”Daßs Keysers Schloss i Croatien n. d. n. Gez.[eichnet] de 21 October 840 in gesellschaft mitt Sne Excelens Baron v Otte

23.6 x 29.2 cm.
med ram 40x45 cm

Drawn during the artist’s stay in Vienna Between 1838-40 Palm spent two years in Vienna where he exhibited both at the Academy of Fine Arts and at the Art Association's exhibition. In 1840 he howed several paintings with local subjects such as a 'View of the ruin Dürenstein by the Danube’ and 'View of Gutenstein Castle in Steiermark', purchased by the Art Association in Stockholm in 1841 (G. Lindgren, Landskapsmålaren G. W. Palm 1810-1890, 1934, p. 60, pp. 64-65).

He there became acquainted with the state and conference councilor Baron Franz Xaver von Ottenfels (1778-1851), Chancellor Klemens von Metternich's confidant. Von Otenfels' eldest son, Moritz Franz von Ottenfels (1820-1907), became one of Palm's best friends. In September 1840, they invited Palm to their large estate in Hungary, Horwatzska, from where Franz von Ottenfeld and Palm made an excursion to Croatia where von Ottenfeld owned a castle, Beţanec. The ruin depicted in the present work was drawn during this journey. It probably depicts ruins of the the medieval castle of Klis located in the mountains outside Split, which later became the seat of the Croatian kings before being converted into a fortress during the Ottoman wars. Franz Xaver von Ottenfels usually traveled under the name Henry Werner, hence Palm's inscription "incognito" on the watercolor. After his departure from Horwatzska, Palm traveled to Trieste in Italy, where he arrived at the end of October (Lindgren, op. cit., pp. 67-68). The following ten years he spent in Italy.