This oil painting hung in the home of my grandparents for as long as I could remember. It is signed in the lower right as "Michael." I asked Cousin Michael of Germany (the painter) what he remembered, and it wasn't much. He and I were small boys at that time in the 1950s. He thought he might have copied it from a post card.
The painting has a special significance because Grandfather Conrad told my brother Michael that this was the bridge on which he proposed to my grandmother! I do not remember that story, but I do not remember lots of things and I have no reason to doubt it. I am not sure which bridge is being referred to: the bridge in the background, or the presumed bridge from which the painting is being made. I presume the river is the Pegnitz.
Looking for the site, I walked up and down the Pegnitz with an earlier and less legible copy, but found no potential candidates. I suspect landmarks were lost to the ravages of time and war. On showing the better copy to Cousin Michael again this year, he thought of two possible candidate locations. The first is the island in the Pegnitz containing the Trodelmarkkt. The second is Insel (Island) Schütt further to the east. On my next trip, I will shop the better copy around to the historical society and other folks.
