Hans von Bartels

(1856 Hamburg – 1913 Munich)

“View onto the Koenigssee” (a german lake), 1901
Oil on canvas, 130 x 95 cm
signed and dated

Like Eduard Hildebrandt and Adolf Menzel, Hans von Bartels exceeded the traditional technical limitations of watercolors. His oil paintings profited from the knowledge he gained through watercolors as well as from the transfer of similar qualities, such as an immediate and spontaneous approach the medium allows. Von Bartels received his first lessons from a well-known watercolorist in Geneva. After that he studied under marine painter Rudolf Hardoff. Study trips brought him to Italy among others. In 1885, he moved to Munich from where he travelled to the sea several times. Since 1896 von Bartels had been an honorary member at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colors.