Old Man Before the Log Bridge (1819): Art, History and Details

Old Man Before the Log Bridge (1819) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Johann Christoph Erhard (German, 1795–1822).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This print comes from a series of four etchings known as the "Salzburg landscapes with large figures." Johann Erhard used the setting of the figures in the landscape to hint at wider concerns. This composition of an elderly man approaching a bridge may be read as a metaphor for crossing the boundary between life and death. In Erhard’s oeuvre, the beauty of the landscape gives no assurance of a carefree way of life. His pessimistic outlook can be linked to his mental collapse and suicide in 1822.

Object facts

• Title: Old Man Before the Log Bridge
• Date: 1819
• Creator attribution: Johann Christoph Erhard (German, 1795–1822)
• Culture: Germany, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1969.243

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.