SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Johann Wilhelm Schirmer

The Prussian landscape painter Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807–1863) worked in several registers of landscape painting, including the Romantic, the classical and the biblically inspired. He began his training in history painting with Wilhelm von Schadow at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts.

His career in Düsseldorf also took on a pedagogical dimension: he became assistant professor there in 1830, then professor in 1839. Between these two appointments, he travelled and painted in Belgium, the Black Forest, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Normandy and Italy. In 1854, the Prince Regent Frederick I of Baden appointed him director of the new Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe; Hans Thoma, Rudolf Epp and Anton von Werner were among his pupils in that city.

Several works from 1829 are recorded in German collections: Waldkapelle at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne and Grotte der Egeria at the Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig. The Art Institute of Chicago lists, among others, The Praying Nun (1829) and Under the Shady Linden Tree (1838). The same collection also holds The Large German Landscape and The Large Italian Landscape, both dated 1841. The study of his work is accompanied, among other publications, by the collection catalogue Natur im Blick. Die Landschaften des Johann Wilhelm Schirmer, published in Jülich in 2001 under the direction of Marcell Perse, and the two-volume exhibition catalogue Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. Vom Rheinland in die Welt, published in 2010.

This profile brings together identity references for Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

6 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky, Lempertz. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.

Works recorded at auction

Lempertz · Lot 2255

Kloster in Italien

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Kloster in Italien
Öl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2023-05-20

Published result : 7560 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 5000

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Lempertz · Lot 1666

Waldlandschaft mit Felsen

Oil on canvas, on cardboard

Original catalogue wording

Waldlandschaft mit Felsen
Öl auf Leinwand, auf Karton

Auction date : 2021-11-20

Published result : 11250 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 4000

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Lempertz · Lot 1528

Weg am Waldesrand

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Weg am Waldesrand
Öl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2019-05-18

Published result : 40920 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 30000

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Lempertz · Lot 1515

Italienische Landschaft

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Italienische Landschaft
Öl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2016-05-21

Published result : 6820 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 8000

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Lempertz · Lot 1588

Ansicht eines norditalienischen Dorfes

Pencil

Original catalogue wording

Ansicht eines norditalienischen Dorfes
Bleistift

Auction date : 2016-05-21

Published result : 1488 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 1200

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Dobiaschofsky

Rocky mountain range.

Pencil and watercolour on handmade paper, partly heightened with white

Original catalogue wording

Felsiger Gebirgszug.
Bleistift und Aquarell auf Bütten, partiell weiss gehöht

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Sources and references

• Reference record
• ARTIC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
• LoC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
• Documentary source
• Documentary source

SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19