View of Szczecin between St John's Church and Long Bridge

In the first half of the 19th century, many panoramas of Szczecin were created, showing the current appearance of the city's buildings with Biedermeier-like precision and attention to detail. Noteworthy among them is an oil painting from 1839 by one of the most appreciated German painters of the Biedermeier era - Ludwig Eduard Lütke (1801-1850), the author of several lithographs and two canvases with views of Szczecin. The painting from 1839 displays a view of the Old Town from the southeast, seen from the grounds of a bathing establishment built by August Moritz, a Szczecin merchant and city councillor at that time. The buildings depicted on the canvas, and the rich harbour staffage, accurately reflect the actual state of this part of Szczecin. The painting, painted from nature and another veduta of Lütke with the Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes (Königlische Schloβ), created in 1836, was commissioned by the merchant Moritz. He bequeathed both works and ten other canvases to the museum to be established in Szczecin in 1851. They were presented in 1857 at the first exposition in the museum's temporary premises. A veduta from 1839 Ansicht von Stettin von neuen Badehause aus gesehen was also exhibited immediately after its creation at the Szczecin Kunstverein für Pommern exhibition and in 1841 at the Kunst-Ausstellung zu Stettin exhibition under the title Ansicht von Stettin vom Badehause des Kaufmanns Hern Moritz. Due to its high artistic value, the painting was mentioned in the 1924 guide to the Szczecin Museum. Until the end of the war it remained in the museum collection under the title Blick auf das Bollwerk zwischen Johanniskirche und Lange Brücke.

Małgorzata Peszko