Curatorial Narrative The Cattle Drive in Altaussee with a View of the Dachstein Massif by Friedrich Gauermann is a quintessential exemplar of Austrian Romanticism, conceived circa 1855. Gauermann’s oeuvre is distinguished by its emphasis on figural narrative and landscape, often eschewing the more conventionally picturesque vistas favored by his contemporaries in favor of a more rugged, naturalistic terrain. The artist’s technique is characterized by a bold, impasto brushwork that imbues the painting with a palpable sense of texture and materiality.As the image expands to its intended scale roughly 44×50 inches the chromatic structure begins to assert itself with increasing force, its blues and greens unfolding across the canvas in broad sweeps. The atmospheric weight of the scene shifts accordingly, as the artist’s deployment of chiaroscuro imbues the landscape with a dramatic sense of volume and spatial depth. In an interior env