Wilhelm August KRAUSE (1803-1864)

Large and powerful seascape by German painter Wilhelm August KRAUSE. View of sailboats and men rowing in smaller crafts in green waters of the North Sea, probably near the Scottish coast. Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1855. Original frame. Professionally cleaned and revarnished.

Size: H 97 cm x W 136 cm – H 117 cm x W 156 cm

German school of the mid-19th century.

Lit: Wilhelm August Leopold Christian Krause, born the 27th February 1803 in Dessau and died the 8th of January 1864 in Berlin, is a German painter, specialized in landscapes and seascapes. Krause, supported by the painter C.W. Kolbe the elder, obtained a scholarship at the Academy of Dresden in 1821. Krause stays there 3 years working for Caspar David Friedrich. In 1824, he moves to Berlin where he becomes the student of Karl Wilhelm Wach in 1827. At the same time, Krause was a tenor singer at the Theater of Königsstadt in Berlin. He joined the Academy in Berlin, in 1832. He’s inspired by his many travels, like in Rügen in 1830, in Norway, Holland and France. In 1842 he travelled to England and Scotland. The Royal Academy of Sciences in Prussia welcomes Krause in 1833 where he exhibits frequently. Later, Krause takes a long trip to the Adriatic coast. He is the first in Berlin painting seascapes and has had a lot of success with it. His friends were Hermann Eschke, Eduart Hildebrandt, Charles Hoguet and Fritz Bamberger. He had the painter Ludwig von Hagn as a pupil.

His oil on panel “A view on the coast” dated 1842, was bought my Queen Victoria of England, in April 1842, it was recorded at Osborne House in 1876 and is now part of the Royal Collection Trust.