Lot Essay
Schnorr von Carolsfeld's first commission from King Ludwig I of Bavaria was for a fresco-cycle based on the Odyssey, to serve as a companion to Cornelius's Glyptothek frescoes. Schnorr immediately set out for Sicily to see the Homeric sights which were associated with the adventures of Ulysses. Before he had begun his preliminary studies, 'the King - by now wedded to the propagation of a more narrowly nationalistic art - dropped the plan in favour of a representation of the Nibelungen Saga'. (See K. Andrews, The Nazarenes, Oxford, 1964, p. 62)
Schnorr was called back to Munich in 1825 and asked to choose scenes to decorate five rooms on the ground floor of the Königsbau, part of the Royal Palace, or Residenz, a miniature imitation of the Palazzo Pitti, designed by Leo von Klenze and finished in 1831.
'The King's nervous impatience to see his commission completed was discouraging to artists who were used to slow and meticulous preparatory work. Ironically, the result was that the frescoes took no less than forty years to complete. Innumerable other tasks called Schnorr away. Elaborate experiments with the revival of the old encaustic method of wall-painting interrupted the work. These in turn necessitated numerous revisions and fresh beginnings, and their only virtue was that they made the artist one of the most knowledgeable technicians of fresco-painting in Europe. It is not surprising that, although most of the designs were based on Schnorr's drawings, nearly all the actual fresco-work shows the inferior hand of pupils and assistants.' (K. Andrews, op. cit., p. 63)
Schnorr worked on and off from 1831, leaving for Dresden in 1846 and the project was completed in 1869 by Jäger and others.
The original concept of the Saal des Rache was discussed in two letters from Schnorr to King Ludwig in 1828 and by 1829 there were two designs for Kriemhild's death. (See the exhibition catalogue, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Leipzig and Bremen, 26 March-31 July, 1994, no. 197)
Our recently discovered drawing of 1845 is a preparatory work for the fresco on the wall as you enter the fourth room. There is a later watercolour with some differences, dated 1849 which is now in the Kupfterstich-Kabinett, Berlin. (see op. cit., no. 198 (illus.))
Both are completely different to the drawings of 1829, with only the collapsed figure of Kriemhild remaining the same.
The subject was engraved, with differences to our drawing, by Theodor Langer, an example being in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden.
In 1843, Cotta-Verlag published the Nibelungenlied in which a preparatory drawing for the woodcut bears similarities to the foreground figures. (See N. Suhr in the catalogue of the exhibition, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Mainz, Landes Museum, 20 Nov. 1994-8 Jan. 1995, no. 37, and Munich, Palais Preysing, 9 Feb.-8 April 1995)
We are grateful to Dr. Hinrich Sieveking for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Schnorr was called back to Munich in 1825 and asked to choose scenes to decorate five rooms on the ground floor of the Königsbau, part of the Royal Palace, or Residenz, a miniature imitation of the Palazzo Pitti, designed by Leo von Klenze and finished in 1831.
'The King's nervous impatience to see his commission completed was discouraging to artists who were used to slow and meticulous preparatory work. Ironically, the result was that the frescoes took no less than forty years to complete. Innumerable other tasks called Schnorr away. Elaborate experiments with the revival of the old encaustic method of wall-painting interrupted the work. These in turn necessitated numerous revisions and fresh beginnings, and their only virtue was that they made the artist one of the most knowledgeable technicians of fresco-painting in Europe. It is not surprising that, although most of the designs were based on Schnorr's drawings, nearly all the actual fresco-work shows the inferior hand of pupils and assistants.' (K. Andrews, op. cit., p. 63)
Schnorr worked on and off from 1831, leaving for Dresden in 1846 and the project was completed in 1869 by Jäger and others.
The original concept of the Saal des Rache was discussed in two letters from Schnorr to King Ludwig in 1828 and by 1829 there were two designs for Kriemhild's death. (See the exhibition catalogue, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Leipzig and Bremen, 26 March-31 July, 1994, no. 197)
Our recently discovered drawing of 1845 is a preparatory work for the fresco on the wall as you enter the fourth room. There is a later watercolour with some differences, dated 1849 which is now in the Kupfterstich-Kabinett, Berlin. (see op. cit., no. 198 (illus.))
Both are completely different to the drawings of 1829, with only the collapsed figure of Kriemhild remaining the same.
The subject was engraved, with differences to our drawing, by Theodor Langer, an example being in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden.
In 1843, Cotta-Verlag published the Nibelungenlied in which a preparatory drawing for the woodcut bears similarities to the foreground figures. (See N. Suhr in the catalogue of the exhibition, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Mainz, Landes Museum, 20 Nov. 1994-8 Jan. 1995, no. 37, and Munich, Palais Preysing, 9 Feb.-8 April 1995)
We are grateful to Dr. Hinrich Sieveking for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.