Oswald Achenbach along with his brother Andreas, was one of the most important German painters of his time – a prominent figure of the so-called: “Düsseldorf School”. During his first years of artistic activity, he contributed to realism in the German landscape art.
His love for Italy grew significantly thanks to his eight travels to the Italian peninsula: the first in 1845 and the last in 1895. The travel of 1850 was essential for the evolution of his work, since he found his former schoolmates from Düsseldorf: Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) and Anselm Feuerbach (1829-1880). Achenbach expressed a new way to look at Italy: he was able to blend his interest for architectural and topographic realism with an intense luminescent effect.
From 1860 to 1890, his reputation and success grew constantly. He concentrated on the theme of Italian views, satisfying the numerous requests of his clientele.
He was member of the Academies of Düsseldorf, Saint Petersburg, Rotterdam and Wien. He painted pieces destined to national and international markets, exposing in Berlin, Wien, New York, Chicago and Cincinnati. In New York he was represented by the Goupil Gallery of Paris, which had opened a branch there, in 1848. Michael Knoedler then acquired this branch in 1857.