Landscape near Kalksburg

The Belvedere attributes this view to the circle of Johann Christian Brand and dates it to around 1790, a moment of change for the village in the valley. The Jesuits had held Kalksburg since the early 17th century and lost it when their order was dissolved in 1773. In 1790 the state sold the estate to Franz von Mack, a jeweller to the imperial court. In 1793 he pulled down the old Jesuit church, and by 1801 a new one in a sober early classical style had been consecrated on a rise above the village. So if the date holds, the church tower among the white houses is probably the old building, painted shortly before it disappeared. In front, a herdsman keeps cattle and sheep on the slope, and small figures walk the paths into the valley.