Lot 86: - Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld , Leipzig 1794 - 1872 Dresden 'the converter of the heathen' Pen and brown and black ink, with two pentimenti on separate pieces of paper, cut out and pasted to the main sheet; signed and dated in brown ink, lower

Pen and brown and black ink, with two pentimenti on separate pieces of paper, cut out and pasted to the main sheet; signed and dated in brown ink, lower right: J. Schnorr. 19 Sept. 39 inscribed, upper centre: IV. Bekehrer der Heiden

measurements note 156 by 200 mm

This is a previously unknown early study - perhaps the earliest of all - for the wall painting depicting the Conversion of the Saxons by Charlemagne, executed in 1842 by Friedrich Giessmann, on the basis of the designs by Schnorr.υ1 The painting was one of six large compositions illustrating the life of Charlemagne, which were made for a dedicated room in the Munich Residenz, and destroyed during World War II. Previously, the known studies for this important painting consisted of a dated pen and wash drawing of 1840, in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, several individual figure studies, dated 1841, and the large cartoon, now in the Rüstkammer, Dresden, also dated 1841. The present drawing sheds new light on Schnorr's early ideas for the composition. Here we see to the left a large stone cross, before which a monk attempts to convert several people. In the Berlin drawing, this motif has been moved to the right, while to the left Schnorr has included a large oak tree. Even within the present drawing, we see the artist making revisions: two of the figure groups, in the lower left corner and towards the bottom right, are here redrawn on separate pieces of paper, which have been cut out and pasted down on the original sheet. 1. See Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Aus dem Leben Karls des Grossen, exh. cat., Dresden 2000, pp. 72-9, fig. 4