About the Artwork
This humble everyday subject, meticulously painted, may be a view from the artist's studio in Berlin. Here, Menzel elected to represent human beings only obliquely, through the traces of their activity: a vegetable garden to supply the kitchen, the red postbox on the fence, the drying laundry. Of particular originality are the unusual viewpoint adopted by the artist and the cropping of the image, so that the whole composition appears to be a fragment as informal as a snapshot.
The Back Garden
between 1850 and 1860
Adolph von Menzel
1815-1905
German
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 19 × 27 inches (48.3 × 68.6 cm) Framed: 34 3/4 × 42 3/4 × 4 1/4 inches (88.3 × 108.6 × 10.8 cm)
----------
European Painting
Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III Fund
1991.172
Public Domain
Markings
Please note: This section is empty
Provenance
Paul Meyerheim [1842-1915] (Berlin, Germany);1950's, art marker (Berlin, Germany);
1991, (Thomas Kessler, Zurich, Switzerland);
1991-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
Please note: This section is empty
The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Wissman, F. W. European Vistas: Cultural Landscapes. Detroit, DIA, 2000, p. 62, repr.
Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.
Suggest FeedbackCatalogue Raisoneé
Please note: This section is empty
Credit Line for Reproduction
This work is in the public domain.
Adolph von Menzel, The Back Garden, between 1850 and 1860, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III Fund, 1991.172.
Feedback
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction or improvement.
Suggest Feedback