A Quiet Presence in Nineteenth-Century Germany The mid-1830s in Germany find Wilhelm Schumann active, a painter navigating the specific demands of portraiture and genre scenes. His work captures a particular stillness, a moment frozen in the domestic sphere. In 1838, he produced The sleeping knitter, a work that resides within the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. This piece, also known by its German title Die eingeschlafene St…