Lot 1092 | Washing Place in front of the Town

SPITZWEG, CARL
Munich 1808 - 1885

Title: Washing Place in front of the Town.
Laundry bleach in Merano with the Küchelberg in the background.
Date: Ca. 1879.
Technique: Oil on card.
Measurement: 40 x 20cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Verso:
On the card label with handwritten confirmation and estate stamp: "Ich bestätige hiermit, dass dies Bild 'Die Waschbleiche' von Carl Spitzweg gemalt ist / Otto Spitzweg" as well as label from Galerie Heinemann, Munich with the number 11345.

Literature:
H. Uhde-Bernays: Carl Spitzweg. Des Meisters Leben und Werk. 5th ed. Munich 1919, ill. 49;
F.v. Ostini: Aus Carl Spitzwegs Welt. Barmen 1924, p. 17;
G. Roennefahrt: Carl Sptizweg. Beschreibendes Verzeichnis seiner Gemälde, Ölstudien und Aquarelle. Munich 1960, no. 1447;
S. Wichmann: Carl Spitzweg. Verzeichnis der Werke: Gemälde und Aquarelle,
Stuttgart 2002, p. 474, no. 1252. Here with additional details to literature and provenance.

Provenance:
Galerie Xaver Scheidwimmer, Munich;
Auction Koller, Zürich, 11.11.1981, no. 5097 with ill.;
Private ownership, Austria, 1983-1990;
Private ownership, Germany.

In this painting Carl Spitzweg uses all the skills of his art: first he depicts a sun-drenched scene at an old city wall with a moat in Biedermeier style. In the foreground a young woman is washing white sheets, next to her a child is playing. In the background, houses with red roofs and the imposing Gothic Church of St. Nicholas in Merano are staggered at the foot of a huge cliff, the Küchelberg.

A motif with an apparent everyday feel. But this painting would not be a masterpiece by Spitzweg if there were not a message, a story, in this work of art:
The young woman using the watering jug so lightly at first glance is in fact doing hard work. For at that time, immediately after washing, the weighty pieces of laundry were laid out unwringed on the grass and kept constantly damp with the watering can so that the sun could bleach the fabrics brilliant white.
So the depicted maid keeps running to the stream that rushes along the city wall to fill the watering can again for her job. At the same time, she keeps an eye on the child playing next to the laundry and shoos away the cat that may still be running its paws over the fresh linen.
At the end of the city wall, a guard soldier in uniform strolls seemingly uninterested. However, he is obviously gathering all his courage. Should he approach the young woman?
Both are so absorbed in their world that they do not notice how the whole event is being closely observed from the square residential tower of the city wall. Here a figure leans out of the window with relish and curiously watches the story unfold.

And already Spitzweg has drawn us viewers into the pictorial story. We enjoy the wonderful details of his artistic handwriting, the characters, the precisely identifiable plants, the depiction of the southern town of Merano within the city walls, the lively play of light and shadow. And at the same time we are amused by the artist's hidden hints. We would love to find out how the story ends in a second version of the painting.