The New International Encyclopædia/Rottmann, Karl

ROTTMANN, rṓt'mȧn, Karl (1798-1850). A noted German landscape painter, born at Handschuhsheim, near Heidelberg. He formed himself chiefly through the study of nature and of great masterworks, and after gaining prominence by “Heidelberg at Sunset” (water color), and “Castle Eltz,” he settled in Munich (1822), devoting himself to Bavarian scenery. His success in characterizing the main features of a landscape, and producing ideal effects in line and color, created a new epoch in landscape painting. During his travels in Italy (1826-28) he made sketches for the 28 Italian landscapes in fresco which he was commissioned to paint in the arcades of the Hofgarten at Munich (1829-33) and which constitute Rottmann's most sterling work, but unfortunately deteriorated under climatic influences. The cartoons for them are in the Darmstadt Gallery. In 1834-35 he was in Greece, and the results of this journey were 23 Greek landscapes, which were placed in a special room in the New Pinakothek, Munich. Of his easel pictures “Ammer Lake” and “Marathon” are in the National Gallery, Berlin; “The Acropolis of Sikyon” and “Corfu” in the Pinakothek, Munich; others in the Schack Gallery, Munich, and in Karlsruhe; and seven in the Leipzig Museum. Consult: Pecht, Deutsche Künstler, ii. (Nördlingen, 1879); and Regnet, in Dohme, Kunst und Künstler, iv. (Leipzig, 1885).