(Vienna 1804-1871 Munich)
A set of 20 drawings, on 13 sheets, presumably from a sketchbook, figure studies, portraits, composition studies, caricatures, pencil, pen and brown ink, on paper, various formats, the sheets partly browned, stained, folded, traces of wear, unmounted, unframed, (Sch)

The present sheets may be drawings from a sketchbook by Moritz of Schwind from the late 1830ies and 1840ies. The drawings show studies for different compositions and of spontaneous ideas which the artist may have later used for various compositions. A sketch with female genii with wedding garlands may have been executed in 1838 for the cycle “Psyche and Amor” in Rüdersberg castle near Altenburg (cf. O. Weigmann, Schwind – Des Meisters Werke in 1265 Abbildungen, Stuttgart und Leipzig 1906, p. 165). Another study with the heads of two girls may be related to this cycle as well. Next to that study there is a another one depicting the “Education of Dionysius” which may be a preparatory sketch for one of the decorations in the Gallery of Philostratus at the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (1842-1843). The motif of the Gothic fortress is typical for Schwind and his various ideas;
the fortress recalls his subjects “Gothic town” of the 1830ies (Weigmann 1906, p. 168) and „Ritter Kurts Brautfahrt (Knight Kurt’s bridal ride)“ (1835-1840, Weigmann 1906, p. 154). The study of Dante’s head on the same sheet may have been used in von Schwind’s painting „Dante and Amor“ (1830). All sheets were executed with an effervescent liveliness and lightness typical for von Schwind and give evidence of the wealth of his artistic ideas and his diverse expressive qualities and expressive possibilities as a draughtsman.

We are grateful to Dr. Ulrike Olbrich for the confirmation of the attribution by means of a high-solution digital photograph and scientific support