| The attractive natural spectacle of the Anio River plunging into the valley near Tivoli was a popular destination for travelers to Italy. The city, known for its waterfalls and ancient ruins, attracted numerous artists. As early as 1812, the 14-year-old Karl Blechen created a drawing of the waterfalls based on an external source (P. O. Rave, *Karl Blechen*, Berlin 1940, Cat. No. 42). When he fulfilled his long-held wish to travel to Italy in 1828, he quickly visited Tivoli shortly after arriving in Rome. A series of sketches and paintings, some completed after his return in his Berlin studio, resulted from this multi-day stay (ibid., Cat. No. 879–882). | |
| In this particular work, Blechen focused on the smallest and least spectacular of the cascades, which flows over the rugged slopes of the karst rock bathed in harsh sunlight. Shadowy rock crevices draw the viewer’s gaze into the abyss, along which a steep path descends, its edge lined with dusty shrubs struggling to survive. There is no tiered landscape, no figures, and no narrative details in the foreground; instead, stark ocher-yellow rock walls dominate the light-filled composition. Concentrating on the structures of the landscape, Blechen presents a fragment of nature in an immediate close-up view. | |