Lot 1437 Dα

From 1836 to 37, Dresden hosted an exhibition of works by the Düsseldorf School of painters which caused a sensation in this city on the Elbe and left a deep impression upon the artist Ludwig Richter. In a letter to Wilhlem von Kügelgen dated 5th February 1837 he wrote: “Seeing the landscapes of Schirmer, Koekkoek and Pose kindled in me a way by which to see and understand nature in a new light, for which I am truly thankful; in fact I just now painted a little picture: A small stream beneath alder trees, the delightful sun shining through to its stony bed and revealing the fish swimming in its waters. Children looking for crabs in the background. It is rendered differently than my previous works” (L. Richteri 1909, p. 729). Art historians Bischoff and Spitzer both suspect that the “little picture” mentioned in the letter, to mean the present work, the whereabouts of which were unknown at the time of the 2004 200th birthday exhibition in Dresden and Munich. Richter elaborated on the “different” quality of the image in the same letter: “Instead of concentrating on lines, I wish this summer to apply myself more to the effects and moods of nature, to listen more closely to the pulsing of natural life and to try to depict it better, as it is in this - as I sadly only realised now - that the true poetry of nature lies”.