This delicate drawing represents a sleeping angel in a wooded clearing. This natural scene is one of beauty and harmony where each tuft of grass and each twisted branch counter-balance one another. Also note the small birds that gracefully sit in the tree’s branches and on top of the rock in the foreground, adding to the serenity of the scene. The asleep angel, placed at the centre, is recognisably neo-classical in appearance; an idealised depiction of the human form.

The composition and featured forms are fairly linear and the line-work of the piece is self-assured.

This fine work was once owned by the great German art collector Arnold Otto Meyer. Meyer collected drawings from artists of his time, some of whom he was on friendly terms with, including Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld , Moritz von Schwind , Edward von Steinle , Christian Carl Magnussen and Anselm Feuerbach. The collection was later inherited by his son Eduard Lorenz Lorenz-Meyer , who had it auctioned in Leipzig in 1914.

Carl Gottlieb Peschel 

Carl Gottlieb Peschel (31 March 1798, Dresden – 3 July 1879, Dresden) was a German painter. He was a member of the Nazarene movement.

Beginning in 1812, he became a student at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. When Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein was commissioned to paint the ceilings at the Schloss Pillnitz, Peschel worked as his assistant. He inherited part of his father’s military pension and used the money to finance a study trip to Rome with his friend Adolf Zimmermann in 1825-1826. When he returned home, he supported himself by giving drawing lessons and painting snuff cans. After the Saxon Art Association bought his painting Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well, he was able to give full attention to his work.

He was commissioned to complete the frescoes at the Härtel House in Leipzig after Bonaventura Genelli had gotten into several quarrels and walked off the job. From 1836 to 1838, he was engaged by Johann Gottlob von Quandt to paint frescoes, depicting episodes from the works of Goethe, at his manor “Belvedere” in the Schönfeld Upland.

In 1837, he became a teacher at the Dresden Academy, replacing Christian Ernst Stölzel, and was appointed a professor in 1846. He became a member of the Academic Council there in 1859. He retired in 1877.

Although he originally preferred motifs from the Old Testament, from 1850 on his paintings were more often related to the New Testament.

A street in Dresden has been named the “Peschelstrasse” in his honor.