J.W. Schirmer 2024

In 2024, the last of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer's large Civitella studies was acquired from a private collection for the Jülich Citadel Museum.

Civitella, today's Bellegra, located above Olevano, had been a kind of base camp for landscape painters, especially German ones, since the 18th century. Virtually every member of this profession painted landscape studies in oil there.

During his stay in Civitella in 1839, Schirmer produced, according to his own account, five small and five large oil studies.

"Large" is to be taken literally in this case, as Schirmer used the largest paper formats available at the time. In one of the other four large studies, which are now in the collection of the Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, he even extended the paper format by attaching a strip of paper to the side.

The present study is the first in which Schirmer ventured into this monumental format. This is remarkable because, for a study from nature, especially one created in a single session like this, only a few hours were available without risking significant changes in light, shadow, and color.

Schirmer benefited from the fact that he traveled to Italy relatively late in his career and was already highly skilled in oil painting techniques.