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Lot description
Signed lower left: Eug: v Guérard Following a stay in Italy from 1826 to 1836 in which he visited Rome, Sicily and Naples and carried out his first paintings, Eugen von Guérard studied from 1838 to 1845 under Johann Wilhelm Schirmer at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1852, he travelled to Australia and settled in Melbourne, where he initiated the founding of the "School for Instruction in Drawing and Design" in 1856. In 1870 he became curator of the National Gallery of Victoria and its associated art school, where he introduced the teaching methods of the Düsseldorf Academy. He returned to Düsseldorf in 1881. During his time as a student in Düsseldorf, Eugen von Guérard painted landscapes from the surrounding area as well as Italian motifs after sketches he had made in the previous years. The present landscape is one of the latter. However, he is most famous today for his extremely realistic depictions of the still almost untouched landscapes and settler villages of Victoria, Australia, which today represent important documents of the early colonial period. It is because of these works that Eugen von Guérard is considered the first ever "Australian" painter. An identical composition differing in only a few minor details was sold at Lempertz in May 2019 as lot 1526. It was monogrammed “E.v.G.” and, measuring just 21 x 31.5 cm, was considerably smaller than this painting. The present work is thought to be the initial prototype, which the artist later reiterated in a smaller version.