Date
1854
Object Type
Painting
Subject
Alpine View: The Bavarian Mountains near Berchtesgaden
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. On long-term loan and on display at the Galleria d'Arte moderna in Milan, since 1902
About The Work
The painting, together with Bosco, was purchased by the Academy at the annual Brera exhibition in 1854 and subsequently placed in the Gallery as an exemplary work of modern landscape painting. This acquisition definitively confirmed the success of Julius Lange, who had been praised by critics since his debut at the Milan Exhibition in 1851 for his pictorial research combining the tradition of romantic views with the accurate representation of nature. Following the death of Giuseppe Canella in 1847, the painter had become the new leader of landscape painting in Milan, in part due to the purchase of Veduta di un castello di montagna (View of a Mountain Castle) by Francesco Hayez, who had just been named Professore di Pittura (professor of painting) at the Brera Academy. Hayez was one of the most authoritative voices on the city's art scene and was closely connected with the cultural circles of Munich, where Lange had trained before moving to Düsseldorf to complete his studies. As early as 1851, the critic Giuseppe Sacchi noted in his works 'the powerful richness of a genius who knows how to portray nature to make it a solemn theme of profound thought', recognising in them 'all the fantastic power of the homeland of Goethe and Schiller'. A few years later, the poet Aleardo Aleardi would also admire Lange's paintings for their ‘difficult truth’ combined with ‘sublime poetry’.
This intensive pictorial exploration of the Alpine theme includes Veduta presa dalle montagne della Baviera nelle vicinanze di Berchtesgaden, one of the painter's rare works that mentions the depicted location in its title. The eye wanders from the shaded foreground towards the distant, snow-capped peaks shrouded in vapour generated by the sun's warmth on the glaciers. The continuous chromatic and luminous variations of the green woods and trees contrast with the bare, rocky mountain walls. This work shares striking similarities with Paesaggio (Landscape), which was painted in 1853 for the notable Veronese collector Giacomo Franco. Both works offer a modern interpretation of sublime and heroic natural beauty based on a strict adherence to reality.
This intensive pictorial exploration of the Alpine theme includes Veduta presa dalle montagne della Baviera nelle vicinanze di Berchtesgaden, one of the painter's rare works that mentions the depicted location in its title. The eye wanders from the shaded foreground towards the distant, snow-capped peaks shrouded in vapour generated by the sun's warmth on the glaciers. The continuous chromatic and luminous variations of the green woods and trees contrast with the bare, rocky mountain walls. This work shares striking similarities with Paesaggio (Landscape), which was painted in 1853 for the notable Veronese collector Giacomo Franco. Both works offer a modern interpretation of sublime and heroic natural beauty based on a strict adherence to reality.
Title
Veduta presa dalle montagne della Baviera nelle vicinanze di Berchtesgaden
Creator
Julius Lange
Subject
Alpine View: The Bavarian Mountains near Berchtesgaden
Object Type
Painting
Original Function
Collection
Date
1854
Inscriptions
Signed and dated lower left: "Julius Lange / Munchen 1854"
Technique / Support
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
cm 119 x 158
Acquisition
Purchased from Julius Lange at the Esposizione delle opere di Belle Arti nelle gallerie dell'I. R. Academia, 1854
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. On long-term loan and on display at the Galleria d'Arte moderna in Milan, since 1902
Inventory number
Reg. 1943, 51
Bibliography
Gozzoli, Maria Cristina, and Marco Rosci. Il volto della Lombardia da Carlo Porta a Carlo Cattaneo paesaggi e vedute 1800 - 1859. Milano: Görlich editore, 1975. 267, 269.
Previtera, Maria Angela. Entry no. 447. In Pinacoteca di Brera. Dipinti dell’Ottocento e del Novecento. Collezioni dell’Accademia e della Pinacoteca, vol. 1, Musei e Gallerie di Milano, edited by Fernando Mazzocca. Milano: Mondadori Electa, 1993. 400 - 401, ill.
Tamanini, Francesca. Entry no. V.2. In Il paesaggio dell’Ottocento a Villa Reale. Le raccolte dei musei lombardi tra Neoclassicismo e Simbolismo, exhibition catalogue (Monza, Serrone della Villa Reale, 20 March - 11 July 2010), edited by Fernando Mazzocca. Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2010. 134, 57, ill. (with previous bibliography).
Cavenago, Marco. Entry no. 69. In Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano. Le collezioni, edited by Alessandro Oldani and Paola Zatti. Roma: Officina libraria, 2017. 107, ill.
Previtera, Maria Angela. Entry no. 447. In Pinacoteca di Brera. Dipinti dell’Ottocento e del Novecento. Collezioni dell’Accademia e della Pinacoteca, vol. 1, Musei e Gallerie di Milano, edited by Fernando Mazzocca. Milano: Mondadori Electa, 1993. 400 - 401, ill.
Tamanini, Francesca. Entry no. V.2. In Il paesaggio dell’Ottocento a Villa Reale. Le raccolte dei musei lombardi tra Neoclassicismo e Simbolismo, exhibition catalogue (Monza, Serrone della Villa Reale, 20 March - 11 July 2010), edited by Fernando Mazzocca. Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2010. 134, 57, ill. (with previous bibliography).
Cavenago, Marco. Entry no. 69. In Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano. Le collezioni, edited by Alessandro Oldani and Paola Zatti. Roma: Officina libraria, 2017. 107, ill.
Conservation status
Fair
Unique identifier
0302201009