The Black Brunswicker

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The Black Brunswicker (John Everett Millais)
The Black Brunswicker
John Everett Millais , 1860
Oil on canvas
104 × 68.5 cm
Lady Lever Art Gallery

The Black Brunswicker ("Der Schwarze Braunschweiger"), originally The Black Brunswickers , is the title of a painting by the British painter John Everett Millais from 1860. In the lower left corner it is signed and dated "18M60".

John Everett Millais

Millais, one of the co-founders of the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Artists in 1848 , was already a well-known painter at the time the painting was made. His picture The Black Brunswicker is considered an important work of his career. Originally, the plural form The Black Brunswickers should be used as the title , whereby Millais' intention was to let the one represented soldier stand for all "Black Brunswickers", but the title in the singular soon caught on and Millais left it at that.

theme

Millais had already dealt with the subject of “tragic love” or “female love opposes male sense of duty” in 1852 in his also very successful painting A Huguenot on St Bartholomew's day ( A Huguenot on St. Bartholomew's Day ). 1859/60 - 45 years after the depicted events - Millais composed his painting as a farewell scene between two lovers on the eve of a battle. What both images have in common is a certain gloom in view of the possible imminent death. In this respect, the picture varies in a bourgeois form the scene between Venus and Adonis, which is extremely widespread in art and literary history .

In the years between the two works, Millais had turned to other, sometimes religious, topics and larger formats, but these neither met the public's taste, nor were they approved by the critics. Sales were correspondingly sluggish. To build on his earlier successes, Millais felt compelled to create a counterpart to Ein Huguenot ... in the pre-Raphaelite style. Millais had planned to make the new painting as similar as possible to the very successful Huguenot picture, but very soon decided to drop this idea as it was too obviously a mere copy. As a result, he created an independent new work.

Emergence

Millais felt inspired by events that were 45 years ago when the painting was created, but still had an effect, namely the wars of liberation against Napoléon Bonaparte's troops . In particular, he felt influenced by the heroic deeds of the “Black Brunswick”, also known in Great Britain.

In a letter dated November 18, 1859 to his wife, Effie Gray , Millais wrote:

"My subject appears to me, too, most fortunate, and Russell thinks it first-rate. It is connected to the Brunswick Cavalry at Waterloo. 'Brunswickers' they were called, and were composed of the best gentlemen in Germany. They wore a black uniform with death's head and cross-bones, and gave and received no quarter. They were nearly annihilated, but performed prodigies of value. It is with respect to their having worn crape on their arms in token of mourning that I require some information; and as it will be a perfect pendant to 'The Huguenot', I intend making the sweetheart of a young soldier sewing it around his arm, and vainly supplicating him to keep from the bugle-call to arms. I have it all in my mind's aye, and feel confident that it will be a prodigious success. The costume and incident are so powerful that I am astonished it has never been touched upon before, Russell was quite struck with it, and he is the best man for knowing the public taste. Nothing could be kinder than his interest, and he is to set about getting all the information that is required. "

“My subject seems to me also very well chosen, and Russell ( war correspondent for the Times ) thinks it is first class. It's about the Brunswick cavalry near Waterloo . They were called ' the Braunschweiger ' and were recruited from the best gentlemen in Germany. They wore black uniforms with skulls and crossbones and neither gave nor took pardons . Their unity was almost wiped out, but they performed miracles of heroism. Because they wore black ribbon on their sleeves, I need more information. Since it will be a perfect counterpart to 'The Huguenot', I intend that the young soldier's lover will sew it on his sleeve, begging him in vain not to answer the call to arms. I have it right in front of my eyes and I am confident that it will be a great success. Clothing and event are so powerful that I am amazed that no one has taken on them so far. Russel was pretty impressed by it, and he knows the public's taste best. Nothing can be more pleasant than his interest, and he wants to set about gathering all the information necessary for it. "

Image description

Bonaparte crossing the Alps on the Great Saint Bernard from 1801

The oil portrait painted in the Chiaroscuro technique was created over a period of three months and attracted considerable attention in its time. It depicts a scene that takes place in a room between two people: a young man in a black uniform and a young woman in a striking, shiny silver ball gown made of satin .

The man giving the painting its title is clearly recognizable as a "Schwarzer Braunschweiger", a member of the Braunschweigian Life Battalion , due to his hussar uniform with dolman , saber, typical blue collar and blue cuffs as well as the skull on the shako . This battalion emerged from the Black Squad , a German Freikorps set up on April 1, 1809 by Duke Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Oels , the "Black Duke", which fought across Europe until Napoleon's final defeat in the summer of 1815.

Both people fill most of the picture, with one exception in dark colors. The background is a dark green fabric wallpaper decorated with floral ornaments. The portrait of a rider can be seen cut off on the wall on the left. It is an engraving that was made after the painting Bonaparte Crossing the Alps on the Great Saint Bernard from 1801 by the French painter Jacques-Louis David . The scene takes place under Napoleon's eyes, as it were: Sitting on a rising gray horse, Napoleon looks straight in the direction of the couple - a detail that Millais' contemporaries tried to decipher and interpret.

Kate Perugini, daughter of Charles Dickens, the model for the Woman in Ball Gown (painted by her husband Charles Edward Perugini )

The soldier, dressed almost entirely in black, contrasts very strongly with the woman dressed in shiny silvery satin, who wears a large, red bow on each upper arm. Her upper body is inclined slightly in the direction of the man, with her left hand on his chest she seems to be pressing against him and thus standing in the way, while with her right she tries to close the door, which has already been opened by the soldier, in order to hold him to prevent them from going to war and thus to their possible death. The man, on the other hand, stands with his torso slightly tilted back and looks serious and determined down at the woman, while he holds his shako with his right hand and tries with his left to open the door behind the woman's back or to keep it open. On the left in the foreground a small, dark dog with a red ribbon around its neck looks like a man and looks up begging at both of them, while the woman looks down at him and finds confirmation of hers in his behavior. In the pictures of Venus and Adonis, too, there is always at least one dog because Adonis sets out to hunt.

