A washerwoman in a forest by a stream

This intimate study of a washerwoman, probably drawn by Menzel from his window, is close to a number of drawings made in the late 1880s and early 1890s (H. Ebershäuser, Adolph von Menzel, Das graphische Werk, Munich, 1976, pp. 1222, 1252, 1257a and 1338, illustrated). Menzel was a compulsive draughtsman and drew constantly. This drawing of a rather trivial subject is typical of the studies he made for himself. In this drawing he was particularly interested in the contrast of the light coming from the background against the darkness of the forest.