This is the first English translation of Eduard Mörike’s Maler Nolten (1832). It is intended to further the rediscovery of a complex prose work by an author whose fame has long resided mainly in his lyric poetry and in his later artist novella Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag (Mozart’s Journey to Prague; 1854). Mörike (1804–1875) is usually located between Goethe and Rilke as a major force in the development of nineteenth-century German poetry. His Mozart novella is ranked with Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (1912) as a major contribution to the German artist story. Yet only recently have...

A bright June afternoon was shining down upon the streets of the Provincial Capital. The elderly Baron Jassfeld was once again, after some time, paying a visit to the painter Tillsen and, as his hasty steps would suggest, with some very special matter on his mind. He came upon the painter, as usual, still at table with his young wife in their small, tasteful but simple dining room, its classical decor fitting quite harmoniously with its customary appointments of everyday use and fashion. They chatted lightheartedly on a variety of topics until Tillsen’s wife withdrew to attend to various household...

Leopold was returning to the city deep in thought. He approaches the garden of the eccentric Hofrat. That man’s favorite pet, a tame starling, is sitting on the roof peak over the water pump in the shade of a weeping willow. The bird is just starting its little song as Leopold is about to pass by, and it interjects a mocking phrase apparently meant for him: “There go riding three — rascals — out through the town gate”; at the same time the powdered head of the Hofrat emerges; he entreats the sculptor to come in for a while. “I have some...