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Gothic Church behind a Grove of Oaks

Print
1810 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Lithography is a printing technique that depends on the fact that grease and water do not mix. The design is drawn on to the printing surface and the areas to be printed are covered with grease while the blank ones are moistened with water. When greasy ink is applied to the printing surface it clings to the greasy areas, but not to the wet ones. The inked printing surface is then pressed on to the paper to transfer the image.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was an architect and designer. He was one of the first German artists to experiment with the new technique of lithography.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleGothic Church behind a Grove of Oaks (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Pen lithograph on China paper
Brief description
Print by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 'Gothic Church behind a Grove of Oaks', pen lithograph, 1810
Physical description
A pen lithograph of a Gothic church partly hidden behind a grove of oak trees.
Dimensions
  • Height: 49cm
  • Width: 33.7cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1997
Marks and inscriptions
Signed and lettered 'Versuch, die lieliche sehnsuchtsvolle Wehmuth auszudrucken welch das Herz beim Klange des Gottesdienstes aus der Kirche herschallend erfullt, auf stein gezeichnet von Schinkel.'
Translation
'Try to express the yearning beauty of the melancholy which fills the heart as the sound of worship ring out from the church, drawn on stone by Schinkel.'
Credit line
Purchased with assistance from The Art Fund
Object history
Between 1810 and 1821 Schinkel made sixteen lithographs, including the first ever made at the Institute of Lithography in Berlin. Only 11 impressions of this image are known. They are on a variety of papers. The appendix to the catalogue of the exhibition at the Berlin Academy, Autumn 1810, records 'various essays in lithography'. A review in the Berliner Abendblatter 13 November 1810 mentions among Schinkel's works 'a drawing on stone, showing an old church partly behind trees.'
Subjects depicted
Summary
Lithography is a printing technique that depends on the fact that grease and water do not mix. The design is drawn on to the printing surface and the areas to be printed are covered with grease while the blank ones are moistened with water. When greasy ink is applied to the printing surface it clings to the greasy areas, but not to the wet ones. The inked printing surface is then pressed on to the paper to transfer the image.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was an architect and designer. He was one of the first German artists to experiment with the new technique of lithography.
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1997
  • Winkler, R. A. Die Fruhziet der deutschen Lithographie: Katalog der Bilddrucke von 1796-1824. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1975. p. 254, No. 8
  • Snodin, M. ed. Karl Friedrich Schinkel: A Universal Man. New Haven: YUP, 1991. p. 13, p. 100, no. 17
Collection
Accession number
E.803-1997

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Record createdNovember 15, 2002
Record URL
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