Carl Spitzweg - Koboldspuk

Spitzweg, Carl

A Goblins Cave

On the verso, adhesive label with handwritten confirmation Karl Loreck, Munich, 30 December 1913, and estate stamp. Ibid the numbering 688 (special order Linz) and 9505 (CCP, Munich). Oil on panel. 23 x 31.5 cm. Restored. Framed.

Several goblins taking shelter in a small cave, are seemingly taken by surprise at being discovered. Their discoverer in this sense being more the viewer of the painting than the artist himself. One of the gnomes, their leader, has positioned himself in a defensive stance and is fixated indignantly on the intruder from behind his thick glasses. The others appear anxious, friendly and shocked. Sunlight catches on the ivy and dandelions, that surround the entrance to the cave.

The 19th Century saw such rapid development politically, socially and economically that it was hardly comprehensible to many people at the time what was happening around them. Carl Spitzweg himself experienced the German Revolutions in 1848-1849, the rapid growth of the population of his hometown Munich, enormous technical developments and the ongoing increasing industrialisation. As a close observer of current affairs, this did not leave him untouched. Spitzweg is not only the artistic witness of Biedermeier ideals, he was also one of the greatest skeptics of his time, of which he made no secret. How many people are not familiar with one of his most famous paintings, "Fiat Justitia" (1857), which serves a very concise critique of the justice system during that time?

The gnome or goblin is the central subject of four Carl Spitzwegs paintings between 1845 and 1855. In three of these paintings the gnome is confronted with one of the most important technical achievements of the 19th century: the railway, a symbol of the "New Age", of which he is most suspicious. One can also interpret the surprised goblins caught unawares in their cave in this manner: It is not necessarily the fact of being discovered that causes them the most concern; it is the penetration of the "New Age" into their comfortable home where, until now, time has seemed to stand still.

Which gnome wears medieval (miners) clothing but also 19th century goggles? In the end, is it the artist himself who, as one of the last representatives of the "old days", defends himself against the new? Spitzwegs physical appearance is well documented, for example in the caricatures by Johann Baptist Kirner, which show the artist with his recognisable round glasses and very distinctive mustache. Does the leader of our goblins not also wear these glasses, and also the same mustache? It would certainly correspond to the humor and versatility of one of the most brilliant artists of the 19th century, if he had chosen to express his own personal protest against the "New Age" in this painting.

Provenance: Major Karl Loreck, Munich (circa 1913). - Munich private collection. - Compulsory sale and mediated by the gallery Almas Dietrich the "special order Linz ". - 1945 Central Collecting Point, Munich, 1949 Central Collecting Point Wiesbaden. - Restituted in 1950 to the family of the former owner. - South German private collection.