Lot 1218 Rα

This drawing is one of the 36 leaves that Wilhelm von Kaulbach created as a template for the illustrations for Goethe's "Reineke Fuchs". The work was published in 1840 by Cotta in Stuttgart. Kaulbach worked for three years on this project and created a total of 36 main illustrations along with numerous smaller vignettes. The drawings, alluding to human weakness and the immorality of the nouveau riche and petty bourgeois, for example, widely mocked society of the time. The book was produced in several editions and was a great financial success. In particular, it furthered the popularity of this work by Goethe, which until then had been considered of lesser importance due to its dependence on an age-old fable.