Carl Spitzweg German, 1808-1885

Direktor R. Zahn, Plauen (his estate sale, Hugo Helbing, Munich, 21 November 1917, lot 20)
Dr Buiswanger (purchased at the above sale) 
Dr Henri Hinrichsen, Leipzig (acquired in 1935)
Confiscated from the above, 16 November 1939
Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig
Restituted to the heirs of Henri Hinrichsen in  2002

Alois Elsen, Carl Spitzweg, Vienna, 1948, p. 120 (mentioned), pl. 41, illustrated in colour
Gustav Roennefahrt, Carl Spitzweg. Beschreibendes Verzeichnis seiner Gemälde, Ölstudien und Aquarelle, München, 1960, p. 234, no. 913, illustrated
H. Weiss, Carl Spitzweg, Vienna and Munich, 1972, pl. 75
Dietulf Sander, ed., Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig. Katalog der Gemälde, museum catalogue, 1995, p. 185 (listed), no. 1311, fig. 650 (illustrated)
L. Schirmer, Carl Spitzweg, Augsburg, 1996, fig. 35
Siegfried Wichmann, Carl Spitzweg, Verzeichnis der Werke, Gemälde und Aquarelle, Stuttgart, 2002, p. 251, no. 458, illustrated

Painted circa 1847-9, and authenticated by Spitzweg's nephew, Major Karl Loreck, on the reverse.

Until 1938 the following four works (lots 32-35) belonged to the well-known art collection of Dr Henri Hinrichsen, a key figure in the history of music publishing. From 1900, Hinrichsen successfully continued the work of Dr Max Abraham and transformed the C. F. Peters music publishing house into a global company. C.F. Peters, now some 200 years old, is among the five great internationally recognised names for classical music. C.F. Peters have offices in London, New York, and Frankfurt/Main, and to this day the Hinrichsen family remain the firm's majority shareholder. 

Hinrichsen was known not only for his music publishing and art collecting, but as an avid patron too. In 1901, he founded the internationally renowned Peters Music Library and supported philanthropist Henriette Goldschmidt's social and educational aims by donating the building for the first German university for women.

During his life, Hinrichsen also put together a significant collection of important and precious musical autographs and manuscripts. Through his unique personality and many friendships, especially with some of the great composers of his day, his contributions to the world of music are considerable.

The paintings from the Hinrichsen collection were generously restituted in 2003 by the City of Leipzig (Hagestolz, Im Herbst and Bildnis des Malers Herterich) and by the State Ministry of Sciences and Art of the State of Baden-Wurttemberg (Holländische Näherinnen).

Like his bookworms, hermits, soldiers and poets, the bachelor is one of the long list of Sonderlinge (odd men out) who people Spitzweg's work and at whom he pokes benevolent fun. His black frock coat and top hat, more fitting for a man of the city than a country squire, give him a humorously incongruous appearance among colourfully attired couples and a young family enjoying a Sunday stroll. Though his face is hidden, his effete gate, precious manner, and reading materials give him the air of a bookish dandy, as he glances down upon his fellow promenaders.

Two other oil paintings of the same title similarly portray single men (clutching furled umbrellas on what is clearly a warm summer day) sauntering along a country path with other groups of strollers in the background. However, whereas in each of the other two works the young man is seen from the front and approaching the viewer, in the present work he has his back turned, a device which allows Spitzweg to satirise the very genre of Romantic painting.

Compositionally, Der Hagestolz bears many of the characteristics of the Romantic picture. The figure seen from behind is just such a hallmark, typically found in the work of Friedrich (see lot 26), and traditionally an invitation to the viewer to immerse himself in the wonders of nature being contemplated. Likewise, the wide open expanse of sky, with ominous dark clouds heralding a storm and signalling the power of the elements, are well-known constructs.

Only here, the sublime balance between nature and the beholder is upset by the promenading bourgeois figures in the middle ground, who literally come between the beholder and nature. Dressed in their colourful fashions, far from admiring the expansive view, they are either eyeing each other or, as in the case of the family on the left, in a hurry to get home. One man casts a worried glance at the brewing rain clouds, not out of reverence for nature, but it would seem for fear of ruining his new suit.

Der Hagestolz thus exemplifies Spitzweg's aesthetic. While clearly influenced by the Romantic tradition and Biedermeier values, his work at the same time displays a refreshing irreverance and individuality.