Italian Landscape 1845

Andreas Achenbach painted this 'Italian Landscape' sometime in the mid-nineteenth century. What we see here is more than just a depiction of the Italian countryside; it's a window into the cultural values of the time. This kind of Romantic landscape painting was extremely popular with wealthy patrons who would display them in their homes or donate them to public museums. These patrons saw in these landscapes an idealized vision of nature untouched by industrialization and social upheaval. But by commissioning or buying such works they simultaneously participated in systems of capital and social hierarchy that were rapidly changing the environment of Europe and Italy. To understand the painting more fully we might ask questions about the artist's own travels in Italy, his relationship to the art market, and the role of landscape painting in shaping national identity. We can access some answers through art historical databases and collections of letters and other documents. From this, we can reflect on the meaning of art as something deeply entwined with the social and institutional contexts in which it is made and consumed.