Ferdinand Keller
Alexander von Humboldt and the botanist Bonpland on the Orinoco, 1875

Artist
Ferdinand Keller

Title
Alexander von Humboldt and the botanist Bonpland on the Orinoco

Year of creation
1875

Technique and dimensions
oil on canvas, 55.5 x 43 cm

Year of acquisition
2018

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) undertook a research trip on the Orinoco together with the French doctor and botanist Aimé Bonpland (1773-1858) between March and May 1800. His impressions and experiences were reflected in the work “From the Orinoco to the Amazon. Journey to the equinoctial regions of the new continent”.

For this design, which was created in 1875, Ferdinand Keller drew on this source, but was also able to draw on his own experiences in the tropical jungle. From 1857 to 1862, Keller's father traveled to Brazil with his family for business reasons. "As a very young person, he [Ferdinand Keller] roamed around in the jungles of Brazil and happily studied. In those little-known watercolors, Keller already shows the wealth of imagination, the fullness of creative power, the noble talent that he has now brought to the fullest bloom" (Paul Ladewig 1894, quoted from Koch, see below, p. 10).

In 1877, Keller completed the large-format painting "Humboldt on the Orinoco", and in the same year it was presented to the public for the first time at the Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe.