Simplicius in the Forest Wilderness
Max KLINGER
(German, 1857-1920)
Simplicius in the Forest Wilderness
Date1880
Mediumetching on paper
Dimensionsimage: 9 × 15 1/2 in. (22.9 × 39.4 cm)
plate: 10 1/4 × 16 1/2 in. (26 × 41.9 cm)
sheet: 14 3/4 × 21 1/2 in. (37.5 × 54.6 cm)
ClassificationPRINTS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Dorsky
Object number1971.79.2
Collection
- 19th century European
On View
Not on viewLabel Text
This is one of four prints Klinger made to illustrate The Adventurous Simplicissimus (1668), a farcical, moralizing story of the harsh reality of the Thirty Years’ War as discovered by a naive simpleton, who was raised in the wilds. Tiny anecdotal vignettes of violence and misfortune are embedded in this sweeping vista, reminiscent of the Romantic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich that Klinger would have known well.
Klinger’s often fantastical imagery and virtuoso technique would attract many emulators, Kubin among them.
