Heinrich Bürkel, Trattoria at the Porta San Sebastiano, Rome, c. 1830/32

Heinrich Bürkel (1802-1869)
Trattoria at the Porta San Sebastiano, Rome, c. 1830/32
Oil on paper, glued on canvas, 41,0 x 59,5 cm
München, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Inv. Nr. 8610

Heinrich Bürkel (1802-1869) came from Pirmasens in the Palatinate, which had been part of the Kingdom of Bavaria since 1816. He studied at the Munich Academy from 1822, but his most significant inspiration came not from his formal education, but from copying 17th-century Dutch paintings in the royal collection, which were exhibited at Schleißheim Palace at the time. The influence of Dutch realism was crucial in shaping bourgeois realist genre painting in the early 19th century.

Motifs from Italy were especially popular, as the people, with their distinctive costumes and customs, were viewed as a pious community living in harmony with nature under the southern sun. Additionally, it was believed that the traditions of life from antiquity had remained unbroken. Bürkel’s naturalistic style was influenced by the works of the Dutch Bamboccianti, a group of genre painters named after the Dutch artist Pieter van Laer, whose nickname in the Dutch artists' association "Schildersbent" was "Il Bamboccio" ("rag doll"). These painters similarly depicted Roman folk life in a realistic manner during the 17th century.

Bürkel’s second stay in Italy, from 1830 to 1832, was the longest and most artistically fruitful. During this period, he produced numerous drawings and oil sketches, many of which Bürkel later used as references for paintings in the following years. One such example is the present study, painted in oil on paper in Rome. It depicts a scene on the outskirts of the city, near Porta Sebastiano, with a view extending across the Roman Campagna towards the Alban Hills in the background.