Lot 2542 Dα

In the autumn of 1839, the year in which he completed his most famous painting “The Poor Poet”, Carl Spitzweg travelled to Dalmatia. Ottoman motifs can be found in his oeuvre after this trip, and he began to focus more on them following his visit to the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, where he saw numerous works with Oriental scenes. This piece shows an Oriental man sitting and smoking a pipe. It is a study for a work of almost identical dimensions which Siegfried Wichmann dates to around 1852/53, shortly after the artist's journey to London (Wichmann ibid., p. 243, no. 432).
The Turkish man is depicted in an alleyway facing the observer. Over his left shoulder, a short incline leads into the background and reveals a view of the bright blue sky above. The composition is completed by a woman walking away from the beholder carrying a jug on her head and a raven in the left background. Wichmann remarks, “The boldness of the drawing and the dispersal of the pigment into small brush strokes reflect a new concept of depicting light which Spitzweg developed further in his Oriental motifs.” (ibid., p. 239).