Old Man Before the Log Bridge

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

This print comes from a series of four etchings known as the "Salzburg landscapes with large figures." Johann Erhard used the setting of the figures in the landscape to hint at wider concerns. This composition of an elderly man approaching a bridge may be read as a metaphor for crossing the boundary between life and death. In Erhard’s oeuvre, the beauty of the landscape gives no assurance of a carefree way of life. His pessimistic outlook can be linked to his mental collapse and suicide in 1822.

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