Skizzenbuch 1938

drawing

toned paper

16_19th-century

water colours

possibly oil pastel

german

stoneware

underpainting

painting painterly

watercolour bleed

watercolour illustration

mixed media

watercolor

Ludwig Metz’s *Skizzenbuch* (1938) is a sketchbook that serves as a unique example of the artist's creative process. The cover features a marbled paper design, a common decorative technique during Metz's lifetime, and a green ribbon tied around the book, hinting at its contents. Held at the Städel Museum, this sketchbook exemplifies Metz's dedication to capturing ideas and observations through drawing, offering a glimpse into his artistic practice.

Comments

stadelmuseum over 1 year ago

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Only the first seven of the detailed drawings in this sketchbook are dated April 1838 and have added locations, the other drawings, also those of the Eschenheimer Tor in Frankfurt, are unidentified. It is possible that Ludwig Metz took this book with him first on trips through Germany. The medieval buildings (half-timbered houses, castle ruins, gate towers and more), sailing ships and boats as well as the studies of gnarled tree trunks, their leafy or bare branches, could also have been created after graphic models, which the only 16-year-old Metz studied carefully. From his later sketches, which he partly sketched quickly without support, these extremely precise and partly almost pictorially composed drawings are, in any case, a long way off.A few pages are enclosed in this sketchbook, probably from another sketchbook, with depictions of the Heidelberg Castle, the Johanniskirche in Wernigerode and the Porta San Lorenzo.For a full sketchbook description, please see “Research”.