Moritz von Schwind

Moritz von Schwind , 1804-71, Austrian historical painter and illustrator of the romantic school. Best known for the imagination and strength of his draftsmanship, Schwind created a gay world of dream figures. This air of fantasy was not fully realized in the monumental frescoes commissioned by the king of Bavaria. The scenes illustrating Mozart's Zauberflöte in the Vienna Opera, however, were outstanding.

Schwind, Moritz von (1804–71). Austrian painter and illustrator, active mainly in south Germany. He was born in Vienna and trained at the Academy there and then under Cornelius at the Munich Academy (where Schwind himself became a professor in 1846). His work represents the tail end of Germanic Romanticism, characteristically depicting an idealized fairy-tale Middle Ages, with knights in armour, damsels in distress, enchanted woods and castles, and much loving depiction of costume, architecture, etc. He painted several murals, but he was at his best working on a small scale, as in his numerous book illustrations and his woodcuts for Fliegende Blätter, a humorous Munich periodical. In his young days Schwind, who was an accomplished violinist, had been friendly with Franz Schubert and late in life he depicted Schubert's Vienna circle in a number of drawings.

Schwind, Moritz von (b Vienna, 21 Jan. 1804; d Niederpöcking, nr. Munich, 8 Feb. 1871). Austrian painter and illustrator, active mainly in south Germany. He trained at the Vienna Academy and then under Cornelius at the Munich Academy (where Schwind himself became a professor in 1846). His work represents the tail-end of Germanic Romanticism, characteristically depicting an idealized fairy-tale Middle Ages, with knights in armour, damsels in distress, enchanted woods and castles, and much loving depiction of costume, architecture, etc. He painted several murals, but he was at his best working on a small scale, as in his numerous book illustrations and his woodcuts for Fliegende Blätter, a humorous Munich periodical. In his young days Schwind, who was an accomplished violinist, had been friendly with Franz Schubert and late in life he depicted Schubert's Vienna circle in a number of drawings.