Sale: 532 / 19th Century Art, Dec. 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 372

 

372
Carl Spitzweg
Auf dem Pirschgang, Um 1865-70.
Oil on panel
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 43,200
Sold:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000

(incl. surcharge)
Auf dem Pirschgang. Um 1865-70.
Oil on panel.
Wichmann 1481. Bottom left with the paraph. Verso with old, partly illegible labels and with a collector stamp of Hugo Toelle, Barmen and hand-written inscriptions. 17.8 x 23 cm (7 x 9 in).

We are grateful to Mr Detlef Rosenberger, who saw the original work, for his kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Estate of Friedrich Volz (until 1895)
Collection Hugo Toelle, Barmen.
Galerie Abels, Cologne (from Adolf Wüster, Munich, in 1950).
Private collection Magdeburg (acquired from the above in 1950).
Collection G. Steiner, Hanover. (1958)
German private collection.

EXHIBITION: Commemorative exhibition, June 1908, Kunstverein Munich, no. 61 (titled: "Jäger mit seinem Liebchen im Walde").
Galerie Abels,Cologne, June 1950, cat. co. 236 (supplement sheet).
Collection G. Steiner, Hanover 1958.

LITERATURE: Galerie Fleischmann, Munich, auction on November 30, 1895, illu. 16 (estate Friedrich Volz).
Fritz von Ostini, Aus Carl Spitzwegs Welt, Barmen 1924, p. 98 (with illu.).
Max von Boehn, Carl Spitzweg, Bielefeld/Leipzig 1937, p. 51 (with illu.).
Günter Roennefahrt, Carl Spitzweg. Beschreibendes Verzeichnis seiner Gemälde, Ölstudien und Aquarelle, Munich 1960, no. 394 (with illu., titled: "Auf dem Pürschgang").
Siegfried Wichmann, Carl Spitzweg. Jäger mit Mädchen im Wald, Dokumentation, Starnberg-Munich, R.f.v.u.a.K. 1984, Bayer. Staatsbibliothek Munich, inv. no. Ana 656 SW 19.
Villa Grisebach, Berlin, auction on June 29, 2001, cat. no. 1 (with illu.).

A recurring motif in Spitzweg's oeuvre is that of the loving couple of hunter and dairymaid in alpine nature. Since his early days, Spitzweg has varied the subject time and again: sometimes a meeting takes place in a rocky gorge, sometimes on a mountain path at a small wayside shrine, in the high forest or at the fountain. Spitzweg's artistic subtlety is evident in the different character of the encounters, which take place as a coincidental rendez-vous, in nocturnal secrecy or even during the day, like a sort of chronicle of a love story in the Alps. The two characters and their romance seem to have occupied him not only in terms of painting, but the numerous variants show the pleasure he took in staging and storytelling. In some of the paintings, the landscape is in the foreground, in others - as in this case - the figures appear larger in the foreground. Deeply engrossed in each other, they turn away from the viewer and walk into the dense forest, behind which one can - in a very Spitzwegian manner - catch a glimpse of the mountain peaks illuminated by the evening sun against the blue of the sky. In addition to the vegetation and the suit of the hunter, rendered in a loose painting style in the most diverse shades of green, Spitzweg renders his preferred color combination of red skirt, blue apron, black bodice and white blouse in the smallest and most subtle dosage in the robe of the dairymaid. The two figures of the hunter and the dairymaid can also be found individually in Spitzweg's oeuvre; here they come together in the painting in a secret, romantic way. As a gifted landscape painter, who had traveled the foothills of the Alps and the Inn Valley with Eduard Schleich in his early days, Spitzweg succeeded in creating wonderful depictions of nature. The figures in them are more than mere accessories, they serve to characterize the landscape and add an emotional and narrative moment. What’s a better place for a young couple to fall in love than in the lovely, idyllic landscape of the foothills of the Alps, which Spitzweg was so fond of. [KT]



372
Carl Spitzweg
Auf dem Pirschgang, Um 1865-70.
Oil on panel
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 43,200
Sold:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000

(incl. surcharge)