Nuremberg seen from Tullnau

Friedrich Eibner was
interested primarily in architectural renditions. Beyond his Bavarian homeland,
he also worked along the Rhine, in France, and in Northern Italy. On a trip to
Spain in the entourage of Russian Prince Meshchersky, he produced numerous
drawings and watercolors, 65 of which the prince acquired and arranged to
reproduce as a facsimile album. Later, from 1868 onward, Eibner also began
receiving commissions from Bavarian King Ludwig II.

Here Eibner shows an
atmospheric, romantic scene. He uses lighting as a mood-setting medium that
blurs the city's outlines. Shimmering between dark gray and violet, Nuremberg's
silhouette appears in shadowy profile against the setting sun. At the left edge
of the picture, to the south, we can see the towers of St. Lorenz; to the
right, in the southeast, the church tower in Wöhrd and the Laufertor tower are
visible between the roofs of the foreground buildings in Tullnau. The Laufer
Schlagturm tower is visible in front of the Castle.

Here the city silhouette
is probably significant mainly as a backdrop. But though the mill building and
its accompanying pond in Tullnau occupy the foreground, even they are not what
the artist is mainly interested in – nor are the buildings of the hamlet of
Wöhrd with its Cramer-Klett'sche Fabrik factory building at the center.
Eibner's real interest was in recording a natural event – the sunset and the
associated mood.