Prussian Salon - Expo Paris 1855
We were naturally led to the door of the salon reserved for Prussia, and we saw in the centre of the room the equestrian group of St. George, executed by M. Riss, of Pless, in colossal proportions.
The Prussian exhibition was remarkable for the cartoons of Mr. Cornelius, one of the artistic illustrations of that country, some large canvases, and portraits of contemporary celebrities.
We started our walk from the right.
We first encountered Hunting Dogs (1763), by Mr. Krüger, of Dessau. Mr. Krüger was one of the most skilful animal painters in Germany. Nearby we noticed a small painting executed with great feeling and revealing a philosophical thought; it was entitled: The Right to Hunt (1739), by Mr. Hübner of Kœnigsberg. A poacher wounded by a gamekeeper returns to his hut supported by his son.
The Worker enjoying himself (1735), by Mr. Hosemann, Berlin; The Reluctant Embarkation (1759), by Mr. Kretzschmer, Anklam; The Father's Blessing (1793), by Mr. Boder, Berlin; The Soldiers lodging in a convent (1813), by Mr. Steffeck, Berlin, were rather interesting genre paintings.
The Last Supper (1780), by Mr. Ch. Müller, of Darmstadt, was a fine composition. A View of Lausanne and Lake Leman (1724), by Mr. Hengsbach, of Werl; the Interior of a Stable (1762), by Mr. Krüger; Winter (1731), by Mr. Hildebrandt, of Dantzick; the Brunswick Peasants Going to Church (1776), by Mr. Meyerheim, of Dantzick, were also appreciated by the visitors.
M. Eybel, of Berlin, a pupil of M. Delaroche, had exhibited a large canvas which reveals serious qualities. It represented Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, at the battle of Fehrbellin, won over the Swedes in 1676; this painting belonged to the King of Prussia.
Mr. Magnus, of Berlin, had painted the portrait of Countess Rossi-Sontag, the famous singer (1769), that of the music composer Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1771), and that of Mrs. Jenny Lind (1770), who had been illustrated by the triumphs which her musical talent had brought her in the United States. Mr Krüger exhibited the portrait of the great admiral Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1761).
Mr. Rosenfelder, of Berlin, had painted, by order of the King of Prussia, a large canvas (1796): Joachim II, at table with German princes, accompanied by the Duke of Alba in Halle, after the battle of Muhlberg, in 1547, protests against the arrest of the Landgrave of Hesse, by drawing the sword against the Duke of Alba; the latter shows the order of the Emperor.
M. Achenbach, of Cassel, a pupil of the Düsseldorf school, had exhibited a Kermesse in Holland, in the moonlight (1687), of a rather happy effect.
A painter who enjoyed an immense reputation in Berlin, and who shared with M. Cornelius the admiration of the Germans, M. Kaulback, had executed on a strip painted in grisaille the cartoons of a fresco placed in the new Berlin museum.
The Dogs in the Anteroom (1811), by Mr. Steffeck, and the Hunting Dogs (1764), by Mr. Krüger, were noticed.
The Death of Abel, by the late Begas, of Heinsberg, was due to the brush of one of Gros' best pupils. This painting belonged to the King of Prussia.
M. Achenbach exhibited a Stormy Sea on the Coast of Sicily (1686), of a beautiful effect; M. Menzel, of Breslau, painted Frederick the Great at Sans-Souci (1772). We must also mention a High Tide at Ostend, by M. Achenbach (1684); a View of the Castle of Genoa taken from the side of the Alps (1743), by M. Kalckreuth, of Cosmin, and belonging to the King of Prussia; and a Turkish Taster (1723), by M. Guterbock, pupil of M. Couture.
The works of. M. Pierre Cornelius, of Berlin, deserved a detailed explanation. Mr. Cornelius had been preceded at the exhibition by a colossal reputation; it was therefore necessary that the motifs of these cartoons be well known. These cartoons had been made for the frescoes of the porticoes of the Royal Cemetery (Campo-Santo), under construction next to the Duomo, in Berlin.
I. 1° Lunette. The seven angels (Apocal., c. xvt) pouring the vials of God's wrath on the earth and the waters, on the sea, on the sun and in the air.
2° Table. Destruction of the human race by the sending of the four horsemen (Rev., c. vi), Plague, Famine, War, Death.
3° Prèdelle. Works of Christian charity: visiting prisons, consoling the afflicted, showing the way to the lost.
4° Lunette. Satan is thrown down by the angel who holds the key to the abyss and the chain to bind the wicked (Apocal., c. xx); another angel shows the apostle the new Jerusalem.
5° Picture. The new Jerusalem descends, carried by twelve angels, like a bride adorned for her husband (Rev., xxi).
6° Prèdelle. Works of Christian charity: giving food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty.
7° One of the figures placed between the large paintings representing the eight beatitudes of the preaching, on the mountain: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.
8° Engraved sketches of the whole composition, which represents the general destinies of the human race, according to the holy books of the Christian Church.
© Guide dans le Palais de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts 1855