764 - Genre painter, caricature-like figure scene, two young men at a counter, journeyman, Biedermeier

Genre painter, caricature-like figure scene, two young men at a counter, journeyman, Biedermeier Oil/canvas, indistinctly signed lower left, Biedermeier, genre scene before a stone archway, on the left a counter window with projecting sill, in it an older man with neckcloth, mouth wide open and fist clenched, in front of it two young men, the front one in grey-blue smock, dark knee breeches and boots holding a document over the sill and touching his hat with the other hand, the one behind in dark jacket and light trousers with bundle and walking staff on his back holding a straw hat in his hand, below the counter a bench with paper and spectacles, on the left foliage on the masonry, on the right the dark archway with ashlar wall, condition commensurate with age, retouching, two backed areas (tear and hole, retouched), craquelure, image 68.5x55 cm (HxW), framed, frame chipped, frame width 10 cm Bundle and walking staff are the attributes of the travelling journeyman: until the trade reforms of the 19th century the years of travel were a prerequisite for the master craftsman's examination, and from 1813 journeymen identified themselves with official travel books, which were endorsed by the police or mayor in every town. Hat, walking staff (Stenz) and the bundle (Charlottenburger) or knapsack were part of his standard equipment. The humorous depiction of offices and checks is a theme of Biedermeier genre painting, for instance in Carl Spitzweg's "Papal Customs Inspection" (Lenbachhaus Munich) or in the Berlin craftsmen and street types of Theodor Hosemann (1807 to 1875). The Biedermeier genre scene with the journeyman belongs, as a humorous piece on travelling craftsmen, to the genre painting of the 19th century.