Adolf Menzel Sketch

Author: Zhang Ruhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Adolf Menzel (1815-1905) was a great 19th-century German painter and one of the most famous historical and genre painters in Europe. He went among the masses, pioneering the use of realistic techniques and sketches to depict the lives of ordinary people and workers. Russian critic Stassov once called him Germany's contemporary "greatest painter." Menzel was a rational artist who always created numerous sketches and studies of figures, props, and environments for his works. Before painting The Rolling Mill, he sketched hundreds of scenes in the workshop, scientifically and precisely measured the props, studied them from different angles, and repeatedly drew the workers' movements until he was satisfied. He always carried a sketchbook and painted whenever and wherever he could. When he couldn't bring a sketchbook to a court banquet, he drew on invitations and playbills—a habit he maintained throughout his life. He enjoyed painting scenes with many figures, handling their relationships vividly and naturally, especially in his treatment of light, which was brilliant even in seemingly spontaneous sketches. For every work, and for the same subject, he would delve deeply, repeatedly paint, and often spend a long time until he was satisfied.