Christian Morgenstern’s etching, “The Two Tyroleans in the Gorge”, 1843

Christian Morgenstern (aka Christian Ernst Bernhard Morgenstern) (1805–1867

“The Two Tyroleans in the Gorge” (Die beiden Tiroler in der Felsschlucht), 1843, published for the album of the “Münchener Radirvereins Geätzt” by Radir-Club München (fl.1840), with the publisher’s oval blind-stamp featuring a sailing ship at lower centre.

Etching (with drypoint at the upper-right corner) on chine collé on heavy wove paper with the publisher’s blind-stamp (not in Lugt) at lower centre.

Size: (sheet) 24.5 x 30.1 cm; (plate) 14.6 x 18 cm; (chine collé) 13.6 x 16.9 cm; (image borderline) 12.7 x 16.2 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Ch”; (right in reverse) “Chr Morgen * v. Hamburg 1843”.

Andresen 3 (Andreas Andresen 1867, “Der Deutschen Maler-Radierer des 19 Jahrhunderts”, Leipzig, Weigel, p. 245, cat. no. 3 [see: https://diglib.tugraz.at/download.php?id=5bb225107b4bd&location]).

Andresen (1867) offers the following description of this print:

(Transl.) “Wild, partly overgrown rocks rise to the left and hang over a stony path on which two Tyroleans, one with [a pack] behind his back, are walking. The right side of the [composition] is blocked by a boulder on which several trees stand[.] A stream flows around its base towards the lower right corner where it forms a small fall. There are deep, almost black shadows in the foreground” (p. 245).

Andresen also advises that the portrayed scene is a part of the “Zemmgrunde” (Zemmgrund valley) which I understand is at a higher altitude but close to Mayrhofen situated in the Zillertal (Ziller) river valley in the Austrian state of Tyrol (op. cit.).

See also the description of this print offered by the British Museum:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1851-0503-7.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with wide margins, laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. Beyond a spot of thinness verso, the sheet is in excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this marvellously dramatic landscape etching that seems to glow with the strong contrasts of shadow and raking light, for the total cost of AU$238 (currently US$183.44/EUR151.80/GBP135.05 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this closely observed and sensitively rendered etching showing two travellers walking beside a stream in a rocky gorge, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print is available for purchase