Landscape with Farmhouse, c. 1825

Friedrich Gauermann (1807–1862) is considered a pioneering exponent of landscape naturalism in Austrian Biedermeier painting. Along with the area surrounding his birthplace and hometown of Miesenbach in Lower Austria, it was the Salzkammergut region, which he regularly visited in the summer months from 1824 onwards, that provided the main source of inspiration for his compositions. This painting from his early oeuvre shows a simple and clear depiction of nature without a heightened sense of drama. Gauermann rendered an alpine landscape in bright summer sunlight, staggering the depiction’s spatial depth into clearly distinguishable sections according to the perspective of air and color. The foreground is dominated by an ocher color, the middle ground with the farmhouse under high leaf trees by a green hue, while the mountain backdrop is shrouded in a light blue mist. The pictorial impression is dominated by delicate effects of atmosphere and light.

AGW, 2023