View of Salzburg with the Kapuzinerberg

Fischbach presents the town on the banks of the unregulated river Salzach as a gem. Framed by the town’s hills and the Gaisberg rising in the distance with the Nockstein peak, the town nestles against the Kapuzinerberg, bathed in soft sunlight.
For this version, dated 1844, Fischbach chose not the splendid view of the Fortress and Cathedral, but rather the less spectacular part of town on the right bank of the Salzach. Protruding from the densely built-up area are the Capuchin monastery and the Gothic roof of the old Andräkirche [St. Andrew’s church]. To the right is the church of St. Johann am Imberg with the almshouse.
Fischbach’s poetic rendering of his native landscape combines the romantic atmosphere with realistic features and attention to detail – as a procession, hardly recognisable, moves across the bridge.
The artist’s choice of viewpoint shows his eye for aesthetics. The bushes on the Mönchsberg in the shady foreground and slender, supple trees frame the scene. Staffage figures and a towering cloud formation animate the idyll. The artist deals with these atmospheric phenomena in numerous studies.

OEHRING Erika: Fischbach Johann, View of Salzburg with Kapuzinerberg, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 146