Menu Close

GSV12-magclagan-pinie

The hand-coloured half-page illustration has a thin, double-lined rectangular border, in portrait orientation. It includes inset, calligraphic German text in call caps, that reads: “Hoch wuchs ich veber mensch / Und sprech ich- / Niemand spricht mit mir……… / Zu einsam wuchs ich und zu hoch / Ich warte worauf wart’ ich doch / Zu nah ist mir der wolken sitz- / ich warte auf den ersten blitz. / Friedrich Nietzsche.” Above this calligraphic text, the illustration shows a green pine tree standing on a bare white crag, overlooking white mountains. In the background, a gray cloud moves in from the right side of the frame, starting to blot out the blue sky. The poem’s title is printed in calligraphic caps in the top right corner of the illustration: “Pinie Und Blitz.” Below the framed image and text, the poem is printed in English, as follows: “The Pine Tree speaks — / High rooted above beasts and men, / I speak: none answers me again. / Too lonely and too proud my state: / I wait: what is that I wait? / Too near me hangs the cloudy vault: / I wait the lightning’s first assault.” The artist’s monogram is in the bottom left corner of the illustration.