Sulamith and Mary
Franz Pforr, 1811
Sulamith and Mary is a small panel from 1810-1811 in which Franz Pforr sets two women in the manner of a medieval triptych. It was conceived as a friendship painting for Friedrich Overbeck, who later produced a companion work. On the left, Sulamith stands before an open Italian landscape, linked to Overbeck and his longing for the south; on the right, Mary sits in an orderly old German room, a setting Pforr meant to convey a sense of quiet domestic life. The two are presented as twin sisters separated early, with different temperaments but shared roots, much like the two friends themselves. In the upper panel, the evangelist John writes beside an eagle, an allusion to Overbeck and to the artistic aims the two men shared. The picture reflects the Nazarene interest in medieval painting, with bright color contrasts and a deliberate disregard for perspective that keeps attention fixed on the figures.
- Painter
- Franz Pforr
- Date
- 1811
- Medium
- wood, oil paint
- Dimensions
- 34 × 32 cm
- Museum
- Museum Georg Schäfer, Schweinfurt
- Genre
- religious art