Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 31. Heinrich Reinhold Gera 1788 – 1825 Rome Waves on the Sorrento Coast, 1823 A pioneer of German plein air landscape painting, Reinhold’s oil sketches were prized during his lifetime and collected by well-known figures such as the architect and painter Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who owned 12 of his studies. He settled in Rome in 1819, and set off on a journey to southern Italy in 1823 accompanied by fellow painters Johann Joachim Faber (1778–1846) and Carl Götzloff (cat. 37). The group crossed over from Naples to Sorrento by ship on 14 May – the route was only accessible by land from 1833 – and stayed on the Sorrento peninsula until the end of June. This oil study, dated 18 Juni 23 at lower left, is one of several views the artist painted on this spot near the Grotta Cocumella. Pulling up close to the motif, Reinhold concentrated on capturing the movement of the crashing waves and the various effects of light and colour on the surface of the water. The eye is drawn to the translucent green under the curl of the wave in the centre of the composition, its suspended motion and impending break into foam adding a sense of dynamism to the picture.
A pioneer of German plein air landscape painting, Reinhold’s oil sketches were prized during his lifetime and collected by well-known figures such as the architect and painter Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who owned 12 of his studies. He settled in Rome in 1819, and set off on a journey to southern Italy in 1823 accompanied by fellow painters Johann Joachim Faber (1778–1846) and Carl Götzloff (cat. 37). The group crossed over from Naples to Sorrento by ship on 14 May – the route was only accessible by land from 1833 – and stayed on the Sorrento peninsula until the end of June. This oil study, dated 18 Juni 23 at lower left, is one of several views the artist painted on this spot near the Grotta Cocumella. Pulling up close to the motif, Reinhold concentrated on capturing the movement of the crashing waves and the various effects of light and colour on the surface of the water. The eye is drawn to the translucent green under the curl of the wave in the centre of the composition, its suspended motion and impending break into foam adding a sense of dynamism to the picture.