Murals of the Kaisersaal in Goslar
The murals of the Kaisersaal in Goslar are a cycle of wall paintings in the Kaisersaal of the Kaiserpfalz in Goslar . The 68 oil paintings , some of them large , were painted by Hermann Wislicenus between 1877 and 1897 . His student Franz Weinack assisted him . The paintings follow a well thought-out image program that depicts the history of the Goslar Palatinate within the continuity of a Christian German Empire from Charlemagne to the Roman-German Emperors to Wilhelm I and the German Empire founded in 1871 from a Prussian - Protestant perspective.
prehistory
With the establishment of the Small German Empire under Prussia's leadership in 1871, the search for identity-creating symbols for the young nation-state and its ruling house began. It combined with the aftermath of romantic medieval veneration . The Goslarer Kaiserpfalz, which has been restored after centuries of decline since 1868, aroused nationwide interest. The Kaiser visited it in 1875, and in the same year the Landdrostei Hildesheim developed plans for the historical painting of the Kaisersaal and submitted them to the art fund of the Prussian Ministry of Culture, which took over the financing.
The designs by Hermann Wislicenus, professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy , were victorious in the competition. His at the same time sensual-concrete and symbolic-idealizing presentation of the scenes and his style based on the Nazarenes were considered exemplary. However, there were public discussions about the selection and weighting of the historical episodes, especially those in which the empire appeared inferior. Wislicenus' aesthetics left the general development of art behind during the two decades of his work at the Kaisersaal.
Imperial Hall
The hall encompasses almost the entire first floor of the two-storey palace building stretching from north-northwest to south-southeast. It is 47 m long and 16 m wide and divided by wooden pillars into a central yoke with a wooden transverse barrel vault and three side yokes with a flat beam ceiling. The east wall contains 18 arched windows , the central gable to the former collegiate church of St. Simon and Jude has another six. During the painting, a large central picture on the west wall of the Mitteljoch and several levels of large and small narrative pictures on the other western wall surfaces and the narrow north and south sides suggested themselves.
photos
The picture cycle consists of ten large historical paintings in a symmetrical arrangement around the monumental main picture - two each on the south and north wall, three each on the south and north half of the west wall - and, alternating with the large pictures on the west wall, eight smaller pictures. Under each large picture there are two small grisailles with thematically related scenes. The free areas above and below the smaller pictures are filled with further scenes in faience style and with ornamentation.
Central image
According to the original plan, the central image should show the imperial proclamation in Versailles . Wislicenus decided against initial public opposition, however, for a symbolic composition: Wilhelm I on horseback with an ensemble of people from the present and history who support and elevate his empire.
The painting is conceived as a triptych in the style of an altarpiece . The side fields are separated from the main picture by painted pillars with crowning round arches . The area above and below the vault is also painted.
Like the entire hall, the central picture is designed according to the principle of symmetry . The focus is on Kaiser Wilhelm, who rides towards the viewer on a black horse . His white-bearded head with the pimple hood protrudes above the other living people into the "heavenly" area.
In the central axis under the horse's hooves is the coat of arms of the imperial eagle , flanked by the personifications of the Rhine and history . Underneath, a niche is left out for the back of a throne chair, which stood on a - no longer existing - stone platform in front of the triptych and was intended for the emperor's ceremonial visits.
In the sky above the portrait of the emperor, people from the past are depicted in shadow. In the central axis above Wilhelm his mother Queen Luise hovers and holds a crown over him; it also represents the - now fulfilled - hope of the Wars of Liberation . It is flanked by emperors of the Holy Roman Empire , on the right Friedrich Barbarossa , highlighted by the color and movement of the garment, who points to Wilhelm with his finger. The axis of symmetry continues above the triptych in the large imperial coat of arms, which is carried by two Victorias with laurel wreaths , surrounded by other imperial figures.
Behind Kaiser Wilhelm rides on a bay horse his son, the heir to the throne Friedrich , whose head, at Wilhelm's shoulder height, also towers over the others. Black, white and red flags are waving on both sides of them .
In the central part of the triptych also are left Otto von Bismarck with hammer and column base as a builder of the new empire and Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder displayed, right two young women as personifications of 1871 annexed kingdom of Lands Alsace-Lorraine with models of the Dome of Strasbourg and Metz in Hands as well as Prince Friedrich Karl , emperor's nephew and celebrated military leader in the Franco-German War .
