The Garret I

Scenes of this picturesque corner of the old city of Munich, away from people's noise and business are what Spitzweg loved. Later in his life he had an apartment and studio in this area. The old bachelor got up early to water the flowers on his rooftop garden. The time on the church clock of St. Peter shown in the left background is seven o'clock. Munich's oldest parish church, also called "Old Peter," lies near the Marienplatz. The morning sun is sending her warming light, and thanks to the bachelor's loving care the plants are thriving. The roses are showing their first blossoms, ivy and coltsfoot are running to leaf, and the larkspur has grown high enough to be clad in blue in late summer. A dragonfly is coming by, a canary in the cage to the right is welcoming the new day by singing his song. The inhabitant of the romantic garret could be a poet or a writer, but while The Poet is poor, he seems to be rather well-off, if his neat dress is anything to go by. His glasses and the quill behind his right ear surely indicate that he is a representative of the writing crafts.

As in the painting of the Flower Friend, the idyllic scene here looks fragile, too. For Spitzweg repeated his metaphoric views in the birdcages: symbols of isolation, or confinement of his character in the attic. The bird's feathers are of the same yellow color as the dressing gown of the lonely bachelor.