GRASHOF; OTTO
1812 Prenzlau - 1876 Cologne

Brazilian Landscape near Rio de Janeiro (Niter骾?). Oil on canvas. Laid down on wood. 66 x 100cm. Inscribed; signed and dated lower left and right: Capella de Sa. Anna / Brasilien / O. Grashof / Aug. 1856. Framed.

Provenance:
Private collection Westphalia; family and direct descendents of the artist.

Literature:
Mentioned and illustrated in: L鰏chner; Renate: Otto Grashof. Die Reisend des Malers in
Argentinien; Uruguay; Chile und Brasilien 1852-1857; Berlin 1987; p. 123f; ill. 62.

In the years after 1852 Otto Grashof settled down in Rio de Janeiro and travelled through the adjecent countries in South America. Living in Cologne; born in Prenzlau; with an education as a painter at the Academy in D黶seldorf; he had made himself a name as a painter of literary historic subjects in his earlier years.
Shaped by his stay in Russia from 1840 onwards his topics became more and more exotic for the contemporary taste. His stay in South America is very well documented by numerous first-hand letters and reports; which additionally give a very fascinating impression of the local life in the mid 19th century. Moreover there are letters in which he provides an insight on the development of the present depiction of the small chapel St. Ana over a lagoon with a view on the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. "My next work will probably be to depict the region from the height of a chapel about 1 1/2 miles away from Rio. I hurry all the more with it as this ruin is soon to be broken down; and the spot will not only loose a lot of its value wihout the ruins; but it will also not be able to serve as a memory spot for the pilgramage up the mountain."Art trade; Van Ham.