.
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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4327
Frühjahrsauktionen
Brassauw, Melchior attr.
1709 (?) - 1757 oder später (?).
Pair of ideal portraits of an elegant lady and a noble man. Oil on panel, cradled. Unsigned. Verso each with a label, inscribed «J.K. Seekatz».
These paintings can not be understood as portraits of real existing persons, but as character studies (so called tronies) of exquisitely fine quality. Melchior Brassauw produced a lot of such ideal portraits in various degrees of quality, weaker works are merely studio products. Very characteristic of Brassauw's own hand is the masterly treatment of the feathers on the hats, the skilful differentiation of the details of various textile surfaces, as well as the enamel-like melting of the paint layers.
Assessment: We would like to thank Mr Fred Meijer, Conservator, Afd. Oude Nederlandse Schilderkunst/Curator, Dpt. of Old Netherlandish Painting, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), Den Haag, for the scientific advice via
Provenance: Sotheby's London, 19.05.1976, lot 196 (as David de Noter); Gallery Katz, St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1977; private property border triangle.
Invoice: Gallery Katz, St. Moritz, Switzerland, 28.03.1977 (as «J.C. Seekatz»).
1709 (?) - 1757 oder später (?).
Idealporträts einer eleganten Dame und eines vornehmen Herrn. Öl auf Holz, parkettiert. Unsign. Verso je ein altes Etikett, bez. «J.K. Seekatz».
Die Bildnisse sind nicht als Porträts real existierender Personen zu verstehen, sondern Charakterstudien (sogenannte Tronies) von ausnehmend schöner Qualität. Melchior Brassauw fertigte zahlreiche solcher Idealporträts an, die in der Qualität der Ausführung stark variieren, schwächere Arbeiten können mehrheitlich als Werkstattarbeiten eingestuft werden. Charakteristisch für die eigenhändigen Werke Brassauws sind die meisterhafte Ausführung der Federn und die gekonnte Differenzierung textiler Oberflächen sowie der emailartige Schmelz der Malerei.
Beurteilung: Wir danken Herrn Fred Meijer, Conservator, Afd. Oude Nederlandse Schilderkunst/Curator, Dpt. of Old Netherlandish Painting, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), Den Haag, für die wissenschaftliche Beratung via
Provenienz: Sotheby's London, 19.05.1976, Los 196 (als David de Noter); Galerie Katz, St. Moritz, Schweiz, 1977; Privatbesitz Dreiländereck.
Rechnung: Galerie Katz, St. Moritz, Schweiz, 28.03.1977 (als «J.C. Seekatz»).