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Oil on canvas. Signed lower right: “A. Achenbach”. Andreas Achenbach’s extensive oeuvre is dominated by dramatic maritime paintings, and Sinking Ship represents a typical example of exquisite quality. Although he has since fallen into some obscurity, in his time he was highly acclaimed, exceptionally skilled and able to provide a vibrant, convincing interpretation of his subjects. His contemporaries considered him one of the fathers of 19th century German landscape painting. He received a medal of the first class in Paris in 1855 and was named a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. After studying under Schirmer at the Düsseldorf Academy of Painting, he studied at the Academy in St. Petersburg. Achenbach’s early work showed romantic traits expressing anxiety of man facing the raging elements alone or being entirely enveloped by nature. Later, however, he tended to take a more documentary view of his subjects and although he retained a penchant for dynamic scenes, he departed from hidden meanings and allegory. In fact, he is seen as the first German realist.