Lot 2341 Dα

This medium-format depiction of the Sermon on the Mount can be seamlessly inserted into a series of works that Steinle painted in preparation for his fresco in Rheineck Castle near Bad Breisig.
The first pictorial document of the Sermon on the Mount series is thought to be a drawing which Steinle executed in 1837/38 as a preliminary sketch for the fresco. The pencil drawing was done on brown tinted, squared wove paper with some outlines done in dark brown ink (34.7 x 19 cm) and is currently housed in the collection of Michael Venator in Cologne. Shortly after this, Steinle carried out a large-scale design sketch in colours using a mixture of chalk pastels, watercolour and pencil. The work measured 146.5 x 123.3 cm and thus provided Steinle with a detailed prototype for his final painting. The large design was laid down on canvas and is today housed in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.
It is fascinating to compare the three works and observe the changes made by the artist between the preliminary sketch, the coloured design and final fresco. We see for example in the pose of Saint John that the present work must have been made after Steinle's watercolour design but before the final fresco. Whereas the saint is shown looking towards the floor with his head held in his hand in the preliminary sketch, he adopts the same pose seen in this work in the larger design. In the final fresco, the artist depicts him once again in a different position with his gaze only slightly lowered. This shows that the present work must have been created after the design from 1837/38 but before the final fresco was painted in 1839/40.