there in 1862. It was his fascination with Venice in particular that led to his decision to stay in Italy for a longer period of time. In his rendering of the cloister, Adolf Seel is primarily concerned with capturing the weathered architecture, the glistening southern light and the atmosphere of a hot day in Venice. This is evident in the fact that only the top of the domes of the famous Baroque church Santa Maria della Salute can be seen. In another version of this image (auctioned by Christie's, London, 17.5.2016, lot 54, without topographical determination as „At a well in a sunlit courtyard“) Seel depicts the cloister from a different perspective, with a woman at the fountain, so that it is no longer possible to identify the location and the significance of the famous religious monument takes a back seat to the picturesque quality of the architecture.

In principle, however, Adolf Seel was concerned with both: capturing the architecture precisely and capturing the atmosphere. He recorded the architecture on his travels in numerous sketches, and then transformed these sketches into paintings in his studio. An example of Seel's working method can be seen in an architectural sketch, the study for the painting The Night Watch of 1873 (lot 2277), as the painting executed later also survives (Ill. 1; Christie's, New York, 31.10.2018, lot 157). The sketch captures the monumental forms of the architecture as well as the interplay of colours and light, and the result is an almost modern-looking abstract composition. The painting, executed later, shows the oriental architecture with all its splendid ornamentation, in a more monumental form and supplemented by figures.