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CARL FRIEDRICH LESSING (1808 Breslau -1880 Karlsruhe)
The Kidnapping
Black ink over graphite. 270 x 332 mm. Monogram in the bottom right: "CFL".
Titled verso: "Die Entführung". The right margin, as well as the
pair of owls, have been glued on by the artist.
Provenance:
Lippert Collection, Hamburg (until April 1903)
Dr. Paul Kaufmann, Berlin (acquired in 1903)
Private collection in Hesse
The drawing most likely depicts the couple Walther and Hildegund.
According to the Walthari-Song (an epic around the year 1000), the
two of them had been held hostage by Attila, king of the Huns for
many years. Lessing depicts the nighttime escape of the couple.
The precision and clarity of the ink lines in which the flora,
figurines and the landscape are drawn is a typical example of German
romanticism.
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