(Wien 1804–1871 München)
“Gambrinus”: Design for the woodcut with a frontspiece for the periodical magazine “Spindlers Zeitspiegel”, 1832, pen and black ink, 36 x 22 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private property, Austria.

The legend says that Gambrinus, the legendary King of Flanders, invented brewing beer. In literature as well as in the fine arts he is described and depicted as the counterpart of Bacchus, the god of wine. Moritz von Schwind shows Gambrinus in the costume of a Franconian king, wearing a wreath of hop leaves on his head. He is standing in a hop pergola surrounded by arabesques with different figural depictions, including a procession towards a beer barrel, where Gambrinus and Bacchus are measuring a globe. The drawing is preliminary for a woodcut and executed in reverse to it. The present sheet differs in many details from the printed title page, which was executed at a later date. The print’s background behind Gambrinus in the middle was left blank, presumably in order to distinguish the figure more distinctly from the surrounding. The ornaments and figural scenes show small pictural narratives about Munich life. They appear to be reworked in the woodcut and more populated than in the present drawing. In the print the shades at the margins are darker and the arabesques are vigorously interwoven which makes the composition more compact and consolidated. Weigmann dated the title page 1832, which may comply with Schwind’s style of these years. See Otto Weigmann, Schwind: Des Meisters Werke in 1265 Abbildungen, Stuttgart and Leipzig 1906, p. 74.

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