Page 137 - 80_03

C.
Friedrich

1850),
uncle
and
teacher
of
the
famous
hygienist
Max
von
Pettenkofer
(1818–
1901).
It
was
here
that
Carl
Spitzweg
started
to
draw
interesting
customers
for
his

personal
joy
beside
his
studies
of
practical
pharmacy.
Some
of
these
pictures
–
or

rather
drafts
–
still
exist
today.
After
the
death
of
his
father
in
1828,
he
worked
as

an
assistant
in
the
‘Lower
City
Pharmacy’
(‘Untere
Stadt-­-Apotheke’)
in
Straubing

until
1830.
There
he
gained
insights
into
the
small-­-town
ambience
that
Spitzweg

illustrated
with
this
superior
big-­-city-­-humour
of
his
later
works.
After
his
practical

training,
he
studied
pharmacy
for
two
years
at
the
University
of
Munich
(19)
with

the
professor
and
pharmacist
Johann
Andreas
Buchner
(1783–1852),
Johann

Bartholomäus
Trommsdorff’s
probably
most
important
student.
Buchner

discovered
Salicin,
an
active
ingredient
of
the
willow
tree,
serving
as
an
anti-­-
inflammatory
drug
and
pain
killer
at
that
time,
he
discovered
the
alkaloid

Berberine,
edited
the
pharmaceutical
journal
‘Repertory
for
the
Pharmacy’

(‘Repertorium
für
die
Pharmazie’)
and
he
wrote
the
multi-­-volume
opus
‘Complete

Epitome
of
Pharmacy’
(‘Vollständiger
Inbegriff
der
Pharmacie’).
Like
his
teacher

Trommsdorff,
he
substantially
participated
in
the
transformation
of
pharmacy

from
craft
to
science
(20).

Spitzweg
passed
his
pharmaceutical
exam
in
1832
with
distinction,
which

can
be
traced
back
to
Buchner’s
influence.
Afterwards
he
journeyed
across
Italy.

Back
to
Munich,
he
fell
ill
with
a
nervous
fever
which
annihilated
his
original
plans.

Instead
of
moving
to
Switzerland
as
a
pharmacist’s
assistant
–
as
many
Bavarian

pharmacists
did
before
buying
their
own
pharmacy
with
their
heritage
–
Spitzweg

went
to
the
health
resort
in
Sulz,
Peißenberg
in
1833.
There
it
was
common
that

the
bathers
were
employed
in
producing
little
pencil
drawings,
in
presenting
them

to
other
guests
in
the
evening.
Spitzweg’s
drawings
were
a
sensation.
The

artistically
inclined
head
of
the
institution,
Dr.
Zeus,
and
the
landscapist
Christian

Heinrich
Hansonn
(1791–1863)
advised
him
to
become
a
painter.
Finally,
he

resolved
to
give
up
the
pharmacist
profession,
he
conducted
natural
studies.
He

avoided
attending
the
Academy
of
Arts
in
Munich
and
prevented
his
pictures
from

being
shaped
by
the
academic
pathos
of
the
Munich
school
of
thought
of
that
time.

In
1839
he
dared
go
public
and
exhibit
his
picture
‘The
Poor
Poet’
(‘Der
arme

Poet’)
in
the
‘Munic
Art
Association’
(‘Münchner
Kunstverein’)
–
a
picture
that

counts
to
Spitzweg’s
most
famous
ones.
Yet,
his
picture
failed
what
caused
severe

trouble
to
his
self-­-confidence.
In
his
studio
at
the
‘Heumarkt’
in
Munich,
high
above

the
narrow
streets,
Carl
Spitzweg
created
the
idyllic
world
that
was
characteristic

of
himself.
He
tried
new
colour
combinations
and
contrasted
them
to
fine
drawings

and
surfaces.
In
the
1860s
the
long-­-awaited
success
finally
emerged
(19,
21).

Spitzweg
has
now
and
again
picked
up
pharmaceutical
subjects
in
his

paintings.
In
addition
to
the
little
drawings
just
mentioned
the
two
pictures
‘The

Alchemist’
(‘Der
Alchimist’)
and
‘The
Provisor
Fallen
in
Love’
(‘Der
verliebte

610