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1 of 253523 objects
Gotha Signed and dated 1840
Oil on canvas | 73.6 x 100.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404004
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A view from high ground towards the town of Gotha, looking across the red roofs of the suburbs towards Schloss Friedenstein on a hillside in the centre; with the theatre on the left, and the Margarethenkirche on the right; a man leads a woman on a donkey along a country road, their dog beside them. Gotha is a town in Thuringia, the state known since the late nineteenth century as 'the green heart of Germany'. It was chosen in 1640 as the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha. In the mid-eighteenth century, as a consequence of Frederick the Great's invitation to Voltaire to reside at his Prussian court, Gotha played an important part in the development of the Enlightenment in Germany. From 1826 to 1918 it was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Schloss Friedenstein, built between 1643 and 1656, served as the residence of Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha, the father of Prince Albert. It is Germany's largest early Baroque palace, surrounded by one of the country's earliest landscape gardens in the English style. This is probably a copy after a watercolour by Heinrich Schneider (RCIN 920499), with the addition of the figures in the foreground. RCIN 406483 is another copy after the watercolour. W Fenoulhet's work in England is represented by two landscapes, of Slagrave Farm, and Sion House (both Lewisham Local History and Archives Centre, London)
Provenance
Possibly Prince Albert's acquisition (29) Jan 9, 1841, after Schneider (36 pounds 15 shillings); Rough Catalogue No 26; possibly Prince Albert's pictures at WC 1862 p. 7; recorded hanging in the Queen's Dressing Room (Room no 213) at Windsor Castle in 1878
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
73.6 x 100.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
104.5 x 131.4 x 23.5 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Alternative title(s)
Palace of Gotha
Palace and town of Gotha