Feldherr Tod

After a poem from the cycle 'Totentanz' (1895) by Adolf Frey (1855-1920), the then well-known Germanist, professor at the university (1898-1910), art writer, poet and author of biographies, among others of Ferdinand Hodler, Rudolf Koller, Albert Welti, C. F. Meyer and Johanna Spyri (see the latter's portrait by Ernst Würtenberger, inv. 2614). The episode with the separation of the lovers is an addition by Wieland, possibly inspired by Gustav Spangenberg's 'Der Zug des Todes' (1876; Berlin, Nationalgalerie). The painting enjoyed some popularity and once hung in the entrance hall of the Kunsthaus. Source