Lot Essay
Ein Mantel, painted in an almost Rococo style, a style which Adolph Menzel adopted for his genre pictures of Frederick the Great, suggests a study for an historical painting. Although Menzel was only commissioned to paint The Coronation of Wilhelm I in Konigsberg in October 1861, he may well have used this study of a coat, in luxurious Biedermeier fabric, for his first and only royal commission.
Ein Mantel reveals the influence of the French masters, such as Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Menzel's friend Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonnier (1815-1891) with whom he shared a passion for details. Menzel, in fact, played an important role in the rediscovery of the Rococo and was able to reproduce their figures and costumes.
Although Menzel did not go to France until 1855, where he visited the Universal Exhibition in Paris, his first encounter with French art was with the works of Horace Vernet (1789-1863) fifteen years earlier. When Menzel was commissioned to produce 400 drawings for Werke Friedrich des Grossen by Franz Theodor Kugler (1808-1858), on which he worked throughout almost all the 1840s, he used for inspiration the History of Napoleon illustrated by Vernet in 1839 and translated the text into German shortly afterwards.
Several other drawings and studies of coats, fabrics and chairs have been recorded. Amongst others, a few pencil drawings of August II's coat from Sachsen and, around 1840-50, Menzel painted Pelz des Kunstlers, a coat with a fur lining draped over a sofa.
Ein Mantel reveals the influence of the French masters, such as Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Menzel's friend Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonnier (1815-1891) with whom he shared a passion for details. Menzel, in fact, played an important role in the rediscovery of the Rococo and was able to reproduce their figures and costumes.
Although Menzel did not go to France until 1855, where he visited the Universal Exhibition in Paris, his first encounter with French art was with the works of Horace Vernet (1789-1863) fifteen years earlier. When Menzel was commissioned to produce 400 drawings for Werke Friedrich des Grossen by Franz Theodor Kugler (1808-1858), on which he worked throughout almost all the 1840s, he used for inspiration the History of Napoleon illustrated by Vernet in 1839 and translated the text into German shortly afterwards.
Several other drawings and studies of coats, fabrics and chairs have been recorded. Amongst others, a few pencil drawings of August II's coat from Sachsen and, around 1840-50, Menzel painted Pelz des Kunstlers, a coat with a fur lining draped over a sofa.