196 - JULIUS GENSEL - FRIEDRICH PRELLERS: DES ALTEREN ODYSSEE-LANDSCHAFTEN NACH DEN KOHLEZEICHNUNGEN IN DER NATIONALGALERIE ZU BERLIN. MUNICH, {1905}

JULIUS GENSEL - FRIEDRICH PRELLERS: DES ALTEREN ODYSSEE-LANDSCHAFTEN NACH DEN KOHLEZEICHNUNGEN IN DER NATIONALGALERIE ZU BERLIN. MUNICH, {1905} First edition, in folio oblong, in the original publisher’s oblong portfolio, very slightly frayed, complete 5 pages of text by Gensel, with 5 illustrations in the text and 15 superb folio plates by Prellers, with views, overall in very good condition. With an introductory text by the German art historian Julius Gensel (1835-1916) and commissioned by the influential cultural journal Der Kunstwart, this impressive large format artistic publication reproduces the definitive 16 charcoal drawings executed by the famous Friedrich Preller the Elder (1804-1878), one of the most celebrated German monumental painters of the 19th century and a protégé of Goethe. The book acts as a permanent museum gallery in print, a highly artistic publication following a special exhibition in Berlin in 1905. Preller created a breathtaking cycle of 16 massive charcoal drawings (Kohlezeichnungen) illustrating the heroic volatile wanderings of Odysseus from Homer's Odyssey. These drawings became so famous that the Grand Duke of Weimar commissioned Preller to turn them into monumental wall frescoes for the museum in Weimar. A striking example of the influence of the Greek heritage in every aspect of modern art.