Page of a sketchbook

The German Romantic composer Mendelssohn maintained a life-long interest in drawing. This sketchbook, one of fourteen surviving today, was begun during Mendelssohn’s honeymoon and contains city views and landscapes, as well as more intimate scenes of family and work. The last page, which shows a landscape glimpsed through an open window, instantly stands out in its sharp, meticulous draughtsmanship. It is also the most complex sheet in the sketchbook, employing an established Romantic notion of a window framing a landscape as a meeting point of imagination and nature.

Entry from Connecting Worlds: artists & travel, exh. cat., Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden, 2023: The German Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn was a dedicated amateur draughtsman, as attested by his fourteen extant sketchbooks mostly relating to his travels. He began using the sketchbook now in the Courtauld collection during his honeymoon in April 1837 and returned to it occasionally in 1839-40. Using the pencil that he would have kept in the loops of the album cover, he drew town views and landscapes, as well as more intimate scenes of family life. The honeymoon journey of Felix and Cécile Mendelssohn, née Jeanrenaud (1817-1853) lasted from March to May 1837. They travelled from Frankfurt to Mainz, then up the Rhine and to Freiburg, to finally return to Frankfurt via Heidelberg. After a long period spent in Cécile's Frankfurt home, on 22 July 1837 the couple departed again with Cécile's mother Elisabeth and sister Julie for a holiday on the Rhine. A charming sketch of the three women knitting while travelling on a covered boat was removed from the album and separately mounted (D.1952.RW.4182). In her diary entry for that day, Cécile recounts, 'We planned to drive to the Morgenbach, which, however, was once again thwarted by the rain. Since we were under way anyhow, we sailed in the covered boat to Rüdesheim. Felix sketched us on the way [...].' Leafing through the pages of the album one encounters later trips. In the summer of 1839, for instance, the couple spent time at Horchheim, where Felix's uncle, Joseph Mendelssohn, lived. The village provided the ideal tranquil setting for Mendelssohn to divide his time between composition in the morning, and other activities like swimming, drawing, piano practice, and walks in the afternoon. The serenity of the place is reflected in his sketch of the village's main street seen from the south, inscribed Horchheim 9 Aug. 1839. (entry author: Anita Viola Sganzerla).

by descent to the artist's granddaughter, Dora Benecke (1876-1962); given by her to Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, February 1949; Witt Bequest 1952