(Milan 1832–1910 Vienna)
View of the Rax and Schneeberg mountains, in the centre the Semmering railway, signed J. Varrone,
oil on canvas, 54.5 x 79.5 cm, framed, (Rei)

In this painting, the landscape painter and watercolourist Johann Varrone depicts a landscape with a view over the Rax and Schneeberg mountains. Varrone was born in Italy and studied at the Viennese Academy. He devoted himself to the depiction of landscapes from an early stage. The palette he chose for his works is characterised by its clear colours and airy atmosphere.
Varrone’s chosen viewpoint in this picture enables the artist to grant his audience a view reaching far back into the landscape. The scene is furnished with the accomplishments of modern techniques, yet without pushing the representation of the landscape into the background. The locomotive, recognisable almost only by virtue of its characteristic cloud of smoke, winds along the steep canyons.
The Semmering railway was known from its opening in 1854 as a masterwork of engineering, not only since it had to negotiate ascents, but because its construction was impeded by geological difficulties. Today, it is still known as the longest full track mountain railway in Europe and it was recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage in 1998.
Whilst contemporaries of Varrone were illustrating technological progress in all its intensity, speed and power, he harmoniously merges nature and technology into a unity.