Sitzendes Mädchen mit rotem Umhang, einen Hasen vor sich 1865

Carl Spitzweg painted this image of a seated girl with a red cape and a rabbit in front of her using oil on canvas. The application is loose, almost gestural, and the dark tonality indicates that this was likely a preparatory study. The materiality is of a piece with Spitzweg’s broader project. He wasn’t interested in grand historical subjects, but instead, the everyday lives of ordinary people. Here, the girl’s rough clothing and simple posture suggest a rural context, a life lived close to the land. Notice, too, how the paint itself seems to mimic the textures of nature. The feathery strokes around the rabbit evoke the animal's fur, while the darker patches suggest the dense foliage of the forest. Spitzweg was engaging with the rise of the bourgeoisie, and the desire of that class to see itself reflected in art. But it’s also important to remember that he was part of a long tradition of landscape painting. And this is a reminder that fine art and the depiction of everyday life need not be mutually exclusive.