J. Schadow, Sitting Young Woman, 1784, Etching

Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764 Berlin - 1850 ibid.): Sitting young woman, c. 1784, EtchingTechnique: Etching on PaperDate: c. 1784Description: Whether Johann Gottfried Schadow really depicted his first wife Marianne Devidels in this wonderful etched miniature remains an open question to this day, even though it seems obvious. Schadow had met the woman five years his senior in Henriette Herz's Berlin salon. Expecting a scandal due to a title copy he had contributed to a satirical novel and for personal reasons, Schadow fled with Devidel in 1785. With stops in Dresden and Vienna and sojourns in Venice and Florence, the couple finally reached Rome. Here Schadow converted to Catholicism and married Devidel, a Jewish woman who had been baptised a Catholic, in the same year. The portrait, borne of touching intimacy, concentrates entirely on the modulation of materiality through various cross-hatchings. However, these are used very cautiously and sparingly, so that a spontaneous, fleeting character pervades the sheet. The face, sketched in only a few short strokes, seems to have been captured in a sudden turn, along with a certain blurring of movement. Even though Schadow does not place the seemingly furtive observation at the centre of the depiction here, as Chodowiecki did, he succeeds in achieving an immediacy in this sheet which, in its unaffected depiction copied from life, not only makes the intimacy of the scene shown clear, but also leads to an intimacy between the viewer and the work of art.Keywords: 18th century, Classicism, People, Germany, Size: 10,1 cm x 7,7 cm (4 x 3 in), Depiction: 6,6 cm x 4,4 cm (2,6 x 1,7 in)Condition: Good condition. Age-appropriate.