Amusing Scene from a Biedermeier Austrian Theatre Magazine

 

Jacob in der Heymath (Heimat)
Jacob in the Country

 

Rare handcolored copperplate print engraved by Johann Wenzel Zinke (1797-1858) after a drawing by Johann Christian Schoeller (1782-1851) from the "Gallery of Interesting and Amusing Scenes of the Vienna Stage" (Gallerie drolliger und interessanter Scenen der Wiener Bühnen).

The test reads "Mr. Hirschkopf: Hold him steady Barbel, otherwise he's going to kill me.
Barbel, to the Bull, "Oh, Oh Hansel, Oh - Your poor honerable man."

Herr Hirschkopf: "Halt ihn fest, Baberl! Sonst bringt er mich um."

Barbel: zum Stier, "Oh Hansel! Oh! Armer gnaediger Herr!"

The image comes from an amusing collection put together between 1827 and and 30 by Adolf Bäuerle for subscribers to his theatre magazine.

A major figure in the Austrian theatre world, Bäuerle was just 18 years old in 1804 when he created the Vienna Theatre newspaper (die Wiener Theaterzeitung.)

Prints from this marvelous series can be found in several museums in Vienna, including the Theatre Museum and the Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien.

 

Condition: On old wove paper with a watermark (initials C.K. ?) . Some fairly heavy spotting around the text and at the corners lower left. Interior of the image nice and clean.