A Panoramic View of Heidelberg, monogrammed A. N. p., watercolour and tempera on cardboard, 100 x 340 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy.

We are grateful to Dr. Cav. Arabella Cifani for her help with the cataloguing of this work.

The panorama depicts the full width of Heidelberg's historic city centre. The city centre nestles between the banks of the Neckar River and the foothills of the Odenwald before the view opens up to the wide Upper Rhine Plain on the right. The famous Renaissance ruins of Heidelberg Castle tower halfway up the hill, the magnificent Fridericianum and the Thick Tower, which was blown up during the War of the Palatinate Succession, are clearly recognisable. To the left of the castle rise the massive round arches of the retaining wall, which supports the Scheffel Terrace of the Renaissance Garden Hortus Palatinus - still one of the most popular vantage points over the city today. Below, the Protestant Church of the Holy Spirit rises out of the sea of roofs, closely followed by the Italianate Baroque façade of the Jesuit Church. The Old Bridge, built of dark red sandstone, spans the Neckar and leads to the opposite bank. From the second half of the nineteenth century, the Neuenheim district located here became a popular residential neighbourhood where important scientists such as Max Weber resided. The famous Philosophers' Walk, which has invited poets and thinkers, scientists and students to stroll, discuss, and philosophise along it for centuries, also runs halfway up the Neuenheimer Ufer. The viewpoint for the panorama must have been taken from the Philosophers' Walk. This panoramic view of Heidelberg is taken from an significant and rare engraving drawn by Theodor Verhas (Schwetzingen 1811-1872 Heidelberg) and printed by Johann Hürlimann (Rideikon, Switzerland 1793-1850 Paris) in aquatint. There are two versions of Verhas's large print, both preserved in the Kurpfälzisches Museum in Heidelberg. The first, which perfectly corresponds to the watercolour except in some minor details, was printed in Paris by Goupil and Vibert, in London by Ackermann & co.; in Heidelberg it was published by L. Meder around 1843; the second, by the same authors and of the same time, is identical in detail but with a less extensive panorama.