Lot 593 | Christian Georg I Schütz | Ideal Small River Valley with Ferry

SCHÜTZ, CHRISTIAN GEORG I
1718 Flörsheim - 1791 Frankfurt/Main

Title: Ideal Small River Valley with Ferry.
Evening scene.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 39 x 55.5cm.
Notation: Signed lower right: Schüz / fecit.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Initially active as a façade and decorative painter, Christian Georg Schütz soon specialised in landscape painting. His oeuvre is characterised in particular by city views of Frankfurt and riverscapes.
At the age of 13 Schütz began a four-year apprenticeship with Hugo Schlegel in Frankfurt. A subsequent journey along the Rhine brought him to the courts of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Nassau-Saarbrücken, where he continued his studies with the court painter Joseph Ignaz Appiani. He later settled in Frankfurt am Main and established a studio. From 1763 Schütz was appointed head of the Frankfurt painters' guild and in 1779 he received the Frankfurt citizenship ex speciali gratia.
Schütz's works are regarded as the starting point for Rhine Romanticism, which unfolded in the 19th century and can be read as a reaction to the negatively perceived changes of industrialisation. The Rhine Valley offered cultural creators of all kinds the basic idea of a wild, unspoilt and original nature, which stood in contrast to the industrial upheaval.
The present painting shows an ideal river landscape in which the setting sun bathes the painted landscape in a warm light, which is reflected by the rugged rocks on the riverbank and the treetops in the valley. Slowly, a pair of farmers herd their cows together as the last crossings take place on the river. The village depicted is uncluttered and blends in without exception with nature, which is depicted in all its splendour.

We thank Erwin Rehn, Nauroth, for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.