Museum storeroom

Born in 1891, Hans Achenbach was a painter, draughtsman, graphic artist and illustrator. After studying at the Royal Prussian Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, the Wuppertal School of Arts and Crafts and the Academy in Munich, Achenbach settled in Siegen as a freelance artist in 1920. Among other achievements, he drew for the magazine ‘Siegerland’ and the ‘Siegerländer Heimatkalender’. The Upper Castle was also of interest to him, as shown by this pen-and-ink drawing of a room with collection items not on display. We see a shelf on which are stored leather book spines and objects rather carelessly stacked. A cloth with a coat of arms hangs to the left, while a framed picture leans on the floor to the right. Two small tables are partially visible in the foreground. The drawing is captioned: ‘In the middle a painting after P. P. Rubens, in front left on folios the broken tail of an old church tower cockerel.’ The painting after Peter Paul Rubens in question is presumably a copy of the work ‘The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus’ by Arthur Terstegen (1882 - 1815), which was accepted into the Siegerlandmuseum collection in 1920.