Dangerous passage (The schoolmaster on the footbridge)

Details

Ausstellung:
Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885). Vor und hinter den Kulissen, Schlossmuseum Murnau, 2009, Ausst.-Kat. (bearb. von Brigitte Salmen), S. 125, Kat.-Nr. 104, mit farb. Abb.

Provenienz:
Privatbesitz, Süddeutschland.

Description

Figure studies always occupy a special place in Spitzweg’s drawings. They were never created casually, but always from the situation of the passionate observer who quickly drew the pencil and already had a scenic use in pictorial compositions in mind. The present study of a man, except well-dressed in a frock coat and with a top hat on his head, is probably an early sketch for the subject “Gefährliche Passage” (also called “Schulmeisterlein”, cf. Wichmann 206-212), which shows a stolid man crossing a narrow footbridge. The posture of the legs and the arms performing a balancing act are already present in our sketch. Next to them are two washerwomen, later no longer part of the motif, who scrutinise the awkward walker from a distance. – The edges of the sheet have been reinforced with narrow Japanese strips on the verso. Only a few tiny brown spots in the upper margin. In good condition.