Johann Georg von Dillis Lot n° 48

Johann Georg von Dillis, Torrent near Ohlstadt Oil on paper, mounted on cardboard. (Circa 1820). 30,6 x 23,5 cm. The motif chosen by the Munich-based Johann Georg von Dillis is not very spectacular - the view into an inconspicuous forest ravine with a footbridge - but the way Dillis approaches the motif in a painterly way is very much so. The way Dillis unfolds his entire painterly cosmos in this small, intimate work is great art. Similar to his watercolors, Dillis condenses the events through the confident use of delicate, yet only a few colors to create the impression of the richest colorfulness. Hardly any other painter in Germany of the time around 1800 succeeded in giving the impression of nature such eminent painterly expression - not the great, serious Romantics such as Philipp Otto Runge or Caspar David Friedrich, and certainly not the leading landscape painters of the time, Joseph Anton Koch and Johann Christian Reinhart, who were active in Rome. In contrast to their strict, through-composed landscapes, Dillis stands as an artistic free spirit and thinker outside of any convention. Is it a coincidence that such different painterly approaches are possible at a time when Germany and Europe are gripped by profound social and political upheavals as a result of the French Revolution and Napoleon's subsequent epoch? This great period of upheaval unleashed artistic potential throughout Europe, marking the beginning of modernity. In retrospect, in the knowledge of what came after, Dillis is readily attributed the attribute "impressionist" or "pre-impressionist" in view of his sketchy understanding of painting, which often blurred and dissolved forms - but Dillis could not have foreseen what came after him. It is only against this background that Dillis' very own contribution to the history of painting becomes clear and his modernity apparent, making him the founder of open-air painting in Germany - a development that would only culminate in Impressionism at the end of the century. Provenance: Dr. Georg Schäfer (1896-1975), Schweinfurt; Neumeister, Munich, special auction "Bilder aus der Sammlung Georg Schäfer II", 25.2.2005, lot 295. Taxation: Differentially taxed (VAT: Margin Scheme).