1885
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen (Rheinfall von Schaffhausen) is a 1885 by Adolph von Menzel, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a misty waterfall crashing over jagged rocks. A stone bridge arches in the background, half-hidden by spray. The drawing is done in graphite, with careful lines that show every ripple and rock. This isn’t just a landscape. Menzel spent weeks sketching the Rhine Falls in person. He used tiny notebook studies to plan his paintings. The detail here proves why he’s remembered as Germany’s top draftsman. Want to see more like it? Check out Adolph von Menzel (German, 1815–1905).
Menzel was one of the most celebrated and prolific painters in Germany during the 19th century. A meticulous draftsman, he executed detailed drawings in preparation for each of his paintings. Thousands of the artist’s notebook studies have survived. Many of them were studies of heads, half-figures, and landscape vignettes to be incorporated into his paintings. This sheet depicting a waterfall and bridge shrouded in mist is an example of one of Menzel’s exquisite graphite studies.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings.
See the richer artist page
