Lot 1107 D α

With its waterfalls, Tivoli to the east of Rome was one of the favourite motifs of landscape painters in Italy. Carl Morgenstern also travelled to this area during his three-year trip to Italy from 1834 to 1837. Numerous drawings, sketches and paintings bear witness to the attraction that this place exerted on the young Frankfurt artist.
A smaller version of this composition, albeit without staffage, recently appeared on the auction market (Bassenge, Berlin, 1.12.2022, lot 6084). It is probably to be understood as a topographical study that will have served as a model for our painting at a later date. It is known that Morgenstern continued to paint Italian landscapes and views later and back in Frankfurt. As the dating on our painting is no longer complete, we do not know when and where our painting was created. In this much larger composition, Morgenstern has enlivened the valley of the Aniene below Tivoli with staffage. On the path across the river, over the bridge and up to old Tivoli, we see people travelling, as well as farmers driving their herds across the bridge, thus transforming the impressive scenery into a peaceful pastoral.l.