883 - Hans Spitzmann, Holy Family beneath a tree with angels and animals, painting 1946

Hans Spitzmann, Holy Family beneath a tree with angels and animals, painting 1946 Oil/wood panel, signed and dated 'H. Spitzmann (19)46' lower right. Against a blue-green sky lightening to yellow towards the horizon stands a mighty, hollow-grown old oak with bare, branching limbs. In its hollow the Holy Family rests: Mary in a blue mantle over a red dress and with a dark headscarf holds the swaddled child, in front of them a small fire burns with a kettle. Raised at the right on the root work stands a figure with a broad-brimmed hat and shepherd's staff, at the left a donkey grazes. Numerous animals are gathered around the group: a bird of prey on a branch stump, an owl in the hollow of the trunk, a woodpecker on the trunk, a squirrel in the branches, a hare at the foot of the tree, a black cat by the fire, a shaggy dog at the right and a fawn at the centre. On the trunk and in the root work three winged angel figures in pale colouring. Age-appropriate condition, partially rubbed. Image 58.5 x 58.5 cm (HxW). Framed, frame bumped, frame width 6.5 cm. The subject goes back to the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, cultivated since the late Middle Ages as a quiet counterpart to the drama of Passion scenes. The legendary tradition of the peace of creation, in which the animals gather around the child, was revived in the art of Romanticism and Symbolism and combined with the image of the ancient tree as a symbol of shelter and endurance. For Hans (Johannes) Spitzmann (1884–1961), the Quedlinburg drawing teacher, art historian and painter, the religious subject is unusual; it falls in the first post-war years, in which motifs of consolation and shelter were strikingly often taken up in German painting.