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This
material is mostly taken from a
Christie's Sale held July 9th 2009 in which this drawing sold for
£2,125 ($3,419).Caspar Freisinger spent much of his career working as a painter, miniaturist and etcher in and around Ingolstadt. Few of his drawings survive, but his finished paintings establish him as the foremost Bavarian artist of his time. The hermit whom Freisinger has depicted on the left-hand side of this sheet played a key role in medieval lives of Saint Christopher. Having been tempted to take service with the Devil, whom he believed to have supreme power, Christopher was reconciled to God on seeing on the Devil recoil from the hermit's crucifix. When Saint Christopher was carrying the Christ Child across the river in the dark, the hermit lit his way with a lantern, the rays of light representing not only visual illumination but also spiritual enlightenment.
Ingolstadt 80 KM north of Munich (München) in the state of Bavaria. About 60 KM north of Freising although I feel there is no connection in the names.
Ochsenhausen About 200 KM from Ingolstadt via Munich in the state of Baden-Württemberg and very close to the western edge of Bavaria. Casper was born hear and moved to Ingolstadt before he did most of his work.
| Saint Christopher and the Christ Child Sketches in black chalk (verso) pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, watermark horse and rider 11¼ x 8 in. (28.6 x 20.3 cm.), unframed |