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Joseph and Karl August von Klein by Heinrich Franz Schalck

Heinrich Franz Schalck · 1810-01-01

Heinrich Franz Schalck’s 1810 portrait, Joseph and Karl August von Klein, shows two men seated together with an unguarded warmth rarely found in formal portraiture of the period. It is currently held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Look at the arm draped over the shoulder and the relaxed posture of the hands. These are not stiff, contractual poses, but the quiet signals of a close, lived-in relationship. A small greyhound sits between them, its leash wrapped around a wrist, binding the figures together literally and symbolically.

Schalck painted this double portrait when he was only nineteen. The room is filled with traces of a shared intellectual and artistic life: a piano, an open document, books stacked on the table. The men are Joseph and Karl August von Klein, their surname suggesting they were brothers or close relations.

For a painter so young to capture such an adult, unforced intimacy is remarkable. It makes you wonder what conversations these walls had just heard.

Details

Notice the arm draped across the shoulder.
Notice the arm draped across the shoulder.
His hand rests on an open book. A shared pursuit.
His hand rests on an open book. A shared pursuit.
A small greyhound, a symbol of loyalty, sits between them.
A small greyhound, a symbol of loyalty, sits between them.
Its leash is wrapped carefully around his wrist.
Its leash is wrapped carefully around his wrist.
The painter, Heinrich Schalck, was just nineteen years old.
The painter, Heinrich Schalck, was just nineteen years old.
Transcript

Two men, seated closely. One in green, one in black. Notice the arm draped across the shoulder. In an era of stiff formality, this is a portrait of genuine ease. His hand rests on an open book. A shared pursuit. A small greyhound, a symbol of loyalty, sits between them. Its leash is wrapped carefully around his wrist. They sit in a music room. A cultivated, shared life. The painter, Heinrich Schalck, was just nineteen years old.