ALFRED KUBIN | DAS SCHLOSS VERLASSEN (LEAVING THE CASTLE)

Collection Albin Schram, Switzerland

Thence by descent to the present owners

Rendered in pen and ink, this work is a preparatory sketch for the lithograph “Die Weiber von Weinsberg” (The Women of Weinsberg). When King Conrad III defeated the Duke of Welf and placed the Castle of Weinsberg in Bavaria under siege, the women of Weinsberg negotiated a surrender which granted them the right to leave with whatever they could carry on their shoulders. However, rather than taking food or money, they outwitted Conrad and carried their husbands on their shoulders, saving their lives in the process, as shown in Kubin’s dramatic work.