A pair early city views (Vedute) of Munich : 1. Schannenplatz ; 2. Banquet hall of the royal residence in Munich, view from the west. This very detallied watercolours were executed around 1830s by famous Munich lithographer and watercolourist of Biedermeier epoch Gustav Kraus (1804 Passau - 1852 Munich).

As well known from his biography, on the base of his watercolours  German engraver Adolf von Schaden executed seria of etchings with Munich views. This fact appears in the biography of Schaden. These engravings are presented in the British Library  and one of them (see our first additional image) is identical in composition and accuracy of architecture to our watercolour with the view of Schrannenplatz. Some figures in both works are completely identical, which confirms the authorship of our watercolours.

Also, the authorship of Kraus is confirmed by the comparison with his another watercolors of Munich sold on sales of Munich  auction houses Neumeister (from the collection of Rudolf Neumeister) and of auction house Karl&Faber ( for images see our last 3 additional photos).

Provenance: private collection in Bavaria.

Literature: Artist  lexicons:  by Thieme/Becker; by Saur;  on-line Wikipedia.

inscription: on the view of Schrannenplatz signed illegibly by the author”Kraus”. 

Technigue: both watercolours on paper, laid down on paper, antique gilt frames of the later period.

Measurements: each only image w 5 3/4" x h 3 3/4"(14,5 x 9,5 cm); total framed 10" x 8"(25,5 x 20,5 cm).

Condition: good condition due the age.