The Interior of the Palm House on the Pfaueninsel Near Potsdam
Carl Blechen·1834
Historical Context
Carl Blechen captured the exotic interior of the Palm House on the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) near Potsdam, a royal pleasure ground of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia. Built in 1830-1831, this early iron-and-glass conservatory housed tropical plants and was a marvel of modern engineering. Blechen, one of the most innovative German Romantic landscape painters, made several studies of this subject around 1834.
Technical Analysis
The painting brilliantly contrasts the geometric iron framework with lush tropical vegetation, using dappled light filtering through the glass to create an almost impressionistic effect. Blechen's loose, spontaneous brushwork was remarkably ahead of its time.
Provenance
Bought by Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia from the artist in 1834 for 1000 Taler [acc. to records of Friedrich Wilhelm III’s acquisitions in Archiv der Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Garten in Potsdam-Sanssouci: “28.11.1834 Blechen ‘Palmenhaus’ 200 Frd. Cour Die Kaiserinn” and “181. Journal Nr. 638. Blechen Palmenhaus 200 Frd. Cour,” see Uwe Simmons, research paper, ms, 1994, copy in curatorial file]; possibly given to his daughter Charlotte, the Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna, wife of Tsar Nicholas I in November 1834; possibly part of the Russian imperial collection until after 1917. Swiss collection by c. 1920. Daxer and Marshall, Munich and James Mackinnon, London, by 1996; sold to the Art Institute, 1996.
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