863 - Hans Spitzmann, Quedlinburg town palace at the Klink, street scene with timber-framed houses

Hans Spitzmann, Quedlinburg town palace at the Klink, street scene with timber-framed houses Oil/painting panel, first half 20th c., signed 'Spitzmann' lower left. View of the Quedlinburg town palace, the Hagensches Freihaus at the Klink. The Renaissance building in yellow with a red tiled roof, a curved volute gable and red-painted shutters, at the left corner of the building the round, multi-storey corner tower with an ogee dome and lantern. To its left the narrow lane rises between timber-framed houses and red tiled roofs, in the background two dark green tower domes. On the light paving a man with hat, walking stick and dog walks to the right, at the right two women in long skirts stand together, beside them a handcart and a stone bridge post. On the facade an espalier tree and red flower boxes in the window sills. Age-appropriate good condition, partial retouching. Image 48 x 39.5 cm (HxW). Framed, frame width 7 cm. Hans (Johannes) Spitzmann (1884–1961) was a drawing teacher, art historian and painter in Quedlinburg. In 1926 the town commissioned him to develop its art collection; in this capacity he acquired sheets by Max Pechstein and Max Beckmann, among others, for the municipal print collection. Around 1928 he played a leading part in setting up the castle museum. His painted work revolves again and again around Quedlinburg and the Harz; in 1934 he published a study on the Harz in the painting of Romanticism. The building depicted was erected between 1564 and 1566 for Christoph von Hagen as a noble court at the eastern entrance to the old town and ranks among the most important Renaissance buildings of the World Heritage town.