August Wilhelm Leu (1819–1897) - View of Capri

August Wilhelm LEU
(Munster, 1819 – Seelisberg, 1897)

View of Capri

Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
49 x 70 cm
1882

Born March 24, 1819 in Munster, Germany, Auguste Leu began his artistic career as a lithographer in Königsberg, then studied landscape art from 1840 to 1844 in Düsseldorf under the direction of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807-1863). In 1843 and 1847 he traveled to Norway and also visited Switzerland, South Tyrol, Bavaria and Italy. He lived briefly in Brussels and then returned to Düsseldorf where he was part of the famous “Düsseldorfer Malerschule”. In 1882 he moved to Berlin where he became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was also a member of the Academies of Fine Arts in Vienna, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Recognized by his peers, he received the "Prussian Gold medal for Art" and was decorated with the Order of Leopold. He obtained honorable mentions in 1855 and 1863 at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, before participating for the last time in 1878.
The artist died on July 20, 1897 in Seelisberg, Switzerland.

His landscapes are characterized by a very romantic vision, populated by decorative figures, typical of the Düsseldorf School. Wilhelm Leu knows how to describe this nature and its effects of light particularly well, both in the shimmering of the water and in the treatment of the sun filtering through the clouds.
In this view of Capri, he depicts with romantic luminism this popular holiday resort since antiquity.

Museums: Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Cincinnati, Danzig, Hanover, Kaliningrad, Oslo, Philadelphia, Vienna, Stuttgart…