The Rose, or the Artist's Journey

Like many of Schwind’s other “picture novellas,” The Rose tells the story of a romanticized Middle Ages, of German woods and birdsong and of unfulfilled dreams of love. “The hero,” wrote the painter, “is the last musician, a man with lofty ideas” and yet “a ruined genius.” The viewer can guess what longing will be awakened by the dropped rose. Disillusion was a central theme in Schwind’s work.