ID: 700008197 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008197	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Siegfried Battles with the Gatekeeper as Alberich Approaches (drawing (visual work); Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German, 1794 - 1872) (German ...; 1865; J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, Calif...; 2009.72)

Note: The sheet belongs to a group of illustration designs that Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld completed in preparation for the 1867 publication of Karl Simrock's translation of the Nibelungenlied. Simrock's literary source-also a source for Richard Wagner's famous operatic tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung-was the medieval German epic poem, the Nibelungenlied or Song of the Nibelungs, a complex tale of the romantic and magical adventures of Burgundian princes and princesses. The Nibelungenlied gained significance in mid nineteenth-century Germany, at the time of burgeoning German nationalism. A noted literary scholar, Simrock translated the Nibelungenlied into modern German, and the 1867 publication with Schnorr's illustrations was hugely influential.Schnorr's drawing, the illustration for page 87 of Simrock's text, shows the hero Siegfried battling with a giant as the dwarf Alberich approaches in the upper right corner of the sheet. The continuation of the narrative is successfully represented by the placement at the lower margin of Siegfried's boat, his means of arrival in Nibelungenland. The cloak that had rendered him invisible lies draped on the rocks below Siegfried's left foot. After vanquishing the giant, Siegfried will surely contend with Alberich, who guards the treasure of the Nibelungs. The proposed drawing not only documents Schnorr's contribution to this publication project, it also demonstrates his clever manipulation of space in arranging so many vital narrative details in the compressed sections of the sheet allowed for the illumination of the story's text. This drawing is the finalized version that follows a more preparatory study today in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett and a tracing (not known whether autograph) formerly in the A. O. Meyer collection, Hamburg, and sold at auction (Augsburg, Kunsthaus in Welserhof, 14 March 1987).Born into a family of artists, Schnorr began his artistic career as a landscape specialist before moving to Rome in 1818 to join the Nazarenes, a group of German and Austrian artists whose interest in the art of the Renaissance led them to embrace a linear style often punctuated by local color. After returning to Germany in 1827, Schnorr was commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria to create a decorative program in the Königsbau of the Munich Residenz based on the Nibelungen legend, a project that certainly informed Schnorr's inventions for related book illustrations in the years following. Schnorr participated in two different publication projects related to the Nibelungenlied-the first, which used a translation by Gustav Pfizer, appeared in 1840, and the second, for which the proposed drawing served as a preparatory design, was published in 1867.

Titles:

Siegfried Battles with the Gatekeeper as Alberich Approaches (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Illustration from the Niebelungenlied (C,U,DE,English,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

drawing (visual work) [300033973] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

drawings (preferred)

Creation Date: 1865

Creator Display:

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German, 1794 - 1872) (German Artist) [preferred,JPGM]

draftsman Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Julius (German painter, 1794-1872) Qualifier: undetermined [500002319]

Locations:

Current: J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California, United States) [500115988] J. Paul Getty Trust, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2009.72

Other: Creation: Deutschland [7000084] Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: Gray ink

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

Dimensions: Image: 20.1 x 13.5 cm (7 15/16 x 5 5/16 in.) 29.4 x 20.4 cm (11 9/16 x 8 1/16 in.)

Cultures:

German (preferred)

General Subject:

literary (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Nibelungenlied [901000806]
	.....((Literary works: Poetry, Named written and performed works, Literature and Performing Arts)) (ICON)

	lion (species) [300310388]
	.....(Agents Facet, Living Organisms (hierarchy name), living organisms (entities), Eukaryota (domain), Animalia (kingdom), Chordata (phylum), Vertebrata (subphylum), Mammalia (class), Carnivora (order), Felidae (family), Panthera (genus)) (AAT)

	Alberich [901000808]
	.....((Norse characters, Norse iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	Siegfried [901000807]
	.....((Literary characters, Literature and Performing Arts)) (ICON)

	hero [300236801]
	.....(Agents Facet, People (hierarchy name), people (agents), <people by state or condition>) (AAT)

Inscriptions: Numbered upper right: S. 91

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Siegfried Battles with the Gatekeeper as Alberich Approaches	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)
Illustration from the Niebelungenlied	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)

Subject: ....... [JPGM,VP]

Note:
English	..... [JPGM]
	..... J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)