The Geologist
Carl Spitzweg, 1860
In The Geologist, Carl Spitzweg shows a gentleman kneeling before a rock wall, a stone in each hand. He studies the one in his left hand closely, perhaps just struck against the other to split off a fragment; beside him lies a hammer some 70 to 80 centimetres long. He wears blue trousers, a reddish coat with a darker collar, a thick beige scarf and a brown hat, and a green case for samples is strapped to his back. The scene belongs to genre painting, but its interest lies largely in colour: earthy reds dominate the clothing and the rock faces, while the spot where he kneels glows yellow, as if sunlight falls on it. Despite the scarf, the green vegetation suggests it is not winter. Scholars have linked the motif to the entrance of a mine shaft on the Hoher Peißenberg, an area where Spitzweg often stayed. The painting is held by the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, and at least two other versions are known, showing that the artist returned to the subject more than once.
- Painter
- Carl Spitzweg
- Date
- 1860
- Medium
- oil paint, paperboard
- Dimensions
- 44 × 34 cm
- Museum
- Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal
- Movement
- Post-romanticism
- Genre
- genre art
- Depicts
- stone, rocky wall, geologist
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