Kapuzinerberg with a view of Salzburg

A good two-thirds of the picture is taken up by the Kapuzinerberg with the Capuchin monastery and monks. The remaining area shows the River Salzach with a predecessor of the present Staatsbrücke [the main bridge] and part of the left-hand side of the town, with town-houses, Bürgerspitalskirche (St Blasius Church), Mönchsberg and Staufen. A familiar subject is viewed here from an angle differing from that of other works. Instead of the various churches, Fortress and Untersberg, Rauch puts the monastery garden in the foreground, similarly to a watercolour by Josef Höger (1801–1877), (Albertina, Vienna, inv. no. 28304).
Prince-Archbishop Paris Lodron (1586-1653, reg. 1619-1653) modernised and strengthened the fortifications on both sides of the town, with defence towers along the walls on the Mönchsberg and Kapuzinerberg. Clouds provide accents in the blue sky. It is not clear where the billowing plume of smoke near St Blasius Church is coming from – possibly a reference to the Great Fire on the right bank of the Salzach on 30 April 1819.

Ducke Astrid: Johann Josef Rauch, Kapuzinerberg with a view of Salzburg. In: Ducke Astrid, Habersatter Thomas (Hg.): Stadt - Land - Berg. Salzburg und seine Umgebung. Town - Landscape - Mountain. Salzburg and surroundings. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2022, p. 58, illus. p. 59