Madonna and Child

Alexander Schramm is considered one of the foremost painters of the colonial period in Adelaide. Born and trained in Berlin, Schramm immigrated to Australia in 1849, arriving aboard the Prinzessin Luise with a cohort of German intellectuals, all of whom contributed to South Australia’s large and creative German community.

During the fifteen years he lived and worked in Adelaide before his untimely death aged only fifty, Schramm’s output was prolific, with much of his work depicting the landscape of the Adelaide Plains and the region’s First Peoples – the Kaurna people. Religious subjects such as Madonna and Child are extremely rare in early South Australian art. This is the only known religious painting by Schramm and may have been a commission for a religious institution. Madonna and Child is presented as a Pièta, foretelling the death of Christ, and the delicate translucent cloth she holds is evocative of a death shroud rather than a more traditional swaddling cloth. Before arriving in Australia, Schramm studied art in Italy and the influence of the great Renaissance painters, such as Raphael, is undeniable in this work.

Tansy Curtin, Curator, International Art pre–1980