Cervara

Fritz Petzholdt

ca. 1832–35 · Oil on paper, laid down on canvas · European Paintings

Cervara’s distinctive silhouette made it an attractive subject for artists en route between Tivoli, Subiaco, and Olevano Romano, popular sketching destinations east of Rome. Petzholdt, the only pupil of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg’s to devote himself entirely to landscape painting, visited the area in the summers between 1832 and 1835. In this work, he employed elements of picturesque composition that lead the eye into the view gradually. Despite such deliberateness the painting retains the character of a sketch, owing to its lack of finish.

Artist

Fritz Petzholdt

Date

ca. 1832–35

Medium

Oil on paper, laid down on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Thaw Collection, Jointly Owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2009