Rathskeller Neubau, Halle (Saale), Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, Basement Plan

Peter Joseph Weber · c. 1887

Medium

Graphite, ink, watercolor, and tempera on paper

Original size

61 × 84 cm (24 × 33 1/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Realism

This finely worked basement plan for the Rathskeller Neubau in Halle (Saale) belongs to a tradition in which architectural drawings were as much a demonstration of professional mastery as they were functional documents. Peter Joseph Weber rendered the plan in graphite, ink, watercolor, and tempera — a layered approach typical of Beaux-Arts-influenced practice in late nineteenth-century Germany. Each medium carries a specific role: graphite establishes the underlying geometry, ink defines walls and structural elements with authority, watercolor introduces tone and material suggestion, and tempera provides the precise opaque highlights that give the composition its crispness. The result reads less like a construction document and more like a work made to be seen and admired. The drawing is held in the architectural collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, which has preserved it as a significant example of the draftsmanship standards expected of civic architecture in this period. Our hand-painted oil reproduction honours the measured, layered quality of Weber's original — bringing its cool precision and subtle depth onto canvas, where it holds its own as a piece of architectural history worth living with.