Christoph Ludwig Agricola (5 November 1665 – 8 August 1724) was a German

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

and etcher. He was born and died at

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

(Ratisbon).

Life and career

Christoph Ludwig Agricola was born on 5 November 1665 at Regensburg in Germany. He trained, as many painters of the period did, by studying nature. He spent a great part of his life in travel, visiting England, the Netherlands and France, and residing for a considerable period at

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he may have been influenced by

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...

. He also stayed for some years circa 1712 in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where he painted many works for the patron Zaccaria Sagredo. He died in Regensburg in 1724.

Work

Although he primarily worked in gouache and oils, documentary sources reveal that he also produced a small number of etchings. He was a good draughtsman, used warm lighting and exhibited a warm, masterly brushstroke.Kugler, F., ''Handbook of Painting: The German, Flemish, and Dutch Schools,'' Volume 2, J. Murray, 1874, p. 567 His numerous landscapes, chiefly cabinet pictures, are remarkable for fidelity to nature, and especially for their skilful representation of varied phases of climate, especially nocturnal scenes and weather anomalies such as thunderstorms.Koziel, A., "The Forgotten Star of Wroclaw: A Few Words about the Work of Christian Johann Bendeler (1699–1728)" in: Šeferisová Loudová, M., Kroupa, J. and Lubomír, K., ''Orbis artium: k jubileu Lubomíra Slavíčka'', Vol. 1, Brno, Masarykova Univerzita, 2009, pp. 219–23
PDF Online:
/ref> In composition his style shows the influence of Nicolas Poussin and his work often displays the idealistic scenes associated with Poussin. In light and colour he imitates

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in It ...

. His compositions include ruins of ancient buildings in the foreground, but his favourite figure for the foreground was men dressed in Oriental attire. He also produced a series of etchings of birds. His pictures can be found in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Naples and many other towns of both Germany and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Legacy

He probably tutored the artist,

Johann Theile Johann Theile (29 July 1646 – 24 June 1724) was a German composer of the Baroque era, famous for the opera ''Adam und Eva, Der erschaffene, gefallene und aufgerichtete Mensch'', first performed in Hamburg on 2 January 1678. Life After stud ...

, and had an enormous influence on him.Killy, W. and Vierhaus, R., ''Thibaut – Zycha'', Walter de Gruyter, 2011, p. 2; Kugler, F., Waagen, F.G. and Crowe, J.A., ''The German, Flemish and Dutch Schools of Painting'', Volume 2, J. Murray, 1911, p. 567 Art historians have also noted that the work of the landscape painter, Christian Johann Bendeler (1699–1728), was also influenced by Agricola.

Gallery

File:Christoph Ludwig Agricola (zugeschr.) - Eine Flusslandschaft mit Anglern.jpg, ''River landscape'' File:Christoph Ludwig Agricola - Großer Hänfling und Schopfmeise.jpg, ''Greater Redpole and crested titmous; Bluethroat'' File:Christoph Ludwig Agricola (Umkreis) - Räuber schießen auf Reisende.jpg, ''Bandits Shooting at Travellers'' File:Christoph Ludwig Agricola - Trappe un Elster in exotischer Landschaft.jpg, ''A bustard and a magpie in an exotic landscape'' File:Christoph Ludwig Agricola - Ein Vogel auf einem Ast.jpg, ''A bird seated on a branch'' File:Wintergezicht met ijsvermaak, RP-T-1898-A-3549.jpg, ''Winter face with ice entertainment'' File:Christoph Ludwig Agricola - Singvogel auf einem Nadelbaum.jpg, ''Songbird in an Evergreen''

Life and career

Work

Legacy

Gallery

References

Further reading