The Brothers Eberhard

Johann Anton Ramboux belonged to a group of artists called the Nazarenes, who lived a pious lifestyle and emulated the draftsmanship of early masters such as Albrecht Dürer. This print demonstrates their interest in drawing through Ramboux’s careful modeling of two profiles in light and shade. The sitters were brothers and artists who worked in the same circle as Ramboux. He made the lithograph for the Eberhards as a <em>Freundschaftsbild </em>(friendship portrait)—a type of image given between 19th-century artists to commemorate a relationship. This example was printed in only a few impressions, as a gift for the sitters.