Franz Richard Unterberger (Austrian, 1838-1902)

The oeuvre of Franz Richard Unterberger clearly shows the influence of his mentor and teacher, the landscapist Oswald Achenbach (1827-1905), whose atelier he joined after attending the Academies of Munich, Weimar and Düsseldorf. Both artists were enthralled by the Italian landscape and shared a determination to capture the warm Mediterranean light on canvas. Unterberger truly dedicated himself to the Italianate subject which dominates his oeuvre after 1866. While he travelled and exhibited extensively in Europe, Unterberger spent much of his time in southern Italy and Sicily, painting the local inhabitants and the captivating landscape in which they lived.

The present lot is a fine example of his ability to capture the daily life of fisherfolk and their diversions on a beach in the Bay of Naples. His skilled use of a warm palette enables him to add a Mediterranean glow to his work. Although the topography was not a central topic of his work the two mountains in the background can be identified as Mount Vesuvius and the lesser-known Mount Somma. The vista of these mountains is a recurring theme in the paintings he created from the region.