Carl Theodor Reiffenstein (1820-1893)

Carl Theodor Reiffenstein was born in Frankfurt am Main on January 12, 1820. He received his first lessons from the theater painters Meiler and Hoffmann and was also a pupil of the Städel Institute from 1833, in particular of the architect Hessemer. From 1843, as a pupil of Jakob Becker, he devoted himself entirely to painting. After leaving the Städel Institute in 1846, he undertook study trips to Brussels, Paris, the Harz Mountains, the Giant Mountains, Bohemia in 1848, Switzerland in 1849 and Italy in 1851-52. As a sign of recognition, he was awarded a medal at an exhibition in Brussels in 1845. In 1858, the "Cercle artistique" in Ghent appointed him a corresponding member. He was again awarded a medal for art at the Vienna exhibition in 1873. Reiffenstein died in Frankfurt am Main on December 6, 1893.

Reiffenstein mainly worked as a landscape painter in oil and watercolor, but was also active as an etcher. The majority of his oeuvre consists of landscape or city views of Frankfurt am Main, Offenbach, Kronberg, Mainz and Königstein, among others. Other works include pictures of Goethe's "Dichtung und Wahrheit" (1875) and "Stätten, an denen der Dichter seine Kindheit verlebte" (Places where the poet spent his childhood). The Historical Museum in Frankfurt am Main houses the work "View from the Goethe House to the West" from 1858.
he had been commissioned by Queen Victoria of England to produce a series of 17 watercolors showing views of Wald-Leiningen Castle and the town of Amorbach.

The painting appears to belong to the Biedermeier period, as the detailed observation of the landscape and the bright, luminous coloring are characteristics of this style.