Carl Spitzweg

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Carl Spitzweg
Carl Spitzweg in a photograph taken c. 1860
Born(1808-02-05)February 5, 1808
DiedSeptember 23, 1885(1885-09-23) (aged 77)
NationalityGerman
Known forPainter, poet, artist
MovementGerman Romanticism, Biedermeier
Signature

Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romantic painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era.

Life and career[edit]

Spitzweg was born in Unterpfaffenhofen, near Munich, Bavaria, the second of three sons of Franziska (née Schmutzer) and Simon Spitzweg.[1] His father, a wealthy merchant, had Carl trained as a pharmacist. He attained his qualification from the University of Munich but, while recovering from an illness, he took up painting.

Spitzweg was self-taught as an artist, starting out by copying the works of Flemish masters. He contributed his first work to satiric magazines. Upon receiving an inheritance in 1833, he was able to dedicate himself to painting.

Later, Spitzweg visited European art centers in Prague, Venice, Paris, London, and Belgium studying the works of various artists and refining his technique and style. His later paintings and drawings are often humorous genre works. Many of his paintings depict sharply characterized eccentrics, for example The Bookworm (1850) and The Hypochondriac (c. 1865, in the Neue Pinakothek, Munich).

His paintings inspired the musical comedy Das kleine Hofkonzert by Edmund Nick.

Spitzweg is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich.[2]

Forgeries[edit]

In the late 1930s an art forgery case in Germany involved 54 paintings which had been passed off as Spitzweg originals. They had been painted by a Traunstein copyist named Toni, who worked from reproductions and picture postcards. Toni signed the works "in the style of Spitzweg" with his own name, but fraudsters later removed his name and artificially aged the paintings in order to sell them as originals. At the Stuttgart Criminal Court Assizes, the conspirators were jailed for up to ten years for the swindle.[3]

Looted works[edit]

Adolf Hitler was a fan of Spitzweg's work; he claimed to have acquired the world's finest collection of Spitzwegs.[4]

Playing Piano, an etching by Spitzweg, was found as part of the Munich Art Hoard.[5][6]

Selected paintings[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jensen, Jens Christian (2002). Karl Spitzweg, Museum Georg Schäfer. Prestel. p. 342.
  2. ^ "Carl Spitzweg | German painter | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  3. ^ Schuller, Sepp. (1960) Forgers, Dealers, Experts: Adventures in the Twilight of Art Forgery. Translated from the German by James Cleugh. London: Arthur Barker, p. 93.
  4. ^ Frederic Spotts: "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics". Pg 194, 218.
  5. ^ "Photo Gallery: Munich Nazi Art Stash Revealed". Spiegel. November 17, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  6. ^ Times, The New York (2013-11-12). "List of 25 Artworks Seized in Germany Released". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-09.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]