Andreas Achenbach

Andreas Achenbach, born in Kassel, is the most important personality of the Düsseldorf school of painting. According to his own account, he came to the art academy in Düsseldorf in 1827 at the age of 12, where the family settled after moving several times. Andreas was regarded as an outstanding talent; as early as 1831 he took part in the academy exhibition with an unconventional view of the academy from the Achenbachs’ home. It was only at this time that he officially appeared in the Academy’s list of students in Johann Wilhelm Schirmer’s landscape class, which he attended until 1836.
In 1832 and 1833 he travelled extensively with his father to Holland, where he became enthusiastic about Dutch and Flemish landscape painting of the 17th century. From this time on, seascapes dominate his work – in 1836 he achieves his final artistic breakthrough when Prince Frederick of Prussia buys his painting ‘Great Navy with Lighthouse’.
Initially still idealistically oriented, he turned more towards a realistic style of depiction, with which he met the taste of his audience. Numerous journeys to Scandinavia and Holland served as inspiration for his seascapes, which he was able to sell as far away as North America. Hardly any other artist of his time was as commercially successful and productive as Achenbach.