Lot 1526 Dα

Carl Hasenpflug, born in Berlin in 1802, was among the most idiosyncratic painters in 19th century Germany. He initially specialised in architectural motifs, but later developed his own unique pictorial repertoire inspired by the Romantic spirit. His motifs surely drew on conventions established by his precursors Caspar David Friedrich and Karl Friedrich Schinkel, but the young artist was able to revisit them with great prowess, not least thanks to his considerable talent. The lonely atmosphere of his ruined abbeys, half hidden under blankets of glittering snow, are wonderful symbols of a uniquely German sense of melancholy and yearning. His works derive their appeal from a specific compositional scheme, in which the viewer's gaze is drawn into the work as if through a window. The artist leads the observer from the dark foreground through a broken arch towards the background, which they intuitively perceive to be the most significant part of the image. They feel it to be more than simply a beautiful depiction of a landscape in the morning light and begin to see it more as a hymn to God's creation.
“Ruins of an Abbey in Winter” combines a number of Hasenpflug's typical motifs and compositional elements. The toppled walls, stone sarcophagus, and icy ground prepare the viewer for the message of the work lying beyond the lancet window. The blanket of snow, the ruins of the Cistercian Abbey of Walkenried, and the crumbling stones all contrast with the bright sunlight and the vigorous oaks soon to bud again.