Sammlung der verschiedenen männlichen und weiblichen Tyroler-Costumes in 34 Figuren, gezeichnet von Franz Spitzer Miniatur-Maler in Innsbruck.

Series of 34 watercolours showing 17 male and 17 female costume figures. Wove paper (mostly watermarked Whatman 1821). C. 195 x 165 mm each. In custom-made half calf portfolio. Charming, beautifully executed set of 34 watercolours: two series of Tyrolean costumes (men and women) numbered 1 through 17. Spitzer, born in Vienna around 1780 according to AKL, worked in Innsbruck between 1810 and 1825 before moving to Salzburg (cf. Thieme/Becker XXXI, 393). He apparently was close with the Vienna-trained artist Johann Georg Schedler (1777-1866), a native of Constance. Schedler, who lived in Innsbruck from 1804 and witnessed the Tyrolean Rebellion, was known for his landscapes and costume scenes of his adopted country (cf. Wurzbach XXIX, 154). One of his published series, a collection of engravings showing the costumes of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, appeared in Innsbruck around 1824 (the Ferdinandeum copy containing 20, the Berlin copy 17 plates: Hiler 780 and Lipperheide Eba 10). The Lipperheide collection also includes a corresponding set of 34 watercolour plates, bound as an octavo volume (Eba 11). This book is from the library of Schedler himself and contains his autograph title: "Tiroler Volkstrachten nach Entwürfen von Joh. G. Schedler gemalt von Spitzer in Innsbruck". Spitzer, apparently, had forged an agreement with Schedler to produce a small number of watercolour copies of his costume series, which he would offer to customers willing to pay a premium for an original work of art rather than buy the published engravings. The present set thus constitutes Spitzer's second known watercolour version of Schedler's series of Tyrolean costumes, and the only one in the trade. - Occasional slight browning and duststaining; the colour shows exceptionally fine hues and tonal values; extremely well preserved. - Cf. Lipperheide Eba 10 & 11. Hiler 780.