In fact, the two people who were models for the portrayed never met, because taking into account the prudish and moral standards of the Victorian era , Millais painted them in individual sessions: Charles Dickens ' 21-year-old daughter Kate was the model for the woman , a soldier of the Life Guards for the hussar . In the absence of the other person, the two models each had to lean on life-size wooden dolls in order to achieve a realistic impression.

Historical background and interpretation

Henry Nelson O'Neil's painting Before-Waterloo is said to depict the Duchess of Richmond's ball on June 15, 1815

Millais' paintings are based on historical events from the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon; in this case the battles at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo , which took place on July 16 and 18, 1815, respectively, between Allied troops (including the Braunschweigian body battalion) under the Duke of Wellington and Napoleonic units under Marshal Ney south of Brussels and Napoleon's final defeat sealed.

The “Black Braunschweiger”, standing in the left half of the picture and about to leave the room through the door on the right, obviously cannot carry out his intention - at least initially - because a young woman is in his way represents. The young woman is wearing a very strikingly shiny ball gown. The scene obviously alludes to a real historical event: the Duchess of Richmond's ball , which took place on June 15, 1815, the eve of the Battle of Quatre-Bras in Brussels . The Duke of Wellington, Commander-in-Chief of the Allies, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel-Oels from Brunswick were present at this ball. The ball ended abruptly when news arrived that Napoleon's troops were moving towards Brussels, which took Wellington by surprise. He and many of the officers present, including the Braunschweiger, therefore immediately set out to march on Napoleon to tell him not to take Brussels. In the film Waterloo , fictional scenes of the ball are shown.

A statement by a son of Millais' also supports the assumption that the scene depicts the farewell of the “Black Brunswick” on the eve of the battle of Quatre-Bras, in which many Brunswick soldiers, including the “Black Duke”, died. The battle ended with a tactical retreat of the Allies and thus a strategic victory for Napoleon, which Napoleon did not take advantage of. Two days later he was finally defeated by the Allies at Waterloo.

reception

The painting impressed in 1860 and in later years due to its patriotic claim on the one hand and the sentimentality of the scene on the other. The gloom of the scene and the fate or the oppressive atmosphere are contrasted by the enormous luminosity of the satin dress, which, due to the technical sophistication of the painter, appears almost three-dimensional in the artistic execution. Even the little dog, which makes a manikin at the feet of its master and also - like the woman - wears a red bow, reinforces the sentimental character of the work, because it too seems to ask that the soldier stay.

Shortly after its completion was The Black Brunswicker - still under the title The Black Brunswickers in May in an exhibition at the London Royal Academy of Arts shown and caused quite a stir among the public. Ernest Gambart , one of the dominant art dealers of the Victorian era, immediately bought it for 1,000 guineas , the highest price Millais had ever achieved for any of his works. In 1898 William Hesketh Lever , 1st Lord Leverhulme, bought the painting for his art collection, the Lady Lever Art Gallery , where it is still today.

Studies and copies

Some of Millais' studies on The Black Brunswicker still exist today , for example in the Tate Gallery of British Art in London :

  • Drawing on paper, 200 × 106 mm
  • Drawing on paper, 199 × 117 mm
  • Drawing on paper, 86 × 64 mm

Two more are on the front and back of a sheet now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford :

  • Drawing on paper with black ink and chalk, 32 × 20 cm

More can be found in the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

In addition, Millais made some watercolor and oil copies, e.g. T. are still preserved today. Other artists also made copies using various techniques.

literature

  • Paul Barlow: Time present and time past. The Art of John Everett Millais , in: British Art and Visual Culture Since 1750, New Readings , Ashgate Publishing 2005, ISBN 0-7546-3297-0 .
  • Mary Bennett: Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle: The First Generation , Catalog of Works at the Walker Art Gallery , Lady Lever Gallery and Sudley Art Gallery, National Museums and Galleries, Merseyside 1988, ISBN 0-85331-539-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d George Walter: The May exhibition; a guide to pictures in the Royal Academy , p. 9.
  2. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Millais' signature with date ).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nationalmuseum.se
  3. ↑ a b c d e Lady Lever Art Gallery, Artwork of the Month - July 2004: The Black Brunswicker
  4. ^ Study on The Black Brunswicker
  5. ^ Mary Bennett: Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle: The First Generation , 144.
  6. ^ Paul Barlow: Time present and time past. The Art of John Everett Millais , p. 55.
  7. ^ A b c d Mary Bennett: Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle: The First Generation , p. 146.
  8. ^ The Royal Academy and Other Exhibitions , in: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine , 88.537, July 1860, p. 79 (in English)
  9. ↑ JG Millais: The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais , Volume 1, p. 353 f.
  10. ^ Mary Bennett: Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle: The First Generation. P. 145.
  11. ↑ List of invited guests (in English)
  12. ↑ Doomed and Decorated: Millais's Lovers and their Surroundings in The Black Brunswicker (in English)
  13. ^ A b Mary Bennett: Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle: The First Generation , p. 147.
  14. ↑ Tate Britain 1
  15. ↑ Tate Britain 2
  16. ↑ Tate Britain 3
  17. ^ Recto Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
  18. ↑ Verso Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
  19. ^ JG Millais: The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais , Volume 1, p. 495.

Web links