Picture clock with Alster panorama

Bilderuhr mit Alsterpanorama (c.1830)

The Picture clock with Alster Panorama (German: Bilderuhr mit Alsterpanorama) also known as Coffeeparty on the Alster with view to Lombardbridge over the city is an oil painting with integrated mechanical clock, automata, and music box in the collection of the Hamburg Museum. 74 x 89cm in size, It was made between 1827 and 1830 by unknown artist or workshop and was restored by the museum in 2012.

External videos
Die Bilderuhr mit beweglichem Alsterpanorama - description of the subjects visible in the painting
Die Bilderuhr mit beweglichem Alsterpanorama und ihre Technik - description of the mechanical aspects and their restoration

The painting shows a group in a park on the banks of the Außenalster lake in the foreground; with the Lombardsbrücke (Lombard Bridge) and behind it a panorama of the city of Hamburg in the background. From left-to-right the recognisable buildings are:

• St. James' Church (Hauptkirche St. Jacobi)
• The Hamburg workhouse ()
• St Peter's church
• St. Catherine's Church (St. Katharinen)
• St. Nicholas' church (St.Nikolai)

These landmarks indicates that the scene is set on the Western bank of the Außenalster and oriented directly towards the South. The workhouse and St. Nicholas' church were both destroyed in the Great Fire of Hamburg 12-15 years after the painting was made.

Mechanical elements

Near the centre of the painting is the spire of St Peter's which features a working clock. Other mechanically operated elements of the scene include

• a rotating windmill
• two children playing cup-and-ball
• a harpist's fingers playing
• boats moving on the lake
• traffic crossing the Lombard bridge
• a fisherman's rod
• A person's foot tapping to the music