Carl Spitzweg

Carl Spitzweg , 1808-85, German genre painter and draftsman. Self-taught, he depicted the daily life of his native Munich in small, charming pictures in which realism, fancy, and humor are happily combined. Characteristic are The Poor Poet, Two Hermits, and Scholar in the Attic. He contributed many delightful drawings to the humorous periodical Fliegende Blätter.

Spitzweg, Carl (b Munich, 5 Feb. 1808; d Munich, 23 Sept. 1885). German painter and illustrator, active in Munich. He began his career as a pharmacist, but he gave this up for art in 1833 when a legacy made him financially independent; he had been interested in art from childhood but had no professional training. Although he travelled widely (England, France, Italy, and elsewhere), he was provincial in his choice of subjects and is an outstanding representative of the Biedermeier style. His pictures are generally small, humorous in content, and full of lovingly depicted anecdotal detail (The Poor Poet, 1839, Neue Pin., Munich, and other versions). He also painted excellent landscapes that show a debt to the Barbizon School.

Spitzweg, Carl (1808–85). German painter and illustrator, active in his native Munich. He began his career as a pharmacist, but he gave this up for art in 1833 when a legacy made him financially independent; he had been interested in art from childhood but had no professional training. Although he travelled widely (England, France, Italy, and elsewhere), he was provincial in his choice of subjects and is an outstanding representative of the Biedermeier style. His pictures are generally small, humorous in content, and full of lovingly depicted anecdotal detail (The Poor Poet, 1839, Neue Pin., Munich, and other versions). He also painted excellent landscapes that show a debt to the Barbizon School.