Zwei Kinder auf dem Eis

Among the most unusual items in the Wilhelm Busch painted oeuvre, this undated work on boxwood is exceptional in its material choice. Boxwood, an extremely dense hardwood used primarily for wood engraving (the medium of which Busch was a master in his illustrated work), is highly unusual as a painting support and suggests either an experimental impulse or a practical use of available material. Busch's expertise in wood engraving — the technical basis of his Max und Moritz illustrations — would have given him an intimate familiarity with boxwood's qualities, and applying paint to its exceptionally smooth, close-grained surface would have produced a very different result from canvas or cardboard. This singularity makes the work a fascinating document of Busch's material curiosity, possibly reflecting an experiment in the studio or a one-off improvisation whose context is now lost.

Boxwood's exceptional density and fine grain create an almost glass-smooth painting surface, quite unlike any other support Busch used. Paint on boxwood would behave differently from canvas or cardboard — less absorbent than either, preserving brushwork with great fidelity and allowing for extremely fine detail if desired.