THIELE, Johann Alexander
(b. 1685, Erfurt, d. 1752, Dresden)

View of Dresden from the Loessnitz Heights

1751
Oil on canvas, 103 x 156 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Our gaze roams from the vineyards on the slopes of Loessnitz into the far distance, where the city of Dresden appears as a silhouette, the tower of the Hofkirche still incomplete. The striking outlines of Alpsandsteingebirge can be seen on the horizon, with the fortress of Königstein standing out most noticeably.

Thiele is at the peak of his abilities in this painting: the landscape swings rhythmically with the river and the chains of hills, until the contours all dissolve in the background. A feeling of distance is produced by the dark brown passages at the front. Late seventeenth-century landscapes, such as those of Pieter Gysels, perhaps, may have stimulated this view.