Moritz von Schwind
The Dream of Erwin von Steinbach, um 1845
Öl auf Pappe, 36,4 x 25,3 cm
1869 durch Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack erworben
Inv. Nr. 11558
The Dream of Erwin von Steinbach
Erwin von Steinbach was the architect of the west façade of Strasbourg cathedral. Goethe's 1772 essay `Von deutscher Baukunst¿ (On German Architecture) established the cathedral in Strasbourg as the epitome of Gothic architecture in the German-speaking world and as a manifestation of his notion of genius. In Schwind¿s painting an angel leads Steinbach by the hand as he dreams of the work to come. Stained-glass windows are seen glowing in the background. For Schwind, the visual vocabulary of such windows represented an ideal to which German art should aspire.