Spitzweg
Carl Spitzweg (* 5. February 1808 in Unterpfaffenhofen; † 23. September 1885 in Munich), was a painter of the so called 'Biedermeier'. In culture life of the 19th century he rather was an outsider.
Carl Spitzweg was born as the son of a bourgeois Munich couple although his father originated from a small village in Upper Bavaria. The family was wealthy and well-respected and the father known by political activities.
Young Carl learnt his lessons in a Latin School and finished the humanistic formation in 1825. He was a very obedient son and started apprenticeship in the Royal Bavarian the same year. In 1829 for one year he worked as an apothecary in a small town called Straubing, getting known to painters and theater people.
Then Spitzweg began to study at the university of Munich which he passed with distinction in the year 1832. Now he was a licensed practical apothecary. But already in 1833 Spitzweg left this profession and became a painter.
Regarding painting he was a self-taught man. Spitzweg travelled to Dalamtia, Venice and to Paris and London, to Antwerp and Frankfurt and Heidelberg. Since 1844 he also contributed humoristic drawings to the periodical 'Fliegende Blätter'. His style was quite romantic and became later even a little impressionistic. On his paintings appeared pittoresque small towns and grumpy contemporaries.
The most known picture - The poor poet - dates from the year 1839.
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