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1850), uncle and teacher of the famous hygienist Max von Pettenkofer (1818–
1901). It was here that Carl Spitzweg started to draw interesting customers for his
personal joy beside his studies of practical pharmacy. Some of these pictures – or
rather drafts – still exist today. After the death of his father in 1828, he worked as
an assistant in the ‘Lower City Pharmacy’ (‘Untere Stadt-‐Apotheke’) in Straubing
until 1830. There he gained insights into the small-‐town ambience that Spitzweg
illustrated with this superior big-‐city-‐humour of his later works. After his practical
training, he studied pharmacy for two years at the University of Munich (19) with
the professor and pharmacist Johann Andreas Buchner (1783–1852), Johann
Bartholomäus Trommsdorff’s probably most important student. Buchner
discovered Salicin, an active ingredient of the willow tree, serving as an anti-‐
inflammatory drug and pain killer at that time, he discovered the alkaloid
Berberine, edited the pharmaceutical journal ‘Repertory for the Pharmacy’
(‘Repertorium für die Pharmazie’) and he wrote the multi-‐volume opus ‘Complete
Epitome of Pharmacy’ (‘Vollständiger Inbegriff der Pharmacie’). Like his teacher
Trommsdorff, he substantially participated in the transformation of pharmacy
from craft to science (20).
Spitzweg passed his pharmaceutical exam in 1832 with distinction, which
can be traced back to Buchner’s influence. Afterwards he journeyed across Italy.
Back to Munich, he fell ill with a nervous fever which annihilated his original plans.
Instead of moving to Switzerland as a pharmacist’s assistant – as many Bavarian
pharmacists did before buying their own pharmacy with their heritage – Spitzweg
went to the health resort in Sulz, Peißenberg in 1833. There it was common that
the bathers were employed in producing little pencil drawings, in presenting them
to other guests in the evening. Spitzweg’s drawings were a sensation. The
artistically inclined head of the institution, Dr. Zeus, and the landscapist Christian
Heinrich Hansonn (1791–1863) advised him to become a painter. Finally, he
resolved to give up the pharmacist profession, he conducted natural studies. He
avoided attending the Academy of Arts in Munich and prevented his pictures from
being shaped by the academic pathos of the Munich school of thought of that time.
In 1839 he dared go public and exhibit his picture ‘The Poor Poet’ (‘Der arme
Poet’) in the ‘Munic Art Association’ (‘Münchner Kunstverein’) – a picture that
counts to Spitzweg’s most famous ones. Yet, his picture failed what caused severe
trouble to his self-‐confidence. In his studio at the ‘Heumarkt’ in Munich, high above
the narrow streets, Carl Spitzweg created the idyllic world that was characteristic
of himself. He tried new colour combinations and contrasted them to fine drawings
and surfaces. In the 1860s the long-‐awaited success finally emerged (19, 21).
Spitzweg has now and again picked up pharmaceutical subjects in his
paintings. In addition to the little drawings just mentioned the two pictures ‘The
Alchemist’ (‘Der Alchimist’) and ‘The Provisor Fallen in Love’ (‘Der verliebte
