Autumn Landscape

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Associated Names
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Artist, German, 1884 - 1976

The image depicts a landscape with trees and a small structure on the horizon. The brushstrokes are expressive and loose, with bold outlines defining the trees and sky. The color palette includes greens, browns, yellows, blues, oranges, and purples. The sky shows a mix of pale blue and purple tones.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 49.9 x 64.8 cm (19 5/8 x 25 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1945.5.1320

Associated Artworks

See all 168 artworks
This is a painting of a comedic and busy scene in an antiquities shop or museum. The image shows an eclectic collection of artifacts displayed, including a partially opened sarcophagus with a vibrant sarcophagus to its right. Various sculptures and busts surround the scene, depicting mythical or historical figures contributing to the antiquated setting. The shelves are packed with a variety of vases differing in size and design, referencing ancient artifacts from different cultures. At the bottom of the image are scrolls, statues, and smaller objects adding to the chaotic yet fascinating atmosphere. The style resembles that of Thomas Rowlandson, known for vivid, satirical depictions and bustling compositions filled with lively detail.

Modern Antiques

Thomas Rowlandson

1811

Caricatures (volume VI)

Thomas Rowlandson

1756

Modern Antiques

Thomas Rowlandson

1811

More About this Artwork

We look out onto a sweeping, panoramic view with trees, their leaves fiery orange and red, framing a view of a distant body of water under a sun-streaked sky in this long, horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and is lined with hazy mountains and clouds in the deep distance. Close examination slowly reveals minuscule birds tucked into the crimson-red, golden yellow, and deep, sage-green leaves of the trees to either side of the painting. Closest to us, vine-covered, fallen tree trunks and mossy gray boulders line the bottom edge of the canvas. Beyond a trickling waterfall and small pool near the lower left corner, and tiny within the scale of the landscape, a group of three men and their dogs sit and recline around a blanket and a picnic basket, their rifles leaning against a tree nearby. The land sweeps down to a grassy meadow crossed by a meandering stream that winds into the distance, at the center of the painting. Touches of white and gray represent a flock of grazing sheep in the meadow. A low wooden bridge spans the stream to our right, and a few cows drink from the riverbank. Smoke rises from chimneys in a town lining the riverbank and shoreline beyond, and tiny white sails and steamboats dot the waterway. Light pours onto the scene with rays like a starburst from behind a lavender-gray cloud covering the sun, low in the sky. The artist signed the painting as if he had inscribed the flat top of a rock at the lower center of the landscape with his name, the title of the painting, and date: “Autumn – on the Hudson River, J.F Cropsey, London 1860.”

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Karl Buchholz; purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald from the Office of the Alien Property Custodian, January 6, 1945; given to NGA, 1945

Associated Names

Inscriptions

lower left in black: SRottluff; in later hand, lower right in graphite: 3517

Wikidata ID

Q64591908

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