''The Poor Poet'' () is the best-known and most popular painting by German painter

Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romantic painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Life and career Spitzweg was born in Mun ...

. It was executed in 1839 and had three versions.

Description

The painting depicts a poet in his poor

garret A garret is a habitable attic, a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally small with sloping ceilings. In the days before elevators this was the least prestigious position in a building, at the very to ...

room. The narrow room is illuminated by a small window on the left. On the right there are the

rafters A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as steel beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck, roof covering and ...

of the house roof, on which an umbrella hangs, to protect the sleeping area from the moisture dripping through the roof. The room door can be seen on the right edge of the painting. Opposite the door, on the left edge of the picture, there is a green tiled stove without fire. The poor poet has no bed: instead he lies on a mattress against the wall of the floor, in a

dressing gown A dressing gown, housecoat or morning gown is a robe, a loose-fitting outer garment, worn by either men or women. They are similar to a bathrobe but without the absorbent material. A dressing gown or a housecoat is a loose, open-fronted gown ...

, with a sleeping hat on his head. On his knees he holds some pages of a manuscript with his left hand. With the fingers of his right hand he appears to be counting the

meter The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

of a poem. In front of the mattress, there are thick books and two boxes with an

inkwell An inkwell is a small jar or container, often made of glass, porcelain, silver, brass, or pewter, used for holding ink in a place convenient for the person who is writing. The artist or writer dips the brush, quill, or dip pen into the inkwell ...

on them. On the spine of the upright book on the far right are the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

words: ''Gradus ad Parnassum'' (German: ''Klassen zum Parnass''), which is either the title of the main theoretical work published by the Austrian composer

Johann Joseph Fux Johann Joseph Fux (; – 13 February 1741) was an Austrian composer, music theorist and pedagogue of the late Baroque era. His most enduring work is not a musical composition but his treatise on counterpoint, '' Gradus ad Parnassum'', which ha ...

or, most likely, the instructions for writing Latin verses published by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest Paul Aler in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 1702. On the wall, the poet probably painted the meter of the

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

in red. There is a candle in the bottle on the green tiled stove, next to it the wash bowl, and a towel hangs on a clothesline above it. A

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

hangs on the unheated stovepipe. There are sheets of paper in the furnace hole, which probably belong to the papers that lie in front of it, and which, also in Latin, are labeled ''Operum meorum fasciculum III'' (English: ''The third bundle of my works''). There is also a single boot and a

boot jack A boot jack, sometimes known as a boot pull, is a small tool that aids in the removal of boots. It consists of a U-shaped mouth that grips the heel of the boot, and a flat area to which weight can be applied with the opposite foot. To operate ...

in front of the stove. To the left of the stove is a pot, the dressing gown is hanging on the wall next to it and the walking stick is leaning against the wall on the far left of the picture. Snow-covered roofs are seen behind the window, in an indication that it is cold. However, the poet is so poor that he remains in bed to keep himself warm. He can only heat himself if he burns his works.

Analysis

For a long time it was uncertain what the poet was doing with the fingers of his right hand. An obvious assumption is that he is chanting a verse. According to another interpretation, he crushes a flea between his fingers, with which Spitzweg would ironically represent the discrepancy between the poet's claim and his reality. The subject of "artists in a poor room" was dealt with before Spitzweg. The British painter

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

was the first to deal with this subject in 1736. Spitzweg possibly borrowed his title from the drama by

August von Kotzebue August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (, ; – ) was a German playwright, who had also worked as a Russian diplomat. In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Sand, a ...

, ''The Poor Poet'' (1812). Carl Spitzweg Briefmarke 2008

The ''Poor Poet'' is Spitzweg's earliest masterpiece. The role model was most likely the German poet , who lived in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

from 1722 to 1782 and suffered financial hardships. There are three completed versions of the painting, all from 1839: the alleged first version is privately owned and used to be on loan to the

Germanisches Nationalmuseum The ''Germanisches Nationalmuseum'' is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum is Germany' ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. The best known version is now in the

Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with t ...

. This painting was given by Spitzweg to his nephew Ludwig as a gift. He offered it to its current owners in 1887. Another version was held in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. This painting was the subject of a political art campaign by Frank Uwe Laysiepen in 1976. He stole the work, but returned it after a few hours. On September 3, 1989, art robbers stole it together with another one of Spitzweg's works, ''The Love Letter'', from

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough, and is among the largest palaces in the world. The palace was built at the end of th ...

. To date, neither of the two paintings has been recovered.

Cultural references

The painting was the subject of the

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...

issued by the

Deutsche Post (, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...

for the 200 years of the birth of Spitzweg, in 2008.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poor Poet, The 1839 paintings Paintings by Carl Spitzweg Stolen works of art Collection of the Neue Pinakothek Books in art Cultural depictions of poets Poverty in painting