In April 1822, Preller moved to Dresden, where the modern tendencies of Caspar David Friedrich and Johan Christian Dahl had gained a foothold. ‘I applied myself to drawing with the greatest rigour, both with the pencil and with colour. These sheets [...] were dry, but the knowledge of nature I gained in this way has borne fruit throughout my life.’ The study from the Amselgrund does not appear ‘dry’. Painting in oil outdoors was inspired by Dahl. Preller was later one of the most famous painters of his era, whose work the director of the National Gallery in Berlin counted ‘among the greatest artistic achievements of our time’.