Gottfried Wilhelm Völcker, Flower Still Life with a Bird´s Nest Signed and dated lower right: Voelker 1806 Samuel Wittwer confirms that Gottfried Wilhelm Völcker led an “artistic double life”. He worked as a flower painter for KPM, becoming head of the manufactory's flower painting department in 1802 (ill. 1). However, from the beginning of his career he also considered himself an independent artist, a fact to which his oil paintings and participation in exhibitions at the Berlin academy testify. It is said that he dedicated so much of his artistic efforts to oil painting that he sometimes neglected his duties as a porcelain painter. Oil on canvas (relined) 74 x 57.5 cm German private collection.