Carl Spitzweg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carl Spitzweg
Born	February 5, 1808 Unterpfaffenhofen
Died	September 23, 1885 Munich
Nationality	German
Field	romanticist painter, poet
Movement	Biedermeier

Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the Biedermeier era.

He was born in Unterpfaffenhofen as the second of three sons of Franziska and Simon Spitzweg. 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 also took up painting. Spitzweg was self-taught as an artist, and began 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, studying the works of various artists and refining his technique and style; he visited Prague, Venice, Paris, London, and Belgium. 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. He is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich.

[edit] Paintings

• The Poor Poet
• The Bookworm
• The Intercepted Love Letter
• Two Hermits
• Serenade
• A Woodland Meeting
• Music-making Hermit before his Rocky Abode
• The Mineral-collector in the Grotto
• Schoolchildren in the Woodland

The Bookworm, 1850.

Im Harem (In the Harem)

The Poor Poet, 1839. Neue Pinakothek

[edit] References

• Murray, P. & L. (1996). Dictionary of art and artists. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-051300-0.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carl Spitzweg

• paintings of Carl Spitzweg
• German page
• Carl Spitzweg
• The Spitzweg Game
• Spitzweg Gallery at MuseumSyndicate
• Milwaukee Art Museum has a large Spitzweg collection