Shop art print and framed art Flute concert by Frederick the Great in Sanssousci by Adolph von Menzel

The Flute Concert of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci or The Flute Concert is a 142 × 205 cm oil-on-canvas history painting by the German painter Adolph von Menzel, now in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. It depicts Frederick II (King of Prussia), known as Frederick the Great, playing the solo flute at an evening concert he and musicians are giving for guests in the festively lit concert hall of his Sanssouci palace. Menzel was one of the most popular and important realist painters of the nineteenth century"; he was knighted as Adolph von Menzel in 1898. His works are an important source of information about life in Prussia at the time, particularly the life of Frederick the Great. Sanssouci was Frederick's summer palace in Potsdam, near Berlin". Menzel painted the picture between 1850 and 1852. Frederick the Great, who himself composed flute sonatas and was known for his excellent flute playing, often played his compositions in the hour before dinner to his relatives, friends and servants. Menzel depicts such a fictional scene in which the monarch stands before the musicians seated to the right of the music stand, playing the flute in the music room lit by candlelight from numerous chandeliers, while guests in festive dress listen to his left and behind him. Menzel also reveals the different levels of attention of each listener. The artist made numerous studies for his painting, both for the furniture, the lectern and the architecture, and for the clothes and postures of [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the realism style.

 

« Flute concert by Frederick the Great in Sanssousci » is kept at Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany.

 

Find the full description of Flute concert by Frederick the Great in Sanssousci by Adolph von Menzel on Wikipedia.