Highlights

Description

Canopy beds were a customary bridal accessory in rural areas in the 18th and 19th centuries. The ornamental painting on this bed is a reference to this occasion. The side boards show different scenes of a merry wedding celebration, and the footboard depicts the Virgin Mary visiting her pregnant cousin Elisabeth. The painting on the bed was signed "Johann Nepomuc Pichler painter of Schliersee". The latter originally came from Thiersee in the judicial district of Kufstein, Tyrol. Although he was a trained painter, his work on the bed appears rather clumsy. It is therefore not surprising that he entered the Tegernsee monastery as a lay brother in 1797. There he was probably responsible for whitewashing work.