German landscape painting reached new heights with the works of the famous painter, Andreas Achenbach. He had been associated with the Dusseldorf school of painting.

He had been one of the pioneers in the field and his art education had begun in 1827. He was taught by Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow, who was also under the Dusseldorf Academy of Painting.

Achenbach had followed the pattern followed by the German romantic school and painted to give form to the pseudo-idealist works.

But when he had moved on to Munich in 1835, the influence had changed a lot. He got the guidance of Louis Gurlitt and the talent of this great figure now get channeled.

Andreas Achenbach’s Paintings

Andreas got his art education at different places, mostly in St. Petersburg. However, he had even traveled to Holland, Italy, and Scandinavia.

Achenbach went on to establish the German realistic school. His landscapes lacked personal temperament and evinced too much on the aim he had at making pictures.

However, he is known to be a master of techniques. He is also historically important as a reformer. He had received a medal of the first class in Paris in 1855 and had been named a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.

He had been even regarded as the father of the 19th-century German landscape painting by the Chambers Biographical Dictionary.

Andreas Achenbach Artworks

Andreas Achenbach had produced lots of watercolors throughout his lifetime. The paintings he had produced of the European North Sea coasts had a lot of influence in Germany.

He had been regarded as the father of 19th-century German landscape painting. Though many of his paintings can be found in the galleries of the United States, a number of the finest works can be found at the Berlin National Gallery.

Some of them have even found residence in the galleries at Darmstadt, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne, and Dresden. There are also some of them at the New Pinakothek in Munich.

The landscapes are generally based on the rich and glowing effects of color that had drawn him to the Bay of Naples and also the neighborhood of Rome. He has been represented through his painting at some of the important German galleries of modern art.

Oswald Achenbach

Andreas had even passed on the art education to his younger brother, Oswald Achenbach, who had lived from 1827 to 1905. Andreas was born on the 29th of September, 1815 and he died in Dusseldorf on the 1st of April, 1910. The themes of the landscape paintings that he drew were mostly seascapes.

He, along with his brother, Oswald Achenbach, had focused on the representation of the countryside of Italy. The brothers had together been referred to as the A and O of Landscapes, a German reference to the letters of Alpha and Omega.

Biography of Andreas Achenbach

Andreas had been born to Christine and Hermann Achenbach. He was born in Kassel. His father, Hermann, had worked in a number of different professions. He would brew vinegar and beer and operate an inn in the meantime in Dusseldorf. He had also worked as a bookkeeper.

He had started receiving drawing lessons as a child and joined the Dusseldorf Art Academy at the age of twelve with Carl Friedrich Schaffer, Heinrich Christoph Kolbe, and Wilhelm von Schadow.

Schadow had co-founded in 1829 the exhibition of ‘Art Association of the Rhineland and Westphalia’ where the first painting of Achenbach was sold. The first sale led to more sales later.

The ‘description of the reality’ was inartistic according to the academy. However, Achenbach chose the view from a window of the house of his parents in the house Castle Square. This shows the autonomy of the artist.

About Early Life of Andreas Achenbach

Achenbach had thoroughly tried to make people see through the pictures that he had created. He is truly one of the masters and had been a very significant reformer historically. He had trained very little throughout his student life and the intense painting activity.

The picture composition and painting techniques that he had portrayed through his works in the 1840s shows the richness of his works. Both the Achenbach brothers nurtured the animating principle of the society and contributed a lot to the artistic society. He had toured a lot of places throughout his life and created a lot of landscape paintings.