Carl August Lebschée

This rare suite is a characteristic example of the Romantic notion of landscape that prevailed in Munich in the 1820s. In 1814, Lebschée was admitted to the Munich Academy, where he studied landscape painting under Wilhelm von Kobell, Johann Georg Dillis and Johann Jakob Dorner, while also receiving instruction in etching from Carl Ernst Christoph Hess. Lebschée’s sound training as a craftsman is reflected in the artistic quality of this delicately treated set of Bavarian landscapes, in which a maximum of atmospheric density and romantic mood has been achieved within a small format.

These tautly composed studies are covered with a dense network of fine, varied hatchings, which create rich tonal gradations and subtle light effects. Lebschée has a marked predilection for picturesque narrative detail. Every single composition has the exact name of the location attached, although topographical precision is waived in favour of a deliberately atmospheric interpretation of nature.

Excellent, nuanced impressions with full margins. The paper is somewhat discoloured and foxed; two prints are water-stained. From the collection of Johann Nepomuk Seiler (1793 Munich – 1876 Kempten, Lugt 3976).