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Painting depicting a sun-drenched village with white buildings and red-tiled roofs nestled on a hillside. In the foreground, figures walk along a winding road beneath a large tree.

Italian Village

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Carl Johann Friedrich Adolf Rötteken

Carl Rötteken painted in the Biedermeier style. Named for a fictitious poet who was the object of a satire on the prosperous middle class, the term Biedermeier was applied to furniture and decorative objects adapted from classical models and popular throughout Europe in the 19th century. Biedermeier painters, striving for the picturesque, favored views of Italy which showed the effect of strong Italian light; their work is a compromise between idealism and realism. Italian Village shows an ideal Italian view with charming peasants, mellow buildings, and a splendid tree. The composition is balanced with the rocks in the right foreground serving as a counterweight to the mountain and town. The clear, mild colors are warmed by the sun.
Artist
Carl Johann Friedrich Adolf Rötteken
(German, 1831 - 1900)
Title
Italian Village
Date
ca. 1870s
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
40 x 62 in. Overall
Credit
Gift of Charles R. Crane
Accession No.
15.1.4
Classification
Paintings
Geography
Germany

Related

Purchased by Paul S. Reinsch (Madison, WI); by 1915, sold to Charles R. Crane (Chicago, IL); 1915, gifted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison; 1967, transferred to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Bulletin/Annual Report 1989-1991." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1991. p. 58
  • Madison Art Association. "Collection of Paintings Owned by Paul S. Reinsch: Exhibition in the State Historical Library Building." Madison, WI: Madison Art Association, 1912. p. 10, no. 107

  • Collection of Paintings Owned by Paul S. Reinsch: The Madison Art Association, 9/26/1912–10/24/1912

This painting shows a sun-drenched landscape featuring a village nestled on a hillside. In the foreground, a path winds toward the village. Several figures and a donkey walk along this path. The figures are dressed in traditional clothing, including long skirts, white headscarves, and tunics paired with wide-brimmed hats. The path is lined on both sides by a stone wall, a section of which is crumbling with age near the foreground. To the right of the path lies a steep, rocky hill of brown rock. The path crosses a stone bridge that curves around a massive, leafy tree that dominates the right side of the painting. The village itself is built into the side of a hill on the left. It consists of white and light-colored rectangular buildings topped with red-brown tiled roofs. In the distance, a white church bell tower rises above the other structures. The village is surrounded by wild green vegetation and several cypress trees. Behind the village, a large mountain range looms, fading into the distance against a hazy, blue and yellow sky. The entire scene, including the landscape and buildings, is bathed in a soft, golden light, suggesting either sunrise or sunset.

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