The Bay of Cattaro in Dalmatia 1840

Rudolf von Alt made this watercolor painting, “The Bay of Cattaro in Dalmatia,” sometime in the 19th century. This tranquil landscape conceals as much as it reveals about the artist's position relative to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Von Alt renders a specific place, but filters it through an aesthetic lens. Dalmatia, now part of Croatia, was then a province of the Empire. How might we view this image as a statement about the political role of landscape painting at this time? Was it simply to provide a picturesque view for consumption in Vienna? Or, might it reflect a more complex negotiation of regional and national identities? The Empire was a complex, multi-ethnic state, and landscape painting could be a means of promoting imperial unity and also a visual record of cultural diversity. To understand this work more fully, we can research the cultural politics of landscape painting within the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the institutions that shaped artistic production. Ultimately, this artwork reminds us that visual culture is always shaped by broader social and institutional forces.