Lot 1182 | Castle Ostenwalde

The Rittergur Ostenwalde in Melle near Osnabrück was for Emil Lugo a place of quiet creativity and intellectual exchange with his patron and poet friend Baron Gisbert von Vincke. Lugo, who dealt with the most diverse models in the course of his artistic life, lived in Freiburg im Breisgau from 1875 onwards, where he met Vincke. During the following years he stayed several times at his family home in Westphalia; numerous drawings and paintings document this. He especially made use of the nature in the large area of the surrounding park for numerous studies, which he could also translate into oil paintings.
From the present view of the gardener's house, the stables and the two large chestnut trees there is a washed pencil drawing in the copper engraving room of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (Inv. No VIII 1887-46).

Emil Lugo, beside Hans Thoma the second major pupil of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer, created many landscapes in the course of his artistic life, which are drawn true to nature, but always with a spiritual background, which goes beyond pure realism. In contrast to the Impressionist landscape painting that was emerging at the time, there is always a literary and idealistic tendency in his work. At the same time he cannot be clearly assigned to any one school, partly due to his different places of residence and moves; rather, he takes up different tendencies and forms his own, "quiet" style in the 19th century.
The present work, created during his second period in Freiburg after his travels to Italy and before moving to Chiemgau, stands alongside a large number of motifs from the Black Forest. Lugo often spent the summer months away from the urban environment and drew consciously and often after nature. However, he saw these studies en plen air mainly as a collection of material for the later large studio works.
This working principle can be seen very clearly in the park landscape from Ostenwalde.