892 - T. Hollwedel, charcoal pile in the Harz, conical wooden hut with ladder in spruce forest

T. Hollwedel, charcoal pile in the Harz, conical wooden hut with ladder in spruce forest Oil on hardboard, signed lower right, 20th century, spruce forest with tall trunks, in the centre a conical charcoal pile of split logs with a ladder leaning against it and rising smoke, tree stumps, fern and grass in the foreground, good condition commensurate with age, image 58x48 cm (HxW), framed, frame bumped, frame width 6 cm Charcoal burning was for millennia a craft in the service of mining in the Harz. A charcoal pile of stacked split logs smouldered for about a week under carefully regulated air supply without bursting into flame. With the decline of mining in the 19th century the trade disappeared; the Stemberghaus charcoal works, which Wilhelm Nabert painted in 1880, is today counted among the painters' views of the Harz.