Carl Spitzweg
Couple Walking in a Rocky Gorge
Oil on mahogany panel. 29.8 x 21.9 cm.
Monogrammed lower right: S in a rhombus.
With stamp of the art supply company "Adrian Brugger, München, Theatinerstraße No 2" on the verso.
The painting shows a couple walking along a narrow path into a heavily wooded ravine closely bordered by towering cliffs; the hunter with rucksack and shouldered rifle lays his arm confidently around the young woman's waist.
The motif of this painting can be compared with several works by Carl Spitzweg from the years 1835/1840 to 1875/1880, each of which has a differing composition, whereby the early watercolour 'Hunter and Girl' from around 1835/1840 (Wichmann 2002, op. cit., no. 1476) is compositionally closest to the present work. In his expertise, however, our landscape painting, which comes from a private collection and has remained unknown until now, is described by Detlef Rosenberger as a "masterpiece" from Spitzweg's later period and dated to the years around 1871-1875.
Certificate
Detlef Rosenberger, Oberostendorf 27.1.2023 (with knowledge of the original).
Provenance
South German private collection. - South German private ownership.
Literature
Not included in Roennefahrt 1960 and Wichmann 2002. - For comparable works see Siegfried Wichmann: Carl Spitzweg. Verzeichnis der Werke. Gemälde und Aquarelle, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 532-534, nos. 1476-1483 with ill.