In 1834, King Ludwig I of Bavaria commissioned a cycle of Greek landscapes from Rottmann that eventually numbered thirty-eight canvases (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich). This sketch is the most freely painted of some half a dozen studies for Pronoia (1846/47), which commemorates the burial place of Bavarian soldiers who helped vanquish the Ottoman Turks at nearby Nauplia in 1822, during the Greek War of Independence.
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William Karmann, Cincinnati (until d. 1902); ?Cincinnati Art Museum; Michael D. Grünwald, Munich (by 1997–2002; consigned to Artemis Fine Arts Ltd., London, 2001–2; sold to Thaw); Eugene V. Thaw, New York (2002–7)
Kurpfälzisches Museum der Stadt Heidelberg. "Landschaft als Geschichte: Carl Rottmann 1797–1850, Hofmaler König Ludwigs I," November 16, 1997–January 11, 1998, no. 120 (as "Pronoia, Friedhof der Deutschen bei Nauplia," lent by a private collection).
Munich. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. "Landschaft als Geschichte: Carl Rottmann 1797–1850, Hofmaler König Ludwigs I," January 30–April 13, 1998, no. 120.
Munich. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. "Das neue Hellas: Griechen und Bayern zur Zeit Ludwigs I," November 9, 1999–February 13, 2000, no. 365 (as "Pronia," lent by a private collection).
Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Center. "The European Fine Art Fair Maastricht," March 10–18, 2001, no. 11 (lent by Artemis Fine Arts).
New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. "The Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994," September 27, 2002–January 19, 2003, no. 94.
Herbert W[ilhelm]. Rott inDas neue Hellas: Griechen und Bayern zur Zeit Ludwigs I. Ed. Reinhold Baumstark. Exh. cat., Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. Munich, 1999, pp. 503–4, no. 365, ill. (color), calls it "Pronia"; compares it to the "Marathon" of 1848 (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich).
Dr. Rhoda Eitel-Porter inThe Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, 2002, pp. 204–5, no. 94, ill. (color), notes that this motif was treated by the artist six times in various media and that this version is the only one entirely given over to landscape; discusses four of the other versions.
Herbert W[ilhelm]. Rott in Herbert W[ilhelm]. Rott and Renate Poggendorf and Elisabeth Stürmer. Carl Rottmann: Die Landschaften Griechenlands. Exh. cat., Neue Pinakothek. Munich, 2007, p. 304, fig. 3 (color), dates it about 1846–47; in addition to those discussed by Eitel-Porter [see Ref. 2002], mentions two other related works.
Esther Bell. "Catalogue Raisonné of the Thaw Collection." Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection. Ed. Jennifer Tonkovich. New York, 2011, p. 141, no. 119, ill. (color), calls it "The Cemetery at Pronoia near Nauplia" and dates it about 1841–46/47.
The final oil painting of 1846/47 is in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich (see Eitel-Porter 2002 and Rott 2007).
There are at least five studies in addition to The Met's oil sketch: a watercolor of 1834 (Kurpfälzisches Museum, Heidelberg); a pencil drawing of 1834 and a watercolor of 1841 (both Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich); a pencil drawing, about 1846–47 (private collection); and a painting in oil on canvas of 1846–47 (National Museum, Warsaw).
Caspar David Friedrich (German, Greifswald 1774–1840 Dresden)
ca. 1825–30
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