Sculpture "The Poor Poet" (1839), cast
Sculpture "The Poor Poet" (1839), cast
Quick info
ars mundi Exclusive Edition | bonded bronze | patinated | polished | size 23 x 21 x 13 cm (w/h/d) | weight 3 kg
Detailed description
Sculpture "The Poor Poet" (1839), cast
The symbol of the German poets: "The Poor Poet". It is the best known and most popular painting by German painter Carl Spitzweg. A survey showed that "The Poor Poet" - right after Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" - is one of the most famous pictures among Germans.
Spitzweg has prototypically staged the image of the poet concentrating only on the spiritual here. He is equipped against the cold with a blanket, a scuffed jacket and a sleeping cap, protected with an umbrella against penetrating rainwater and devotes himself unflinchingly to his work. This motif is now exclusively available at ars mundi for the first time in history as a romantic table sculpture. Our sculpture lovingly reproduces Spitzweg's original down to the last detail. An ideal gift for literature lovers, humanities scholars and head acrobats!
Sculptor's model after the 1839 oil painting from the Neue Pinakothek, Munich. Cast by hand. Size 23 x 21 x 13 cm (w/h/d). Edition in polymer cast with bronze-coloured patina. Patinated and polished by hand. Weight 3 kg.
Producer: ars mundi Edition Max Büchner GmbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hanover, Germany, [email protected]
About Carl Spitzweg
1808-1885 - German painter and draughtsman
Carl Spitzweg was one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier period. He created numerous paintings, oil studies, drawings and watercolours whose peculiar, a whimsical charm made him the most popular representative of the bourgeois genre and landscape painting in southern Germany.
Spitzweg came from a wealthy Munich merchant family and initially completed a degree in natural sciences. An illness led him to the decision to become a painter. He continued to train himself and soon found connections with other colleagues of the Munich school of painting, such as Moritz von Schwind.
Spitzweg is one of the great German painters and draughtsmen of the 19th century. His best-known pictures, such as "The Poor Poet", the "Bookworm" or the "Eternal Wedding Man", show eccentrics of bourgeois society indulging in their respective hobbies.
Carl Spitzweg's imagination and outstanding painting technique were combined with perhaps the most important ingredient: his sense of humour. With wit and affectionate exaggeration, the inveterate bachelor created character studies of quirky eccentrics and romantic encounters - always told lovingly and with a twinkle in his eye. This is how he became one of the most popular German artists. He chose very small formats and portrayed the figures precisely and in detail in their respective milieu. In this way, he achieved a satirical overdrawing of the types that reached into the grotesque. In his later works, he placed more emphasis on the spontaneous, sketchy and moving, which is particularly evident in his landscape depictions.
He was not discovered by art history until around 1900, and throughout his life, he was never as famous as other contemporary painters.
Art and culture set between Romanticism and Realism in the German-speaking world in the period from 1815 to approx. 1860. The epoch received its name through the magazine "Fliegende Blätter", where, between 1855 and 1857, the poems by Swabian schoolteacher Gottlieb Biedermaier were regularly published.
The painting of this period was dominated by intimate, comfortable motifs. Masters of the Biedermeier include Carl Spitzweg, J. P. Hasenclever, G. F. Kersting. Ludwig Richter distinguished himself as an excellent illustrator.
After the German Centennial Exhibition 1906 in Berlin, the term "Biedermeier" established to describe fashion and furniture of simple, unadorned styles, yet of high-quality craftsmanship.
Graphic or sculpture edition that was initiated by ars mundi and is available only at ars mundi or at distribution partners licensed by ars mundi.
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Collective term for all casting processes that ars mundi carries out with the help of specialised art foundries.
Stone Casting
Similar to artificial marble, with the difference that instead of marble powder, the stone to be replicated is used in powder form.
Bonded Bronze (Cold-Cast-Bronze)
Bronze powder is polymer-bonded. Through special polishing and patination techniques, the surface of the cast takes on an appearance similar to that of bronze.
Imitation Wood
In order to guarantee absolute fidelity to the original, an artificially manufactured imitation wood is used as a base material that features typical wood characteristics: density, workability, colour, and surface structure.
Ceramic Mould Casting
Ceramic mould casting usually requires the use of casting clay, which is then fired and optionally glazed. Instead of the usual rubber moulds, plaster moulds are often used in ceramic casting and porcelain production.
Cast Bronze (Lost-Wax-Casting)
For the cast bronze, the thousand-year-old lost-wax technique is used. It's the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.
A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.
While sculptures made of wood, ivory, or stone are carved directly from the material block, in bronze casting, a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.
The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.