The outer wings of the picture show the German princes on the left, of whom Ludwig II of Bavaria symbolically hands the crown as monarch of the largest country after Prussia in the empire Wilhelm, on the right the emperor's grandson Wilhelm as a boy next to his mother Victoria and his grandmother Augusta , who is the emperor pay homage with palm branches , followed by other princes and soldiers.
South wall
| east | west |
|---|---|
 Sleeping Beauty is born - symbol for the long “sleep” and the awakening of the German Empire; below grisaille: Sleeping Beauty's baptism; the Sleeping Beauty cycle continues above the windows of the east wall. |
 Charlemagne destroys the Irmin column (772); below grisaille: Charlemagne receives a Moorish embassy at the Paderborn Reichstag (777); Baptism of Widukind (785) |
South west wall
| I. | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Founding of the Villa regalis in Goslar by Heinrich II. (1017) |
 Emperor Henry II's coronation in Rome (1014); including grisaille: coronation of Henry II as King of Italy in Pavia (1004); Election of Konrad II in Kamba (1024) |
 Benno directs the construction of the imperial house in Goslar under Heinrich III. (around 1050) |
 Return of Henry III. from Italy (1047); including grisaille: Heinrich III. at the Synod of Sutri (1046); Death of Henry III. in the Jagdpfalz Bodfeld (1056) |
 The princes pay homage to the six-week-old Heinrich IV in the Palatinate Pöhlde (Christmas 1050) |
 Heinrich IV. Proclaims the peace in Mainz (1103); including grisaille: Henry IV before Gregory VII in Canossa (1077); Heinrich IV. Captured in Böckelheim (1105) |
 Heinrich V is struck by lightning in Goslar (1107) |
North west wall
| VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Conrad III. denies Heinrich the Proud Bavaria (1138) |
 Barbarossa's footfall before Henry the Lion in Chiavenna (1176); including grisaille: Barbarossa at the court in Besançon (1157); Heinrich the Lion submits to Barbarossa in Erfurt (1181) |
 Before the crusade , Barbarossa gave his son Henry VI. the government of the empire (1189) |
 Barbarossa's victory at Iconium (1190); including grisaille: Barbarossa meets his son Friedrich after the battle of Iconium (1190); Death of Barbarossa on the Crusade (1190) |
 Heinrich the Long hands over the imperial insignia to Friedrich II (1219) |
 Frederick II held court in Palermo ; including grisaille: Heinrich VI. condemns the leaders of his opponents in Palermo (1185); Beheading of Conradin in Naples (1268) |
 An old man tells the youth of the great times of the imperial palace (ruins and granaries since 1289) |
North face
| west | east |
|---|---|
 Martin Luther at the Diet in Worms (1521); including grisaille: Last Supper of the Princes of the Schmalkaldic League with Luther and Melanchthon (1537); Charles V fleeing from Moritz of Saxony ( prince uprising 1552) |
_gro%C3%9F.jpg) Barbarossa wakes up and looks at Kaiser Wilhelm - the ravens disappear; including grisaille: On Queen Luise's deathbed (1810); above the door: Kaiser Wilhelm visits the Palatinate in Goslar (1875) |
literature
- Wislicenus. Wall painting in the Kaiserhaus Goslar a / Harz , picture booklet, Verlag Julius Brumby Goslar, undated (around 1910)
- Günter Schäfer-Hartmann: The Goslar Imperial Palatinate and its iconographic program. In: ders .: History of literature as true history. Frankfurt / Main et al .: Peter Lang 2009, pp. 229–243.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The painting technique of wall paintings (baufachinformation.de)
- ↑ a b c baufachinformation.de
- ↑ Minister of Education v. Goßler in the Berlin House of Representatives , February 11, 1884
- ↑ a b Röhlig ( Memento from March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ "Conference hotel" of crowned heads ( memento from March 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , accessed on January 31, 2013
- ↑ Legend of the lightning strike
Web links
- The wall paintings by Wislicenus (baufachinformation.de)
- Alexander Röhlig: Enlivening the nation with historical images: Via the Kaiserpfalz zu Goslar (blauarzisse.de)
- Image documentation of the grisaille (Raymond Faure)