Altar in a Baroque Church
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Menzel was renowned during his lifetime and celebrated especially for scenes illustrating life at the royal court of Prussia. The two works by him included in this exhibition, however, belong to the now-famous body of the artist’s private, unexhibited works, which the public only came to know after his death.
In the present work, Menzel laid out the altar and stairs of an unidentified Baroque church interior in great detail with blue pencil, before adding figures into the perspectival construction. Unfinished, this rare example of a painting on wood reveals Menzel’s habit of building atmospheric effects first, which for him meant starting with the background. Using a mosaiclike alla prima approach, he covered the area he planned to work on next with a brown tonal wash. On the right side of the picture, the altar niche, pendant lamps, and praying figure have been brought close to a finished state.
In the present work, Menzel laid out the altar and stairs of an unidentified Baroque church interior in great detail with blue pencil, before adding figures into the perspectival construction. Unfinished, this rare example of a painting on wood reveals Menzel’s habit of building atmospheric effects first, which for him meant starting with the background. Using a mosaiclike alla prima approach, he covered the area he planned to work on next with a brown tonal wash. On the right side of the picture, the altar niche, pendant lamps, and praying figure have been brought close to a finished state.
Artwork Details
- Title: Altar in a Baroque Church
- Artist: Adolph Menzel (German, Breslau 1815–1905 Berlin)
- Date: ca. 1880–1890
- Geography: Country of Origin Germany
- Medium: Oil and blue pencil on oak wood
- Dimensions: 19 11/16 × 24 in. (50 × 61 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie
- Rights and Reproduction: bpk, Berlin / Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin / Art Resource, NY, photograph: Klaus Goeken
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art