Painter: Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871), Austrian painter of the late Romantic period.

Description: According to some stories, the Sängerkrieg (“contest of the minstrels”) was a singing competition between six poets: Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Walther von der Vogelweide, Biterolf, Reinmar von Zweter, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and Heinrich Schreiber. They performed before the Count and Countess of Thuringia.

Painter: Phillip Otto Runge (1777–1810), German painter of the early Romantic period.

Description: This painting reflects the Romantic spirit inspired by Ofterdingen. The central radiant woman recalls Mathilde, the divine figure. Around her, angelic children and plants seem to transform into one another, showing the unity of nature and spirit. At the center, Runge’s use of blue echoes Novalis’s symbol of the “blue flower."