The Bookworm

Carl Spitzweg’s The Bookworm is a gentle satire of scholarly absorption. A middle-aged man stands balanced on the top rung of a library ladder, one volume wedged under his arm and another open in his hands, his attention so complete that he seems oblivious to the beams of sunlight falling through the high window. Spitzweg’s precise, affectionate rendering of the scene made it one of the best-loved images of the Biedermeier period.