Christian Georg Schütz the Elder <1718-1791> belonged to the Frankfurt painters and achieved renown as a landscape painter beyond the region. He was prized by collectors, including Goethe’s father Johann Caspar Goethe. He created landscape series as room decorations for noble patrons. Ideal Landscape with Antique Ruins I also belongs within this context. An ideal landscape does not show a precisely copied landscape image but idealizes the motif. In this work two antique ruins and a statue can be seen between two trees. Various people and animals animate the scene. Due to the high demand for his paintings Schütz had help in his workshop: His former apprentice Franz Hochecker probably also collaborated on this work. The staffage – that is, the ancillary figures of people and animals – was painted by Friedrich Wilhelm Hirt.