.
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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2044
Jubiläumsauktionen 06.–07.12.2019
Topp, Arnold
1887 Soest - 1945 missing.
«Der Raub des Rolands (the Robbery of Roland)».
Gouache on cardboard. Signed lower right and dated (19)18. Verso indistinctly inscribed as well as poem by a different hand. Isolated white shrinking cracks.
H 56,5, W 42 cm.
Arnold Topp, who had fallen into oblivion until the 1990s, is today regarded as one of the most important representatives of German Cubism. Topp was a founding member of the «Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Art Soviet)» and a member of the legendary movement «Der Sturm». He worked alongside Lyonel Feininger and Kurt Schwitters as an illustrator for the avant-garde Dadaistic magazine «Das Hohe Ufer». Until 1929 Topp took part in countless exhibitions in Germany, the USA, the Soviet Union, France and Japan. The range of his artistic work is impressive and combines romantic and fairytale nuances with the unmistakable colourfulness and expressiveness of Cubist forms. In this painting Topp focuses on the famous Roland saga of Brandenburg about the robbery of the Roland statue without renouncing his accustomed formal language.
His works have become sought-after rarities on the international art market, not least because only ten percent of his oeuvre are considered to have survived.
Expert report: Dr. Rainer Enders, Frankfurt an der Oder, 16.06.2009, in copy. According to Dr. Enders, this painting is «an enchanting representation of the full palette of the artist at the height of his Cubist creativity. Not avoiding the representational, the depiction shows a dramatic situation in a very confined space with overlapping lines and in manifold complementary contrasts, in which one colour often merges into the other». According to Enders, the work exhibits all the characteristics typical of the artist. In addition to the narrative element, Dr. Enders also mentions: «The signature belongs to those used by him during his creative period. However, even more than the signature, colours and meaning speak for Topp's authorship.»
Provenance: private collection Brandenburg-Görden; private collection Gräben; private collection Northern Germany; Sotheby's, London, auction L09604, 04.02.2009, lot 224; private collection Bavaria; Kaupp, Sulzburg, auction A046, 28.11.2009, lot 2533; private collection Southern Germany; private collection Brandenburg.
Exhibition: stattbekannt, 150 Jahre Brandenburg in Bildern, Brandenburg an der Havel, Stadtmuseum im Frey-Haus, 2015.
Literature: Stadt Brandenburg an der Havel (Ed.), stattbekannt, 150 Jahre Brandenburg in Bildern, Brandenburg an der Havel 2015,
Catalogue raisonné: Enders 18.M.3 (in preparation).
We would like to thank Dr. Rainer Enders, Frankfurt an der Oder, author of the catalogue raisonné, for the scientific advice via 
Topp, Arnold
1887 Soest - 1945 verschollen.
«Der Raub des Rolands».
Gouache auf Malkarton. U.r. sign. und (19)18 dat. Verso undeutlich bez. sowie Gedicht von fremder Hand. Vereinzelt Frühschwundrisse.
H. 56,5,
Arnold Topp, der bis in die 1990er Jahre in Vergessenheit geraten war, gilt heute als einer der wichtigsten Vertreter des deutschen Kubismus. Topp war Gründungsmitglied des «Arbeitsrates für Kunst» sowie Mitglied der legendären Bewegung «Der Sturm». An der Seite von Lyonel Feininger und Kurt Schwitters war er als Illustrator für die avantgardistisch-dadaistische Zeitschrift «Das Hohe Ufer» tätig. Bis 1929 beteiligte sich Topp an unzähligen Ausstellungen in Deutschland, den USA, der Sowjetunion, Frankreich und Japan. Die Bandbreite seines künstlerischen Schaffens ist beeindruckend und vereint romantisch-märchenhafte Nuancen mit der für Topp unverkennbaren Farbigkeit und Expressivität kubistischer Formen. So thematisiert Topp in dem vorliegenden Gemälde die berühmte Brandenburger Rolandssage des Statuenraubs, ohne dabei auf seine gewohnte Formensprache zu verzichten.
Seine Werke sind auf dem internationalen Kunstmarkt mittlerweile gesuchte Raritäten, nicht zuletzt, weil lediglich zehn Prozent seiner Arbeiten als noch erhalten gelten.
Expertise: Dr. Rainer Enders, Frankfurt a.d.O., 16.06.2009, in Kopie. Laut Dr. Enders handelt es sich bei dem vorliegenden Gemälde um «eine bezaubernde Darstellung aus der vollen Palette des auf dem Höhepunkt seines kubistischen Schaffens stehenden Künstlers. Das Gegenständliche nicht meidend, zeigt die Darstellung eine dramatische Situation auf engstem Raum, linienüberschneidend und in vielfältigen Komplementärkontrasten, bei denen die eine Farbe oft in die andere übergeht.» Das Werk weist laut Enders alle für den Künstler typischen Merkmale auf. Neben dem narrativen Element erwähnt Dr. Enders weiterhin: «Die Signatur gehört zu den von ihm während seiner Schaffenszeit verwendeten. Noch mehr als die Signatur sprechen allerdings Farben und Sinngehalt für Topps Urheberschaft.»
Provenienz: Privatsammlung Brandenburg-Görden; Privatsammlung Gräben; Privatsammlung Norddeutschland; Sotheby's, London, Auktion L09604, 04.02.2009, Los 224; Privatsammlung Bayern; Kaupp, Sulzburg, Auktion A046, 28.11.2009, Los 2533; Privatsammlung Süddeutschland; Privatsammlung Brandenburg.
Ausstellung: stattbekannt, 150 Jahre Brandenburg in Bildern, Brandenburg a.d. Havel, Stadtmuseum im Frey-Haus, 2015.
Literatur: Stadt Brandenburg an der Havel (Hrsg.), stattbekannt, 150 Jahre Brandenburg in Bildern, Brandenburg a.d. Havel 2015,
Werkverzeichnis: Enders 18.M.3 (in Vorbereitung).
Wir danken Herrn Dr. Rainer Enders, Frankfurt a.d.O., Verfasser des Werkverzeichnisses, für die wissenschaftliche Beratung via