View of Dresden from the Loessnitz Heights

Our gaze roams from the vineyards on the slopes of Loessnitz into the far distance, where the city of Dresden appears as a silhouette, the tower of the Hofkirche still incomplete. The striking outlines of Alpsandsteingebirge can be seen on the horizon, with the fortress of K�nigstein standing out most noticeably.

Thiele is at the peak of his abilities in this painting: the landscape swings rhythmically with the river and the chains of hills, until the contours all dissolve in the background. A feeling of distance is produced by the dark brown passages at the front. Late seventeenth-century landscapes, such as those of Pieter Gysels, perhaps, may have stimulated this view.