Detail of The Family of Mr. Westfal in the Conservancy by Gaetner in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2011

The Family of Mr. Westfal in the Conservatory

Artist: Eduard Gaertner (German, Berlin 1801–1877 Zechlin)

Date: 1836

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 9 3/8 x 7 7/8 in. (23.8 x 20 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Purchase, funds from various donors, by exchange, 2007

Accession Number: 2007.70

Label:

This light-filled conservatory belonged to the prosperous Berlin wool merchant Christian Carl Westphal, a passionate horticulturist. The stark glass structure here serves as a Biedermeier day-room for his family. Gaertner was the preeminent painter of Berlin’s grand new boulevards, but this is one of only four interior scenes he is known to have painted; it may have been owned by Westfal, who was his landlord.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/439065