826 - A. PÖNICKE (*1810) after SCHADOW (*1764), Self-Portrait, 1825, Lithograph

A. PÖNICKE (*1810) after SCHADOW (*1764), Self-Portrait, 1825, Lithograph A. Pönicke (c. 1810 – 1847, ibid.) after Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764, Berlin – 1850, ibid.): Self-portrait of the artist, 1825, lithograph Technique: Lithography on paper Inscription: Signed in the lower center of the printing plate: “Steindruck von E. Pönicke in Leipzig.” Inscribed in the lower part of the printing plate: “Johann Georg von Schadow.” Date: 1825 Description: In 1825, the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow published Wittenberg’s *Denkmäler der Bildnerei, Baukunst und Malerei*, which included a lithographed self-portrait. It shows him en face at the age of about sixty, his upper body clad in a frock coat with a loose collar and neckerchief, turned slightly to one side. Four years earlier, Schadow’s Luther monument had been erected in Wittenberg, one of the early civic monuments of the 19th century. The Schadow portrait in the aforementioned publication should therefore be understood less as that of a scholarly editor than as a portrait of an independent artist who claims a share of the monument’s fame for himself. The small cap in the lithograph identifies him as a sculptor, a detail that distinguishes this print from an otherwise very similarly drawn self-portrait. The penetrating gaze characterizes a self-confident artist whose intention here was clearly to remain true to reality rather than to idealize. Since the lithographic stone had been accidentally ground down after printing part of the edition, a modified version of the portrait had to be drawn on the stone for the remainder of the edition—this time reversed, within an oval with a hatched background. The present sheet is this version. Person: Gottfried Schadow (1764–1850) Keywords: 19th century, Biedermeier, Portraits, Germany, Size: Paper: 26.9 cm x 20.6 cm (10.6 x 8.1 in), Image: 14.9 cm x 15.7 cm (5.9 x 6.2 in) Condition: In fairly good condition. Showing signs of age.