Born in Germany, but working mainly in Italy, Elsheimer died aged just 32 and only about 35 of his pictures survive. Adam Elsheimer was baptised in Frankfurt on 18 March 1578, the eldest son of a tailor. In the second half of 1598 or 1599, Elsheimer travelled, probably via Munich, to Venice. Elsheimer then moved to Rome in 1600, when he was twenty-two, and was never to leave again.
In Rome, Elsheimer made great strides, rapidly absorbing the work of his contemporaries, such as the Antwerp landscape painter and his friend Paul Bril, and also Italian painters such as Caravaggio. He became part of a circle of intellectuals, including Rubens. It was in Rome that Elsheimer made his greatest contributions to the history of painting, in his unique interpretation of complex narratives, the representation of light - both natural and artificial, often in the same picture - and above all to landscape.
Three of the paintings included in this exhibition are contemporary copies - which are included to show lost paintings or a work so damaged that its original appearance is compromised.
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