[Jesus appearing to his disciples on the Sea of Galilee] / JSvC [monogram].

The subject of the drawing is Jesus Appearing to His Disciples and the Miraculous Draft of Fishes. More precisely, as the artist transcribed from the Bible, this is the moment when Peter jumps into the water to wade ashore to Christ (John 21:7). The most famous representation of this particular scene is Raphael's tapestry cartoon (1515-16). Although Schnorr's interpretation portrays the boat in a three-quarter view rather than from the side as in Raphael's portrayal, he must have been looking at Raphael's iconic and monumental work. In fact, the German artist's drawing style in these biblical illustrations no longer looks to late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century artists' precisely drawn and delicately thin lines, but to the High Renaissance bravura of Raphael's exuberant draftsmanship. On Schnorr von Carolsfeld's biblical project--its origin, purpose, and widespread influence as religious instruction--see Cordula Grewe, "The Bible in Pictures" in Painting the Sacred in the Age of Romanticism, Surrey, 2009, pp. 203-251 and on Schnorr's other work see Hinrich Sieveking, "Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872): An introduction to his life and work," in Giulia Bartrum, ed., German Romantic Prints and Drawings from an English Private Collection, exh. cat. The British Museum, London, 2011, pp. 278-309.
Inscriptions: Left edge in brown ink: "Der auferstandenen Chr [crossed out] Heiland erscheint seinen Jüngern in Galiläa. Da spricht der Jünger, welchen Jesus lieb hatte, zu Petro: es ist der Herr. Da Simon Petrus hörete, dass es der Herr war, gürtete er das Hemd um sich, denn er war nackt, und warf sich ins Meer. Ev. Johannis cap. 21.v.7." At left recto in brown ink: "Sonntag/ d. 16 h (with lines below h) 56./ 18 JCS[?] 56." Upper right recto in brown ink: "224." Verso: lower right: in black chalk: "114" (and a line with maybe a number or letter above).
Title, attribution, date, subject, and physical description by Diane de Grazia, 2014.
Acquisition source unknown.
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld was a German artist and a prominent member of the Nazarene movement. A drawing by Schnorr von Carolsfeld of 1840 in the British Museum, London (inv. no. 1875,0710.145) carries the identical inscription, indicating that the present drawing is by the same hand. Another sheet, also in the British Museum of 1854 (WA1954.70.154) has the same handwriting as here. In fact, the mise-en-page of Schnorr von Carolsfeld's many narrative illustrations is also identical. He divides the page, as here, into illustration and narration, citing the text from which the illustration comes. Also, he uses the side of the paper for further sketches related to the scenes. The sheet in the Library of Congress fits perfectly into Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld's oeuvre. Like his Nazarene friends, Schnorr rejected a modern style in favor of a revival of early Renaissance Italian art. He spent the years 1818-1825 in Rome, where his precise draftsmanship and clear coloring came close to the style of the late 15th-century Italian artists he admired. In the early 1850s the artist finally took up in earnest his project of drawings for an illustrated Bible, which came out of the 40-year Nazarene project to produce an illustrated bible. Schnorr's own project, Die Bibel in Bildern, was published in thirty parts between 1852 and 1860 (published by Georg Wigand in Leipzig in 1860). By this time, his drawing style had broadened, was less meticulous, and more energetic. The present drawing is a preliminary study for this project, which included over 240 illustrations of scenes from the Old and New Testaments. The number "224" at upper right indicates which illustration it was. Similar numbers appear on other sheets for the series (see, for example, a drawing in the Kunstsammlung, Weimar which carries the number "66" and is dated Easter Sunday 1856 (illus. Gernsheim Corpus Graphicum no. 177039)). The differences between the drawing and the finished wood engraving in the book are apparent. Schnorr would have refined the drawing in another sheet before it was transferred to the woodblock, in this case, as in others, simplifying the forms for the narrative to be explicitly understood. He removed extraneous details that would distract the viewer from the story. The purpose of the Bible in Pictures was to educate the illiterate and literate to the visual realism of the bible's stories. The only written narrative in the book is the passage from the bible beneath each illustration.
Conserved: 8.86.848.62.
Condition assessment: Backed with rice paper. Sheet is very thin, dirty, and has losses, especially at edges, 2014.