Carl August Richter

Opening up before the eye of the beholder is a detailed pano­rama of the city of Dresden and the surrounding countryside with a truly breathtaking sense of depth. To achieve this effect the etcher, Carl August Richter, climbed to the top of the dome tower of the Frauenkirche, which was built between 1726 and 1743 to plans by Georg Bähr and is regarded as the city’s landmark. Its Baroque town palaces, churches and bridges have been rendered with astonishing attention to detail. The artist was interested in more than just topographical precision, how­ever. Richter clearly derived immense pleasure from depicting genre-like details from everyday life in the city. Down below on Neumarkt a microscopically tiny military parade is being held; market shopkeepers are putting up their stalls and the many horse-drawn carts accentuate the hustle and bustle of activity on the square. The subtle colouration achieved by the use of watercolours enhances the trueness to life of the panorama. Towards the horizon, where the outlines of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains can be detected, the soft green of the meadows
and wooded areas gives way to gentle blue and violet hues.

The landscape painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Carl August Richter, was an outstanding pupil of Adrian Zingg. His style was so similar to that of his master that he later occasionally worked under Zingg’s name, since the latter’s advanced years meant he could not keep pace with the commissions he received. Richter became a member of the Dresden Academy in 1810 and was Professor of Engraving from 1814 to 1834. His son, Adrian Ludwig Richter, became one of the foremost painters of the Dresden Romantic School and the Biedermeier period.

Minor creasing in the white margin, otherwise in very good condition.