Valentin Ruths
German (1825-1905)
Valentin Ruths enrolled at the Munich Academy in 1846 but the revolutionary upheavals there in 1848 forced him to interrupt his studies. In 1850 Ruths continued his training under the landscape painter, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer, in Düsseldorf. After spending two years studying in Rome (from 1855 to 1857), Ruths set up as a freelance artist in Hamburg in 1857. One of his preferred subjects was the landscape of the River Elbe in his native surroundings, although landscape motifs from Italy and Switzerland also played a significant role in his painting. The sensitivity to colors and the technical virtuosity of his nature studies brought him great acclaim from his contemporaries. His work is in the collection of the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
