(Vienna 1804–1871 Munich)
A scene from the fairy tale “The seven Ravens and their faithful Sister”, pen and black ink, 28 x 11 cm (depiction), 30 x 13 cm (dimensions of sheet), mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private property, Austria.

The present drawing may have been executed in preparation for a planned series of illustrations depicting the fairy tale „The Seven Ravens and their Faithful Sister“, which Moritz von Schwind conceived between 1830 and 1832. Five other designs with individual scenes are known for the series. (see S. Holsten, Moritz von Schwind: Meister der Spätromantik, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, 1996, Cats. 92-95, pp. 121-122) They are kept in the Staatl. Kunstsammlungen Weimar (Inv. Nr. KK 4966, KK 1260), in the Albertina, Vienna (Inv. Nr. 23984) and in the Munich Stadtmuseum (Inv. Nr. M II/3076) and share a great resemblance in the penstroke and in the realisation of the scenes. The designs show only scenes of the fairy tale’s middle part and may have been intended for a print series which in the end was never completed (F. Gross, in: Cat. Karlsruhe 1996, p. 123).
The present drawing shows the slender graphic style of Schwind’s early work and may therfore have been executed before 1830. There are considerable similarities with the watercolour series of the same topic in Weimar (Weimar Kunstsammlungen, see O. Weigmann, Schwind: Der Meisters Werke in 1265 Abbildungen, Stuttgart and Leipzig 1906, p. 370) which was executed in 1857.

We are grateful to Dr. Ulrike Olbrich for the scientific support.