979 - Martin Wirth, "Siedlung bei St. Stefan (Kärnten)", alpine village with farms and grazing cows, 1990

Martin Wirth, "Siedlung bei St. Stefan (Kärnten)", alpine village with farms and grazing cows, 1990 (1939 – 2017 Ilsenburg), watercolour over pencil on card, signed and dated (19)90 lower right, titled verso "Siedlung b. St. Stefan (Kärnten)" and dated 1990, farmsteads with white-rendered houses and wooden barns among fruit trees and spruces before a large mountain massif, in the centre a free-standing wooden frame with roof and slatting, probably a Harpfe, on the winding path a woman with a child and a further figure, to the right cows grazing by the fence, good condition commensurate with age, slightly creased and stained, image 36x48 cm (HxW) Harpfen, also called hay harps, are wooden frames of vertical posts and horizontal poles on which hay or grain dries in the damp Alpine climate. Carinthia today has the highest density of these structures; the roofed double Harpfe also offered space for implements and storage, and in neighbouring Slovenia it is called kozolec or toplar. Most surviving Harpfen date from the 20th century and are increasingly disappearing from the landscape. Sankt Stefan im Gailtal lies in the district of Hermagor; its municipality also includes St. Paul an der Gail, which Martin Wirth painted in watercolour in the same year.