| The Poor Poet | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Artist | Carl Spitzweg |
| Year | 1839 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 36.2 cm × 44.6 cm (14.3 in × 17.6 in) |
| Location | Neue Pinakothek,Munich |
The Poor Poet (German:Der arme Poet) is the best-known and most popular painting by German painterCarl Spitzweg. It was executed in 1839 and had three versions.[1]
The painting depicts a poet in his poorgarret room. The narrow room is illuminated by a small window on the left. On the right there are therafters of the house roof, on which an umbrella hangs, to protect the sleeping area from the moisture dripping through the roof. The room door can be seen on the right edge of the painting. Opposite the door, on the left edge of the picture, there is a green tiled stove without fire. The poor poet has no bed: instead he lies on a mattress against the wall of the floor, in adressing gown, with asleeping hat on his head. On his knees he holds some pages of a manuscript with his left hand. With the fingers of his right hand he appears to be counting themeter of a poem. In front of the mattress, there are thick books and two boxes with aninkwell on them. On the spine of the upright book on the far right are theLatin words:Gradus ad Parnassum (German:Klassen zum Parnass), which is either the title of the main theoretical work published by the Austrian composerJohann Joseph Fux or, most likely, the instructions for writing Latin verses published by theJesuit priest Paul Aler inCologne in 1702. On the wall, the poet probably painted the meter of thehexameter in red. There is a candle in the bottle on the green tiled stove, next to it the wash bowl, and a towel hangs on a clothesline above it. Atop hat hangs on the unheated stovepipe. There are sheets of paper in the furnace hole, which probably belong to the papers that lie in front of it, and which, also in Latin, are labeledOperum meorum fasciculum III (English:The third bundle of my works). There is also a single boot and aboot jack in front of the stove. To the left of the stove is a pot, the dressing gown is hanging on the wall next to it and the walking stick is leaning against the wall on the far left of the picture. Snow-covered roofs are seen behind the window, in an indication that it is cold. However, the poet is so poor that he remains in bed to keep himself warm. He can only heat himself if he burns his works.[2]
For a long time it was uncertain what the poet was doing with the fingers of his right hand. An obvious assumption is that he is chanting a verse. According to another interpretation, he crushes a flea between his fingers, with which Spitzweg would ironically represent the discrepancy between the poet's claim and his reality.[3]
The subject of "artists in a poor room" was dealt with before Spitzweg. The British painterWilliam Hogarth was the first to deal with this subject in 1736. Spitzweg possibly borrowed his title from the drama byAugust von Kotzebue,The Poor Poet (1812).
ThePoor Poet is Spitzweg's earliest masterpiece. The role model was most likely the German poetMathias Etenhueber [de], who lived inMunich from 1722 to 1782 and suffered financial hardships.[4] There are three completed versions of the painting, all from 1839: the alleged first version is privately owned and used to be on loan to theGermanisches Nationalmuseum inNuremberg.[5] The best known version is now in theNeue Pinakothek,Munich.[6] This painting was given by Spitzweg to his nephew Ludwig as a gift. He offered it to its current owners in 1887. Another version was held in theNational Gallery,Berlin. This painting was the subject of a political art campaign byFrank Uwe Laysiepen in 1976. He stole the work, but returned it after a few hours. On September 3, 1989, art robbers stole it together with another one of Spitzweg's works,The Love Letter, fromCharlottenburg Palace. To date, neither of the two paintings has been recovered.
The painting was the subject of thecommemorative stamp issued by theDeutsche Post for the 200 years of the birth of Spitzweg, in 2008.
Media related toCarl Spitzweg - Der arme Poet at Wikimedia Commons
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