View of the Eibsee

When Carl Rottmann came from Heidelberg to Munich in 1811, he saw Joseph Anton Koch’s paintings in the Neue Pinakothek. It turned out to be a crucial experience. Beginning from such models, Rottmann developed a unique landscape style that made him one of the major German landscapists of the nineteenth century.

Intimations of this are already seen in his painting of the Eibsee. By means of sweeping horizontals, Rottmann evokes the majesty and sublimity of the mountains, emphasizing them all the more by contrast with the tiny figure on the outcrop in the left foreground. Otherwise the scene shows no trace of human presence or habitation. Water, rocks, and sky speak with their own voice, underscoring their wild, primeval character.