Already as an apprentice in Basel and Bern, Peter Birmann specialised in landscapes and earned his first income as a colourist for various presses. In 1781, the Basel patron Rudolph Burckhardt made it possible for him to travel to Rome, where he soon found employment with Abraham-Louis Ducros (1748-1810). Birmann subsequently ran the studio of the vedute painter Giovanni Volpato (1735-1803) and developed close contacts with the illustrious group of German-speaking artists in the eternal city.
Despite the financial success of his watercolours and ink drawings with the ever-growing number of travellers to Italy, Birmann returned to Basel in 1791 in order to found an independent workshop and art-dealership. Specialising in views of Switzerland, Birmann soon achieved acclaim and financial independence, which allowed him to underwrite lithographic series such as the Voyage pittoresque de Bâle à Bienne (1802-1807).
The sheet shown here depicts a waterfall not far from Basel. The so-called Zeglinger Giessen drops roughly nine meters down from the small river Ei near Kilchberg into a natural pool and was very popular in the nineteenth century both as a destination for outings and as an artistic subject.