Landscape with Tharandt Castle Ruins (c. 1800): Art, History and Details

Landscape with Tharandt Castle Ruins (c. 1800) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Adrian Zingg (Swiss, 1734–1816).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Swiss artist Adrian Zingg made the landscape of Saxony his primary and almost exclusive subject and sought out dramatic views, often featuring the country’s distinctive waterfalls, landscapes, and ruins, to convey its grandeur while maintaining a topographical precision. These two prints depict the ruins of Tharandt castle, a medieval structure outside Dresden. Zingg traveled to the site to sketch with friends, captivated by the juxtaposition between nature’s grandeur and the castle’s impermanence.

Object facts

• Title: Landscape with Tharandt Castle Ruins
• Date: c. 1800
• Creator attribution: Adrian Zingg (Swiss, 1734–1816)
• Culture: Switzerland
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching on laid paper
• Dimensions: Matted: 45.7 x 61.1 cm (18 x 24 1/16 in.); Image: 37.5 x 48.3 cm (14 3/4 x 19 in.); Sheet: 43 x 56.5 cm (16 15/16 x 22 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2023.117

A detail from the museum

Soon after Adrian Zingg sketched this view in the village of Tharandt, the area became popular among tourists for its dramatic views.

Collection credit

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Weisheit-Possél, Sabine, and Adrian Zingg. Adrian Zingg (1734-1816): Landschaftsgraphik zwischen Aufklärung und Romantik. Berlin: Lit, 2010.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.