Details: This poster is of The Bookworm, by Carl Spitzweg. The picture shows an untidily dressed elderly bibliophile teetering on top of a library ladder with several large volumes jammed under his arms and between his legs as he peers short-sightedly at a book. Unaware of his apparently princely or abbatial Baroque surroundings, he is totally absorbed in his researches. A handkerchief, carelessly replaced, trails from his pocket. His black knee-breeches suggest a courtly status.
Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 - September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the Biedermeier era. Spitzweg was self-taught as an artist, and began by copying the works of Flemish masters. He contributed his first work to satiric magazines. Upon receiving an inheritance in 1833, he was able to dedicate himself to painting. Later, Spitzweg visited European art centers, studying the works of various artists and refining his technique and style. His later paintings and drawings are often humorous genre works. Many of his paintings depict sharply characterized eccentrics, for example The Bookworm (1850) and The Hypochondriac (c. 1865).
This poster is usually printed with a thin white edge border.