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DOI Artikel:Danielewicz, Iwona; Kersting, Georg Friedrich [Ill.]; Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie [Mitarb.]: Georg Friedrich Kersting's painting "Embroideress" in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18902#0011
The Embroideress was among the highly valued works by the artist5. During bis visit to Poland,
he must have had sketches for the painting with him because the 1817 replica is very close
to the original. Not only does it imitate the composition and the colour scheme of the 1812
work, but is also the same size. In 1812, Kersting painted the picture C.D. Friedrich in his
Studio (in the Kunsthalle Hamburg), and in 1819, two morę versions of the same work (one
is in the Kunsthalle Mannheim, the other in the Nationalgalerie in West Berlin). W. Schnell
believes that Kersting used calk copies of some of his works, which would account for the close
resemblance of the three paintings6.
Kersting is ranked among the main representatives of German Romantie portrait painting
representing figures in interiors. This type of portraiture developed especially in Germany
during the early stage of Romanticism and later in the Biedermeierstil. The tradition may be
traced back to the 15th century. The trend was directly affected by the Works of D. Chodo-
wiecki and G.K. Urlaub. Kersting had an opportunity to come close to it during his studies
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Works by Christopher Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-
-1853), their simple composition, the use of natural light, meticulous rendering of details of
interiors and smooth finish affected not only Kersting and Friedrich but a large number of
other German artists who studied in Copenhagen at the turn of the 18th century.
Kersting’s portraits of figures in interiors are situated within the broader context of German
art or early Romantie art, in which case they are compared to Friedrich’s oeuvre, or are linked
up with the ideology of the Biedermeier7 8. These paintings are an expression of morę generał
trends occurring in early 19th century philosophy, literaturę and art bringing out the harinony
between man’s inner and outer worlds. Goethe’s views expressed, among other works, in his
idyll Hermann and Dorothea, had the most significant influence on the development of this
concept.
Portraits of human figures engaged in daily chores in domestic interiors, practised in Dresden,
prompted the development of pictures of interiors without human figures where, as in A. v.
MenzePs A Room with a Balcony 8 the problem of light had come to the fore.
Translated by Joanna Holzman
5. This painting by Kersting found peculiar favour with Goethe. Cf. H.J. Neithardt, Die Malerei der Romantik in Dresden,
Leipzig, 1976, p. 122.
6. Werner Schnell*s correspondence on this painting is in the Foreign Painting Depertment of the National Museum in Warsaw.
7. H.J. Neithardt, op. ctt,. pp. 118-123.
8. W. Geismeier, Biedermeier. Das Bild vom Biedermeier. Zeit und Kultur des Biedermeier. Kunst und Kunstleben des Bieder-
meier, Leipzig, 1979, p. 180.
5
he must have had sketches for the painting with him because the 1817 replica is very close
to the original. Not only does it imitate the composition and the colour scheme of the 1812
work, but is also the same size. In 1812, Kersting painted the picture C.D. Friedrich in his
Studio (in the Kunsthalle Hamburg), and in 1819, two morę versions of the same work (one
is in the Kunsthalle Mannheim, the other in the Nationalgalerie in West Berlin). W. Schnell
believes that Kersting used calk copies of some of his works, which would account for the close
resemblance of the three paintings6.
Kersting is ranked among the main representatives of German Romantie portrait painting
representing figures in interiors. This type of portraiture developed especially in Germany
during the early stage of Romanticism and later in the Biedermeierstil. The tradition may be
traced back to the 15th century. The trend was directly affected by the Works of D. Chodo-
wiecki and G.K. Urlaub. Kersting had an opportunity to come close to it during his studies
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Works by Christopher Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-
-1853), their simple composition, the use of natural light, meticulous rendering of details of
interiors and smooth finish affected not only Kersting and Friedrich but a large number of
other German artists who studied in Copenhagen at the turn of the 18th century.
Kersting’s portraits of figures in interiors are situated within the broader context of German
art or early Romantie art, in which case they are compared to Friedrich’s oeuvre, or are linked
up with the ideology of the Biedermeier7 8. These paintings are an expression of morę generał
trends occurring in early 19th century philosophy, literaturę and art bringing out the harinony
between man’s inner and outer worlds. Goethe’s views expressed, among other works, in his
idyll Hermann and Dorothea, had the most significant influence on the development of this
concept.
Portraits of human figures engaged in daily chores in domestic interiors, practised in Dresden,
prompted the development of pictures of interiors without human figures where, as in A. v.
MenzePs A Room with a Balcony 8 the problem of light had come to the fore.
Translated by Joanna Holzman
5. This painting by Kersting found peculiar favour with Goethe. Cf. H.J. Neithardt, Die Malerei der Romantik in Dresden,
Leipzig, 1976, p. 122.
6. Werner Schnell*s correspondence on this painting is in the Foreign Painting Depertment of the National Museum in Warsaw.
7. H.J. Neithardt, op. ctt,. pp. 118-123.
8. W. Geismeier, Biedermeier. Das Bild vom Biedermeier. Zeit und Kultur des Biedermeier. Kunst und Kunstleben des Bieder-
meier, Leipzig, 1979, p. 180.
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