This masterfully landscape painting was executed by German animal and landscape painter of the Munich School and an engraver Ernst Adolph Meißner ( 1837 Dresden - 1902 Munich).

Meißner studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he was enrolled from 1851 to 1855. His teachers were Carl Robert Kummer and Ludwig Richter. He belonged to the artistic circle of Otto Gebler, Christian Friedrich Mali, and Heinrich Zügel.

Even as a young man, he traveled extensively to Switzerland, Italy, Holland, and Hungary. He settled in Munich in 1870.

Meißner became known for his landscape paintings, in which he depicted the harsh life of the rural population. Animals often play a central role in the paintings. Important works were shown in an exhibition at the Munich Glass Palace in 1902; some paintings were acquired by King Albert of Saxony. Even today, paintings can be found in renowned state galleries and art houses such as the Dresden State Art Collection, the Landesmuseum Graz, the Belvedere in Vienna, the Lenbachhaus Munich, the Amsterdam City Archives,  as well as in private and family collections.

Literature: international artist lexicons: Thieme/Becker XXIV, 1930, 346 ; Saur;  Münchner Maler III, 1982; Ries, 1992; Art of 19th century. Cataloque of the Austrian National Gallery in Belvedere. 

Inscriptions: signed  and titled München, lower right.

Technique: oil on canvas, magnificent  original period  frame.

Measurements: unframed 46 7/8" x 33"(119 x 84 cm), framed 54 3/4" x 44 7/8" (139 x 104 cm).

Condition: very good, canvas was professionally relined.