826 - A. PÖNICKE (*1810) after SCHADOW (*1764), Self-portrait, 1825, Lithography

A. PÖNICKE (*1810) after SCHADOW (*1764), Self-portrait, 1825, Lithography A. Pönicke (around 1810 - 1847 ibid.) after Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764 Berlin - 1850 ibid.): Self-portrait of the artist, 1825, Lithography Technique: Lithography on Paper Inscription: Lower middle signed in the printing plate: "Steindruck von E. Pönicke in Leipzig". At the lower part inscribed in the printing plate: "Johann Georg von Schadow". Date: 1825 Description: In 1825, the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow published Wittenberg's Denkmäler der Bildnerei, Baukunst und Malerei, which included a lithographed self-portrait. This shows him en face at the age of about sixty, his upper body with frock coat, loose collar and neckerchief turned slightly to one side. Four years earlier, Schadow's Luther monument had been erected in Wittenberg, one of the early civic monuments of the 19th century. The Schadow portrait in the above-mentioned use is therefore to be understood less as that of a scholarly editor than as a portrait of an independent artist who claims a share of the monument's fame for himself. The little cap on the lithograph identifies him as a sculptor, a detail that distinguishes the present print from an otherwise very similarly drawn self-portrait. The penetrating gaze characterises a self-confident artist whose intention here was obviously to be true to reality and not to idealise. As the lithographic stone had been accidentally ground out after printing part of the edition, a modified version of the portrait had to be drawn on the stone for the rest of the edition, this time reversed, in an oval with a hatched background. The present sheet is this version. Person: Gottfried Schadow (1764 - 1850 ) Keywords: 19th century, Biedermeier, Portraits, Germany, Size: Paper: 26,9 cm x 20,6 cm (10,6 x 8,1 in), Depiction: 14,9 cm x 15,7 cm (5,9 x 6,2 in) Condition: Rather good condition. Age-appropriate.