Subterranean Jail for the Stage

1788

Abel Schlicht

(German, 1754–1826)

Culture

Germany, 18th century

Medium

etching and aquatint

Support

Laid paper

Measurements

Image: 40.9 x 56.6 cm (16 1/8 x 22 5/16 in.); Platemark: 49 x 63 cm (19 5/16 x 24 13/16 in.); Sheet: 54.2 x 71.2 cm (21 5/16 x 28 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 2003.23

Catalogue raisonné

Nagler 16 (?)

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Since none of his stage sets survive, Abel Schlicht’s prints serve as records of his lost designs.

Description

Trained as an architect, Abel Schlicht also designed stage sets for the Mannheim National Theater. An important forum for German cultural identity, the theater was one of the first companies to produce exclusively German-language plays, including those by beloved playwright Friedrich Schiller. Prisons were an especially popular drama subject in the 1700s, and sets would have featured in multiple productions. Here, Schlicht employed aquatint to render the gloomy space of one of his prison scenes. This technique enabled the artist to create the range of tones used to illuminate the background and plunge the foreground into darkness.