Among the foremost landscape painters of the Düsseldorf school, the German artist Oswald Achenbach studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. During early study trips to Bavaria in 1843 and northern Italy and Switzerland in 1845, he developed his atmospheric and naturalistic approach to landscape. In 1850 Achenbach travelled to Rome and the Campagna, and from then on Italian landscape became his primary subject matter. Achenbach’s taste for the picturesque and his facility as a colourist allowed him to create plein-air landscapes replete with detail and harmony. During a further stay in Rome and Naples in 1871, Achenbach became increasingly concerned with architecture and genre elements, painting Roman monuments and the colourful city life of Rome and Naples. In the following decade his interest shifted to the area around Naples, Sorrento, and Capri.
