Lot 1552 Dα

Carl Emanuel Conrad's most famous painting is probably his view of the exterior of Cologne Cathedral, painted in 1856, twenty-four years before the building was completed. The present work shows that he also concerned himself with the interior of the church. Here he depicts the chapel in the choir in which Engelbert von der Mark (1304-1368) had his grave monument erected during his lifetime. It depicts the deceased in bishop's robes carved in pale limestone on a black marble slab. Today, the small limestone figures of mourners grouped around the bishop's tomb in a Gothic arcade are protected by a metal grille. A priest is depicted sunk in prayer, seated on one of the wooden pews of the choir. The view into the nave opens up between the cast iron choir screen, and we see a cathedral attendant and a woman seated on the first rows of benches. Above the tracery screen between the ambulatory and the choir we see a sculpture of an apostle. The piece is one of fourteen pilaster figures carved between 1270/80 for the choir in the workshop of Arnold, the former master builder of the cathedral. The attention to architectural details and the powerful use of light combine to evoke this painting's unique charm.