.
Carl Spitzweg
5th February 1808 – 23th September 1885
Carl Spitzweg was born on 5th of February in 1808 in Unterpfaffenhofen, Bavaria. Although trained as a chemist, he discovered quite early his talent for drawing and his affinity with art. Spitzweg travelled extensively during his lifetime and the impressions formed by his travels greatly influenced his work. Shortly after completing his studies in pharmaceutics in 1832, he visited Italy. It was particularly in the cities of Florence, Rome, and Naples that he discovered the many significant works of Western culture which were to leave a permanent imprint on him.
A severe case of dysentery in 1833 strengthened his resolve to abandon his career as a chemist and he proceeded to commit himself solely to his painting. In June 1835, he became a member of the Munich Art Association and travelled that same year to southern Tirol with the landscape painter Eduard Schleich, the Elder.
In 1839 he completed his first painting entitled ''The Poor Poet'. Although this recurring motif would later be considered his most well-known body of work, the painting was not accepted at this time by the jury of the Munich Art Association.
As regards his graphic production, the first publication in 1844 of his own illustrations in the Munich weekly paper 'Fliegende Blätter' is considered quite significant. His visits to the Industrial Exposition in Paris and the World's Fair exhibition in London in 1851 were his first contact with the Oriental scenes which would begin to inform his work.
To the deserving painter were bestowed numerous honours during the second half of Spitzweg's lifetime: in 1865 the Bavarian Royal Merit Order of St. Michael was conferred upon him, and in 1875 he was named an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
Carl Spitzweg died on 23th of September in 1885 and was entombed in the historic South Cemetery in Munich.
He leaves behind a body of work dedicated to the townspeople who inhibit his genre scenes, and with acute and pointed, but never ill-natured humour he portrays the everday bourgeois life of his time.
Lit: Siegfried Wichmann, Carl Spitzweg. Verzeichnis der Werke, Gemälde und Aquarelle, Stuttgart: Belser, 2002.
Carl Spitzweg
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3232
Winterauktionen 20.–21.11.2020
Adam, Julius II called Cats-Adam
1852 Munich - 1913 ibid.
Three kittens in the spring meadows.
Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. Verso on the stretcher handwritten inscribed «Meiner lieben Marianne zum 40. Geburtstag von Tante Helene [Mauthe] 1967 (to my dear Marianne on the 40th birthday from aunt Helene [Mauthe] 1967».
H 26,5,
Julius Adam II, also known as «Cats-Adam», came from a family of artists in Munich. He received his first apprenticeship from his father, Julius Adam I (1821 - 1874), who worked as a lithographer. After a six-year stay in Brazil as a landscape photographer and retoucher, Adam continued his studies at the School of Applied Arts in his hometown under Michael Echter. Later he was educated by Wilhelm von Diez. Until 1882, Adam dedicated himself primarily to genre painting, which set him apart from his family members, which were famous animaliers. It was not until the mid-1880s, when a cat painting by the artist was particularly well received by the public, that he devoted himself exclusively to painting cats.
Adam's cat paintings are characterized by the finest powers of observation and anatomical accuracy. The artist was inexhaustible in finding new motifs. Countless are the variations of a mother cat with her kittens playing or resting around her, in the garden or during feeding time. Besides perfect fur depictions and scenic lighting, Julius Adam II captured the character of the animals impressively well.
It were probably these characteristics that Helene Mauthe, member of the famous Mauthe watch dynasty, took a liking at the cat paintings by Adam.
We would like to thank Dr. Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt, Munich, for the kind remarks, via
Provenance: estate Curt Edgar Schreiber, former managing director of the watch factory Mauthe, Schwenningen, and successors.
Literature: Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt, Albrecht Adam und seine Familie, Zur Geschichte einer Münchner Künstlerdynastie im 19. und 
Adam, Julius II gen. Katzen-Adam
1852 München - 1913 ebd.
Drei Katzenkinder auf der Frühlingswiese.
Öl auf Leinwand. U.r. sign. Verso auf dem Keilrahmen und Rahmen handschriftlich bez. «Meiner lieben Marianne zum 40. Geburtstag von Tante Helene [Mauthe] 1967».
H. 26,5,
Julius Adam II, auch «Katzen-Adam» genannt, stammte aus einer Münchner Künstlerfamilie. Seine erste Ausbildung erhielt er von seinem als Lithograph tätigen Vater Julius Adam I (1821 - 1874). Nach einem sechsjährigen Aufenthalt in Brasilien als Landschaftsphotograph und Retuscheur setzte Adam seine Studienzeit an der Kunstgewerbeschule seiner Heimatstadt unter Michael Echter fort. Später folgten Lehrjahre bei Wilhelm von Diez. Bis 1882 widmete sich Adam vorrangig der Genremalerei, womit er sich von seiner Familie, die vor allem wegen ihrer Tierdarstellungen bekannt war, absetzte. Erst als Mitte der 1880er Jahre ein Katzenbild des Künstlers beim Publikum besonders großen Anklang fand, widmete sich dieser fortan ausschließlich der Katzenmalerei.
Adams Katzenbilder zeichnen sich durch feinste Beobachtungsgabe und anatomische Genauigkeit aus. Unerschöpflich war der Künstler im Auffinden neuer Motive. Zahllos sind die Variationen der Katzenmutter mit ihren sie umspielenden oder ruhenden Jungen, im Garten oder während der Fütterung. Neben perfekten Felldarstellungen und szenischer Lichtführung fing Julius Adam II den Charakter der Tiere beeindruckend gut ein.
Wohl diese Eigenschaften waren es, die Helene Mauthe, Mitglied der berühmten Uhrendynastie Mauthe, Gefallen an den Bildern finden ließ.
Wir danken Frau Dr. Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt, München, für die freundlichen Hinweise via
Provenienz: Nachlass Curt Edgar Schreiber, ehemaliger Geschäftsführer der Uhrenfabrik Mauthe, Schwenningen, und Nachfolge.
Literatur: Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt, Albrecht Adam und seine Familie, Zur Geschichte einer Münchner Künstlerdynastie im 19. und