August von Wille

August Levin von Wille (18 April 1828, Kassel - 31 March 1887, Düsseldorf) was a German landscape painter, genre artist and illustrator.

From 1843 to 1847, he studied at the Kunsthochschule Kassel,[1] then joined the landscape painting class of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf which, with a short break for military service, he attended until 1854.

[1] He was called to teach at the newly established Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School by Grand Duke Charles Alexander himself, and lived there from 1859 to 1863, when he returned to Düsseldorf with his family.

He also painted architectural and urban motifs, including winding streets and monastery ruins.

Always loyal to what he had learned from Schirmer, he did move away from detailed realism and came under the influence of the Romantic artist Caspar Scheuren, which can be seen in his fantastical forest scenes.