Achenbach, Andreas

Andreas Achenbach, (born September 29, 1815, Kassel, Hesse [Germany]—died April 1, 1910, Düsseldorf, Germany), landscape painter, a pioneer of the German realist school. He studied at the Düsseldorf academy under Johann Wilhelm Schirmer but emancipated himself from the contemporary school of landscapists that delighted in the representation of Romantic scenery. He was the first artist of the Düsseldorf school to paint nature for its own sake. His pictures of the stormy North Sea, of Dutch canal scenes, and of Rhineland villages contrasted favourably with the sentimental landscapes of his contemporaries. His brother Oswald was also a painter.