Lot 1072 | Menagerie Resting in the Barn

BÜRKEL, HEINRICH
1802 Pirmasens - 1869 Munich

Title: Menagerie Resting in the Barn.
Technique: Oil on card.
Measurement: 31,5 x 40cm.
Notation: Signed lower left: H.(lig.) Bürkel.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Literature:
H.-P. Bühler / A. Krückl: Heinrich Bürkel. Munich 1989, p. 271, cat. rais. no. 406 with ill.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

A curious barn view opens up before the viewers. Next to a white horse a camel is carrying a dressed monkey on its hump. Behind it a brown bear can be seen and in front of them another monkey with a rifle. But the animals are not alone, they are accompanied by people and so the assumption is obvious that the protagonists depicted are part of a menagerie. However, it is not only the content of the picture that is remarkable, but also the composition. For while the viewer's gaze slowly wanders to the barn door, it is noticeable that the stable scene is continued outwards on a creative level by a mountain range. This creates a triangular composition in which the scenery and the landscape merge. Equally specific to the Pirmasens artist Heinrich Bürkel is his ability to balance collections of figures with the help of geometric superstructures. In the present painting, for example, the barn roof, which takes up almost half the picture, seems to offer a calm counterpoint to the lively sight of people and animals.
Heinrich Bürkel found his way into the German art scene as an autodidact. After being turned down by the Munich Art Academy, he turned to the newly founded Munich Art Association, where he not only managed to prove himself successfully, but also made valuable contacts with artists such as Carl Spitzweg. Bürkel became known above all for his Alpine landscapes and genre paintings, which he skilfully combined and which fitted in perfectly with the Biedermeier period. His greatest successes probably include the late recognition of the Munich Art Academy, which honoured him with an honorary membership in 1858, as well as his participation in the 1862 World's Fairs in London and 1867 in Paris.