Carl Spitzweg

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Spitzweg, Carl

 

Born Feb. 4, 1808, in Munich; died there Sept. 23, 1885. German painter and graphic artist; one of the greatest representatives of the Biedermeier style.

A self-taught artist, Spitzweg painted scenes from the lives of city dwellers and idyllic landscapes. He is most famous for his small genre paintings, such as The Widower (New Pinakothek, Munich), Serenade (Schackgallerie, Munich), and The Hypochondriac (Schackgallerie, Munich). These subtly poetic works by Spitzweg are distinguished by warm humor; drawing on characteristic human types and details from everyday life, they are noted for their expressive use of color.

REFERENCES

Höhne, E. Carl Spitzweg, 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1972.
Jensen, J. C. Carl Spitzweg. Cologne, 1975.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.