Lot 1085 D α

Ludwig Richter - Preliminary drawing for the book illustration "The Ugly Duckling"

Auction 1266 - overview Cologne
17.05.2025, 11:00 - Old Masters and 19th Century Part I
Estimate: 1.000 € - 1.500 €
Bid
Artist Alert
Request condition report
Print page
Watchlist

Ludwig Richter

Preliminary drawing for the book illustration "The Ugly Duckling"

Pencil. 13.5 x 10 cm (sheet).
Inscribed at the top right: p. 39, inscribed verso: H.-B. 3129.

"But the poor duckling, which was the last to emerge from the egg and looked so ugly, was bitten, pushed and made fun of by both the ducks and the hens." This pencil drawing is a preliminary drawing for an illustration for the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" in Hans Christian Andersen's "Fairy Tales and Stories for Children" (second collection, 2nd edition, Braunschweig 1846, after p. 38). The Nuremberg reproduction engraver Johann Georg Serz (1808-1881) transformed Richter's drawing into a steel engraving.

Provenance

Werner Collection, Vienna, Deposit Albertina, Vienna.

Literature

J.F. Hoff: Adrian Ludwig Richter, Maler und Radierer, Verzeichnis eines gesamten graphischen Werkes, 2nd ed., ed. by. K. Budde, Freiburg i. Br. 1922, p. 322, no. 3129.