Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011357Melchizedek Blessing Abraham
About the Artwork
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld was an important figure within the Romantic movement that spread throughout Germany in the early 1800s. He was a member of the Nazarenes, a loosely formed group of young artists who rejected their conservative training in favor of a restrained style that they hoped would spiritually elevate those who viewed it. Schnorr von Carolsfeld is best known today for the Picture Bible, an expansive series of drawings created as illustrations for episodes from scripture. This drawing presents a scene from the Book of Genesis, evoking a dramatic episode with a restrained style characteristic of the Nazarenes’ work around this time.
Inscriptions
Signed and dated, lower right, in brown ink: 18JS25; inscribed (in later hand in Sütterlin), lower right on mount, in graphite: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1794 – 1872. / “Abraham wird von Melchisidek gesegnet.” / (1. B. Mose 14, 18-20). [A. Schahl s. 137, nr. 25] / Feder in Braun, über Blei, 21,4 x 25, 6 cm; Collector's stamp (Walter Moraw): Sammlung MW (not in Lugt)
Provenance
December 1968: Sammlung MW"; sale, Karl & Faber, Munich, Germany 1970: C .G. Boerner, Dusseldorf, Germany 1972: C.G. Boerner, Dusseldorf, Germany Private Collection, Germany May 23, 2016: sale, Lempertz, Cologne, Germany ?–?: Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA ?–2025: (C. G. Boerner, New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) June 9, 2025–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German, 1794–1872)
- Date
- 1825
- Medium
- pen and brown ink mounted on blue laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 21.3 x 25.7 cm (8 3/8 x 10 1/8 in.); Secondary Support: 42.2 x 41.9 cm (16 5/8 x 16 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Alma Kroeger Fund
- Accession no.
- 2025.130
More by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011357
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