Study for Corn Cart in a Thunderstorm near the Zellersee, 1833/36

This oil sketch by Friedrich Gauermann (1807–1862) is a colored compositional sketch for the 1838 painting The Harvest Wagon, which was made popular by the lithograph Summer (Hay Wagon) by Eduard Joseph Weixelgärtner (1816–1873). In his sketch, which is remarkable for its painterly immediacy, Gauermann focuses on the main scene of the executed painting – the white horse in the team of horses bringing in the harvest before an approaching thunderstorm. Auxiliary scenes are only hinted at rudimentarily. The artist captures the event with loose brushstrokes and with strong colors, such as the shining red, blue and white, which he combines to achieve rich contrasts. From the 1830s, stormy atmospheres play a more and more important part in Gauermann’s oeuvre. Dramatic atmospheric effects testify to the romantic attitude of the Biedermeier painter, who combines an idealization of rural life with nature observations.

AGW, 2022