AROMAS DE GRANJA

Christa Zaat

Carl Spitzweg (German romanticist painter and poet) 1808 - 1885
Bauernhaus im Walde, ca. 1855
oil on paper laid down on panel
6 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (17.2 x 25 cm.)
signed with artist's device (lower right)
private collection

He was born in Unterpfaffenhofen, the second of three sons of Franziska (née Schmutzer) and Simon Spitzweg.[1] 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, starting out 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 in Prague, Venice, Paris, London, and Belgium studying the works of various artists and refining his technique and style. 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.
Playing Piano, an etching by Spitzweg, was found as part of the 2012 Nazi loot discovery.
Spitzweg is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich.