Outer Staircase of a Gothic Ruin

Also known as: Outer Staircase of a Gothic Ruin

About the Artwork

Rejecting the preference for the landscape and architecture of Italy, as seen in the work of many of his contemporaries, Domenico Quaglio portrayed the buildings of his native Germany. Here, Quaglio depicted a man, woman, and child who are dwarfed by the immense scale of a Gothic cathedral’s ruined arch, within which the figures appear. Overrun by vines and set within a dense forest, the architecture signifies the magnitude of God in the Christian faith and the smallness of mankind.

Inscriptions

signed, on verso, at lower right, in graphite: D. Quaglio f. in Decbr. 1830; inscribed, at lower left, in graphite: Domenico Quaglio d. F. [paraph: ey?] / 1786-1837; inscribed, at lower center, in graphite: Ansicht einer Ruine in / Meillerie Villaneuve des / gez. Dez. 1830; inscribed, at lower right, in graphite: Linken Ufer des Genfer see

Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981). Eastward from the Rhine: Romanticism to Abstraction, 1800-1925. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 12-September 9, 1984). The German Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 27, 1993). Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004). Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Quick Overview

Artist: Domenico Quaglio (German, 1787–1837)
Date: 1830
Medium: gray and brown wash and framing lines in pen and black ink
Dimensions: Sheet: 24.1 x 16.8 cm (9 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Image: 23.2 x 15.2 cm (9 1/8 x 6 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Anonymous gift in honor of Leona E. Prasse
Accession no.: 1980.218

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.