“Danube Landscape with Castle Wörth”
This oil on panel (parchment on beech wood) piece, titled “Danube Landscape with Castle Wörth”, is by the German northern Renaissance artist, Albrecht Altdorfer, from circa 1520-1525. It was painted near Altdorfer’s home in Regensburg, where he formally became a citizen in 1505.
Regensburg is a city at the confluence of the Danube, Regen, and Naab Rivers in Germany, and at the time this was painted, it was a commercially and culturally prosperous Free Imperial City and was until 1803. Altdorfer lived and worked in Regensburg for most of his life, serving as the city’s official architect. Scheuchenberg is the mountain in the background. The castle depicted is the castle of Wörth located right on the river, which Altdorfer included in several of his works.
Altdorfer is mostly remembered for his association with the Danube School of Art, which he is regarded of as the leader and main representative. Altdorfer is regarded as the first artist to paint just landscapes, such as this “Danube Landscape with Castle Wörth” painting here.
He obviously loved painting nature and one of his favorite subjects was the dense forests of Germany and Austria, which he included in most of his art. If there were human figures in his work, they usually had to share the canvas with the beautiful and detailed landscapes which were a dominant feature. Most artists of the day concerned themselves with biblical works (though Altdorfer did paint his fair share of biblical pieces).
“Danube landscape with Castle Wörth” is one of only two pure landscape paintings by Altdorfer that are known. It is currently in the collections of the Alte Pinakothek, of the Pinakotheken museums and the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich, Germany.
For more on Albrecht Altdorfer, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
