Joseph Jansen (1829-1905)

"Swiss Alpine Scene"

Oil on canvas, signed

81 x 125 cm.

Joseph Jansen, who specialized in painting landscape views, gained great popularity for his idyllic images, which combined beauty of colour and harmony of medium. He was born 20th July 1829 in Aachen, close to the Dutch Belgian border and died 5th February 1905 in Düsseldorf, where he had been based since the age of 17. Jansen had moved to Düsseldorf to study at the Akademie; he spent two years there and also attended the School of Schirmers. From the beginning Jansen began almost exclusively sketching German landscapes, travelling to the regions of the Rhine and Mosel, and was particularly fond of depicting mills.

After many trips as a student he devoted himself principally to painting the uplands around Berne and the Bavarian Mountains, which gave him a rich source of inspiration for later work, even in his old age. He also portrayed a number of Swiss alpine landscapes such as this magnificent panorama. From 1850 he began exhibiting at various German galleries but from 1870 showed primarily at the Berlin Akademie and occasionally abroad such as at Vienna in 1872.

Kaiser Wilhelm I acquired his large oil entitled "Oschinen-See" in 1880, while the Cincinnati Museum houses one of his works depicting a "View of the Jungfrau".

Jansen married one of his pupils, Luise, née Seibke (1835-1912) who became an accomplished landscape artist and still-life painter. Their daughter Emilie, born in Düsseldorf, 1871 was also a still-life painter an with her mother carried on the family tradition of painting floral and fruit still-lifes.