Being a slightly eccentric and sarcastic person, I am often drawn to characters in books, film, and art who are also eccentric and offer a bit of satire. Carl Spitzweg painted quite a few images that are perfect for my sensibilities, and looking at “The Butterfly Hunter” hits me right where it should on a cold, dark day.
Considering the darkness of last issue’s Doré painting and the upcoming Goya piece, I thought a nice break with something more humorous would be good.
Der Schmetterlingsjäger (The Butterfly Hunter), Carl Spitzweg
When I talk about my sensibilities, particularly with art, I often go back to my love of the mid-19th century Hudson River Valley artists and of Romantics like Friedrich. Spitzweg painted this with a similar sense of environmental wonder, of being completely surrounded by nature.
The concept of painting the insignificance of man in the vastness of nature was certainly nothing new in Spitzweg’s time, but what he did was turn the idea on its head. It isn’t just the environment that’s huge, it’s the butterflies too. Their bright blue colors make them stand out, and Spitzweg used almost a “character corridor” to frame the butterflies and the hunter.
Now, certainly it could be argued that Spitzweg merely painted the smaller butterflies up close, so that they appear large but are still within normal parameters. But that kind of effect would have forced Spitzweg to compose a much lower perspective, and here we are clearly at eye level with the hunter. When you add in the eccentricity of how Spitzweg painted the hunter, a painting of giant butterflies becomes less impulsive.
What a fabulously eccentric hunter he is. He has his tiny net, his great big hat, an umbrella, and he’s seemingly packed for a great jungle adventure. He has the air of someone looking for a perfect prize on a safari, a trek no one has taken before. He’s ready for anything, except, looking at the emotion on face, actually finding the butterflies.
I think that our intrepid hunter finding his butterflies sets up a great storyline, and that’s my favorite part of any piece. It isn’t just the composition, or the effective details and scenery, or even the satire of a man with a tiny net hunting monster insects. Though, for those that know me, monster insects certainly doesn’t fail to be one of my favorite parts.
My absolute favorite part is that Spitzweg did what many artists cannot do: create art that makes you want to be a part of the adventure. I want to know what happens next, and my head is filled with so many possibilities. Does he turn tail and run screaming into the forest? Does he try to silently sneak up on them, tiny net in hand, ready to pounce? Does he let them go by, and look for some creature that’s even larger?
I don’t know the answer. But I do know it is enormously fun to imagine.
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Here’s an interesting story about its strange provenance
References
The Butterfly Hunter
Original Title: “Der Schmetterlingsjäger”
Carl Spitzweg
1840; oil on panel
31cm x 25cm
Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany
