In this magnificent panoramic view of Prague, Christian Ezdorf records the t.mes less splendor, beauty, and spirit of the Golden City. The only vantage point that could have offered such a sweeping vista looking northwest was the water tower in the Old Town.¹ From here, Ezdorf captured a portrait of the Bohemian capital city on a sunny day—a portrait that is as much recognizable today as it would have been in 1821, the year this work was painted.

Prague’s historic landmarks, remarkable architecture, and red-bricked roofs unfold across this large view. At the far right is Týn Church, the spires of which are echoed, as the eye moves left, in those of Saint Clement Cathedral and the Church of Saint Salvator. The dome of the Baroque church of Saint Francis of Assisi rises just to the right of the prominently featured Old Town Bridge Tower. To the left of the tower, is the city’s famed medieval stone bridge (known since 1870 as the Charles Bridge) that was the only means of dry crossing the Vltava River until 1841. The bridge connected the Old Town to the Lesser Town (Malá Strana), seen at left nestled beneath the Prague Castle, an important complex of buildings, palaces, and churches, including Saint Vitus Cathedral, which rises high above this panorama. Kings of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperors once ruled from Prague Castle, which has served as the seat of power for Czech Presidents since 1918. This impressive scene is further brought to life by Ezdorf’s array of meticulously rendered figures. In addition to elegantly attired figures strolling across the bridge, there are musicians, animals, carriages, and even a parade of soldiers marching nearby

Christian Ezdorf, also known as Johann Christian Ezdorf, was born in 1801 in the German city of Pößneck. He trained as a landscape artist at the Academy in Munich and was part of an artistic exchange between Munich and Prague in the early 1820s.² In 1821, he set off to Northern Europe, visiting Hamburg, Norway, and Sweden, later traveling to Iceland. He welcomed great acclaim in the North, regularly exhibiting at the Royal Academy in Stockholm his landscapes that captured the dramatic atmosphere of the Nordic, Scandinavian and Icelandic climates. In 1831, he was elected honorary member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Replica Handbags s, and he remained in Sweden until 1846, spending the last years of his career in Great Britain and Munich. Ezdorf’s oeuvre primarily consists of small landscapes inspired by seventeenth century Dutch artists Jacob van Ruisdael and Allaert van Everdingen.³ Only on rare occasions did he execute grand, large-scale cityscapes such as the present example. His 1823 panoramic view of Stockholm last appeared on the market in 1989.⁴

1. The Old Town Water Tower once formed part of the Old Town waterworks, much of which was destroyed by fires in 1848 and 1878 and rebuilt. The water tower still rises over the city today, although it now has one more level and a clock.

2. See Karel Vladislav Zap’s, Wegweiser durch Prag: ein nothwendiges Handbuch für Fremde, die sich mit den Merkwürdigkeiten der böhmischen Hauptstadt bekannt zu machen wünschen, 1848, pp. 303-305.

3. Four such landscapes by Ezdorf are today in the collects ion of the National Museum, Stockholm (inv. nos. NM 1127, NM 4658, NM 266, NM 1940), one is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. no. 1556-1869), and one is in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (inv. no. WAF 252).

4. Stockholm, seen from Mosebacke on Södermalm. 89 by 230 cm. Sold in Stockholm, Bukowskis, 31 October 1989, lot 267.