Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

A key figure among German artists who lived and worked in Rome in the early nineteenth century, Schnorr von Carolsfeld received his initial training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. This tender depiction of the ten-year-old Maria Heller dates to the end of his stay in that city. The artist captured the young girl as she slept, with her head and shoulder resting on a large pillow, and her feet protruding from underneath a light blanket. Schnorr von Carolsfeld’s use of crisp contours, sparing application of washes and hatching, and brilliant exploitation of the white of the paper itself result in an airy, ethereal image.