Leontine von Littrow “Coast in Dalmatia”

Leontine Camilla von Littrow, known as Leo von Littrow, was born in Trieste and grew up in both Trieste and Fiume (today Rijeka). Around 1887 she settled in Abbazia, a prominent seaside resort of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which became a central place of her artistic activity. She received her initial training through occasional lessons with Hans Canon, before studying from around 1875 with the Paris-based painter Jean d’Alheim. During this period, she engaged intensively with French Impressionism, whose influence left a lasting mark on her work.
By the early 1880s, Leo von Littrow was exhibiting successfully in Vienna, Bremen, Munich, and London, and by around 1885 she was regarded as an accomplished painter of the sea and of Italian and Dalmatian coastal landscapes. Her painting Coast of Dalmatia exemplifies this specialization. The composition focuses on the rugged coastline and the powerful surge of the waves. A vivid, pastose brushwork captures both the movement of the sea and the jagged rock formations along the shore. Deep blues of the water dominate the palette, contrasted by the brown and earthy tones of the rocks. Sky and horizon recede almost entirely, allowing the crashing surf itself to become the central motif. With a restrained range of colors, Littrow succeeds in conveying the dynamism and immediacy of the Dalmatian coastal landscape.

Von Littrow’s works were highly sought after by collectors, and her studio in Abbazia became a meeting place for notable figures such as Ferdinand I, Prince of Bulgaria, Archduke Karl Stephan of Austria, and Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria, with whom Littrow maintained a lifelong friendship and correspondence.
A particularly significant recognition came in the mid-1880s, when she was awarded an honorary commission for the newly constructed imperial museums in Vienna—an honor granted to her as the only woman artist. For the ground-floor galleries of the Natural History Museum, she created the painting Coast of Ragusa. Today, works by Leo von Littrow are held in major collections including the Wien Museum, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and the Museo Revoltella in Trieste. Leo von Littrow died in 1925 in her hometown of Abbazia.