Post by David W.

Eduard Gaertner German,(1801-1877) View of the Opera House and Unter den Linden Street, Berlin 1845 Oil on canvas Carmen Thyssen Collection Madrid, Spain “View of the Opera House and Unter den Linden, Berlin , painted by Eduard Gaertner in 1845, is one of the most beautiful views of Berlin that this artist produced in the second phase of his artistic career. It depicts the center of gravity of the capital's spiritual and social life—the Opera House (now the Staatsoper)—bathed in the warm light of a late summer sunset. The theater draws the viewer's eye with its imposing colonnade at the center of the composition. The Opera House, designed by the architect Georg Wenzelhaus von Knobelsdorff, was built between 1741 and 1743, intended to mark the beginning of the Forum Fridericianum, a monumental complex planned by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, to be visible from his palace (designed by Andreas Schlüter). The Opera House is the only building erected according to this plan. On the left stands the statue of General von Blücher, created by the Berlin sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch in 1826, which was originally located in the Prinzessinenpalais. Behind the Opera House rises a rigidly cubic building, the Berlin palace of Prince Henry, the future Emperor Wilhelm I, built by Carl Ferdinand Langhans between 1834 and 1837. This is where the Unter den Linden boulevard begins, with its four rows of linden trees (in German, "Linden") that give the avenue its name; it ends at Pariser Platz, in front of the Brandenburg Gate. On both sides of this splendid boulevard stood the most beautiful houses in the city, the most luxurious cafes, and shops. The buildings seen on the right of the painting are, firstly, Prince Henry's palace, built by Johann Boumann, now home to Humboldt University; Behind it, the silhouette of the old Academy of Fine Arts can be seen.”(CTC)