The Hay wagon

Karl Schlesinger (1825-1893) was born in Lausanne. He became the pupil of Dyckmans (1811-1888) in Antwerp. In 1852, he settled in Dusseldorf. He was essentially a landscape and genre painter but is also known for a series of history paintings illustrating scenes from the Reformation.

This painting is a fine example of Schlesinger's output. He favoured rustic subject matter with a high degree of finish and atmospheric effect such as the present sunset backlighting composition. This formula is typical of the Dusseldorf, one of the main artistic centre in 19th-century Germanic Europe. By comparison with similar works, this painting can be reasonably dated from the 1860s.