Lot 79 Dα

The genre paintings of the 19th century generally presented an idealised depiction of borgeoise everyday and family life, in which darker themes such as robbers, smugglers and poachers rarely featured. Ernst Bosch was also primarily more at home in this idyllic world, as S. Weiß writes in his "Düsseldorfer Malerlexikon": "His work is characteristic of the idealised narrative genre painting of the Düsseldorf school in the 2nd half of the 19th century, taking his motifs from borgeoise and rural life, classical literature or the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm [...]". However, the motif of the present work, which is an early example of this important Düsseldorf genre painter's oeuvre, is drawn from the shadowy world of criminals and outlaws and this mood is expressed in the murky palette of this unusual work.