Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German

romanticist Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

painter, especially of

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the

Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...

era.

Life and career

Spitzweg was born in Unterpfaffenhofen, near

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

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, the second of three sons of Franziska (née Schmutzer) and Simon Spitzweg. His father, a wealthy merchant, had Carl trained as a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

. He attained his qualification from the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

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 Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

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 Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

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, and

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studying the works of various artists and refining his technique and style. His later paintings and drawings are often humorous

genre works Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

. Many of his paintings depict sharply characterized eccentrics, for example '' The Bookworm (1850)'' and ''The Hypochondriac'' (c. 1865, in the

Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with ...

). His paintings inspired the

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

Das kleine Hofkonzert ' (''The Little Court Concert'') is a musical comedy in three acts (ten scenes) "from the world of Carl Spitzweg", music by Edmund Nick, libretto by Paul Verhoeven and Toni Impekoven. It premiered on 19 November 1935 at the Munich Kammerspiele. N ...

'' by

Edmund Nick Edmund Nick (, Reichenberg – , Geretsried) was a German composer, conductor, and music writer. Biography The son of a merchant, Nick studied law from 1910 to 1915 in Vienna and Graz. At the same time, he studied music at the Vienna Music Acad ...

. ''Playing Piano'', an etching by Spitzweg, was found as part of the Munich Art Hoard. Spitzweg is buried in the

Alter Südfriedhof The Alter Südfriedhof (''Old South Cemetery'') also known as "Alter Südlicher Friedhof" is a cemetery in Munich, Germany. It was founded by Duke Albrecht V as a plague cemetery in 1563 about half a kilometer south of the Sendlinger Ga ...

in Munich.

Forgeries

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 with his own name as "after Spitzweg", 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.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.

Selected paintings

File:Carl Spitzweg 021.jpg, '' The Bookworm'', original 1850, Museum Georg Schäfer. Two other versions exist. File:Musizierender Einsiedler vor seiner Felsenklause (Carl Spitzweg).jpg, ''Music-making Hermit before his Rocky Abode'', c. 1856–1858 File:Carl Spitzweg - Das Auge des Gesetzes (Justitia) - 1857.jpg, ''The Eye of the Law (Justitia)'', 1857 File:Carl Spitzweg 055.jpg, ''In the

Harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

'', after 1855, Museum Georg Schäfer File:Carl Spitzweg - Der arme Poet (Neue Pinakothek).jpg, '' The Poor Poet'', 1839,

File:Zeitungsleser im Hausgarten (Spitzweg).jpg, ''Newspaper reader in his backyard'', c. 1845–1858 File:Carl Spitzweg 033.jpg, ''The butterfly hunter'', 1840, a depiction from the era of butterfly collection File:Carl Spitzweg - Der Briefbote im Rosenthal.jpg, ''The Letter Carrier in the Rose Valley'', c. 1858–18 File:CarlSpitzwegGnomEisenbahnbetrachtend.jpg, '' Gnome Watching Railway Train'', c. 1848 File:Carl Spitzweg - Im Dachstübchen (v.1849).jpg, ''The Attic'', c. 1840s File:Carl Spitzweg - Der eingeschlafene Einsiedler.jpg, ''The Hermit Asleep'' File:Carl Spitzweg - Der Maler auf einer Waldlichtung, unter einem Schirm liegend.jpg, ''The Painter in a Forest Clearing, Lying under an Umbrella'', c. 1850 File:Carl Spitzweg - Ankunft der Postkutsche.jpg, ''Arrival of the Stagecoach'', c. 1859 File:Carl Spitzweg 011.jpg, ''The Serenade'', 1854 File:Carl Spitzweg 013.jpg, '' The Intercepted Love Letter'', c. 1860

References

Sources

* Murray, P. & L. (1996). ''Dictionary of Art and Artists''. London: Penguin Books. .

External links

*
Biography and selected paintings of Carl Spitzweg

Spitzweg Gallery at MuseumSyndicate

''German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Carl Spitzweg (no. 87–90) {{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzweg, Carl 1808 births 1885 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Burials at the Alter Südfriedhof German male painters German romantic painters People educated at the Wilhelmsgymnasium (Munich) Artists from Munich People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Orientalist painters Biedermeier painters People from Fürstenfeldbruck (district)