Ruins of a Gothic church, ca. 1829–1831
Pencil, watercolour, heightened with body colour on yellowish cardboard
Sheet dimensions41,8 × 34,8 cm
About the workThe radical cropping of the architecture lends the image a fragmentary character. The guiding lines drawn in pencil indicate how skilled the artist Carl Blechen was at painting stage sets. The architectural elements, highlighted with opaque white paint, are especially striking and reveal how light serves as the defining element of the depiction. Carl Blechen was barely 40 years old when he died. Initially a bank clerk, he began studying painting at the age of 24 and then worked as a decorative painter at a Berlin theatre. He was appointed professor of landscape painting nine years after beginning his studies.
AccessionAcquisition 1914
Provenance[...]; 21.3.1914 angekauft von C.G. Boerner, Auktions-Institut, Kunst- und Buchantiquariat, Leipzig, "Auktion CXXV. Sammlung Arnold Otto Meyer, Hamburg. III"
Inventory numberK 1914-18
