Arnold Böcklin
Villa by the Sea II, 1865
Öl auf Leinwand, 123,4 x 173,2 cm
1865 durch Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack erworben
Inv. Nr. 11536
Villa by the Sea II
We know neither who the woman is nor the reason for her mourning. Böcklin indicated that she might be the ‘last scion of an old family’. With its pervasive melancholy, the painting acquired iconic status as the embodiment of a vague, insatiable yearning for southern regions and past times. In 1897 the art historian Heinrich Wölfflin wrote: ‘It is a painting that we cannot imagine being without, with associations leading in every direction. Whenever our century’s sensibility is spoken of, mention will have to be made of Villa by the Sea.’