JOHANN MARTIN VON ROHDEN (1778-1868)

STUDY OF TREES, POSSIBLY AT HADRIAN'S VILLA, TIVOLI
Inscribed in pencil l.l. VIII
Pencil on paper
41.7 x 53.7 cm
 
 
 
 
 
The subjects of the present study are the distinctive umbrella pines found in various sites (among others) around Rome and Tivoli and throughout Italy, which feature in numerous paintings by Von Rohden executed during his time in the country. Tivoli in particular held a special place in the artist's heart, as he married the daughter of the innkeeper of the Sibylla Inn there, a popular waypoint for the many artists who visited the town. 
 
Von Rohden began his studies at Kassel's Kunsthochschule and was just seventeen when he first visited Rome. He returned to Italy in 1802 and would spend most of his life in Italy thereafter, playing a pivotal role in the creation of the German Academy there and the adoption of plein air painting among his countrymen. Von Rohden's conversion to Catholicism led him away from the pure naturalism of many of his peers, as he painted landscapes with an eye towards the neoclassical serenity of earlier artists. 
 
Von Rohden was a popular figure in the artistic community in Rome and associated with the Nazarenes and the circle centred around Joseph Anton Koch and J.C. Reinhart.