Influenced by Schinkel and supported by the Prussian royal family, August Wilhelm Schirmer became a member of the Berlin Academy in 1835 and was promoted to head of the landscape class as successor to Karl Belchen. He is considered one of the most important and influential Berlin landscape painters of his time.

The author Boetticher counted 23 of Schirmer's works in the inventories of the Berlin and Potsdam palaces. Schirmer painted after sketches he made during his sojourn to Italy from 1827-30. The clear contours and cool light used in his work allude to the neoclassical style of his tutors Joseph Anton Koch and Johann Christian Reinhart under whom he was taught in Rome. However, the dramatic parting of the heave...