Amethyst Deceiver With Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs are insectivores. Even when it looks as though they’re feasting on fruit or mushrooms, they’re actually searching for tasty maggots they hope to find there. Fritz often painted hedgehogs against the backdrop of a forest floor. The mushrooms in the foreground and the partly withered foliage in the background suggest that the painting was created in early autumn. The white frame, painted directly onto the picture, makes the hedgehogs and mushrooms appear as if set within a medallion—a stylistic device that Fritz liked to use for small objects in small paintings.