Lot 2176 Dα

Menzel drew throughout his entire life. The number of his paintings declined significantly after 1875, and in his old age he almost only drew - at first with a sharp pencil as well as with pastel crayons and gouache. Later he preferred the broad carpenter's pencil, which he used exclusively in old age. In 1880 he used it to draw the Atlas figures of the Wall Pavilion in Dresden, a beautiful drawing by Menzel that is now in the National Gallery in Washington (ill. 1). This drawing could also have been made in this context, although Menzel had also travelled to Dresden frequently in earlier years.