The cradle of the Swiss Confederation

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The cradle of the Swiss Confederation

The cradle of the Swiss Confederation is a monumental landscape painting by Charles Giron . The oil painting on canvas adorns the hall of the National Council in the Federal Palace in Bern . It represents a landscape around Lake Uri .

description

With a width of eleven and a half meters and a height of five meters, the mural dominates the north wall of the National Council chamber. It is located behind the Council Presidium and is enclosed in a basket-shaped frame. A Swiss coat of arms is attached to the top of the frame. Giron received the commission for the painting in December 1899, and by January 1901 he had produced a design one-sixth of its final size. Finally, in March 1902, a few days before the opening of the parliament building, the painting was able to be used in the space provided.

The landscape around Lake Uri is shown . In the left foreground, under the Seelisberg rock face , you can see the Rütli , the mythological founding place of the Swiss Confederation in the canton of Uri . Above the middle is the town of Schwyz , the capital of the canton of Schwyz , behind the two mountain peaks of the Mythen . In the clouds in the golden section you can see an allegorical naked woman holding an olive branch in her hand as a symbol of peace. As a joke, Giron painted a trout on a ledge on the left, which can only be seen on closer inspection. He was alluding to April 1st, the opening date of the parliament building: in French , an April Fool's joke is called poisson d'avril (April fish).

interpretation

Due to the semicircular shape and the large rear wall, the construction of the National Council Chamber resembles a theater. In the imagination of Hans Wilhelm Auer , the architect of the Bundeshaus, the Federal Councilors to be sworn in should stand in front of the "stage set" in the figurative sense on the Rütliwiese and thus understand the Rütli oath.

After Auer had won the project competition in 1885, he originally only wanted to show the town of Schwyz, since in his opinion the Swiss Confederation was founded here in 1307. In 1891, however, the federal letter of 1291 prevailed as the new founding myth . For this reason, Giron put the Rütli on Uri territory in the foreground and moved Schwyz to the back. As a sign of reconciliation between the cantons of Uri and Schwyz, which both claimed the founding place of the Swiss Confederation, he added the figure of peace.

The view from the Seelisberg over Lake Uri to Schwyz and the Mythen has been a motif that has been known for centuries. The oldest representation dates from 1642 and can be seen in the Topographia Helvetiae, Rhaetiae et Valesiae , the first volume of the Topographia Germaniae by Matthäus Merian . Another well-known variation is a painting by Caspar Wolf from 1778. In the course of the 19th century, this panorama was popularized by numerous tourist publications. Most of these representations were made at the Hotel Sonnenberg in Seelisberg. Giron, on the other hand, chose a location to the south so that it could also depict the Rütli.

Sale of the original study

The original study for this painting, which Charles Giron gave to the then Federal President of the Swiss Confederation, Adrien Lachenal , was sold on October 2, 2013 as lot 1181 by the Geneva auction house Hôtel des Ventes HDV at an estimated price of CHF 5,000 to CHF 8,000.- sold for CHF 430,000.-. The 41 × 80 cm painting (oil on canvas), which, like the painting in the National Council Chamber, is framed in a basket-shaped frame, was always in the possession of the Lachenal family up to this point.

Web links

Commons : The cradle of the Swiss Confederation  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johannes Stückelberger: The artistic furnishings of the Federal Palace in Bern . In: Swiss National Museum (Ed.): Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History . tape 42 . Karl Schwegler AG, Zurich 1985, p. 193 .
  2. ^ A b Johannes Stückelberger: The artistic furnishings of the Federal Palace in Bern, p. 205
  3. ↑ Bundeshaus: "How robust it all is!" Observer , September 14, 2001, accessed September 5, 2010 .
  4. ^ Monica Bilfinger: The Federal Palace in Bern . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History. Swiss art guide, volume 859 . Bern 2009, ISBN 978-3-85782-859-1 , p. 48 .
  5. ↑ Johannes Stückelberger: The artistic furnishings of the Federal Palace in Bern, p. 206
  6. ↑ Hôtel des Ventes HDV, Geneva: Online auction catalog Hôtel des Ventes HDV, lot 1181. [1]

Coordinates: 46 ° 56 '47.1 "  N , 7 ° 26' 39.4"  E ; CH1903:  600429  /  199481