Lot 417: Julius Carl Schulz , 1808-1896 Prussian Soldiers at a Bivouac oil on canvas

signed in Latin l.l., numbered 96 l.r. oil on canvas

39.5 by 48cm., 15½ by 19in.

Unpublished manuscript in State Hermitage Museum: "List of Paintings belonging to His deceased Imperial Highness Nikolai Pavlovich", 1856 (Opis VI liter "A", delo 42-A. L.13);
Friedrich von Boetticher: Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts, Dresden: Boetticher, 1891-1901, 3. unv. Nachdr., Hofheim (Taunus): Schmidt & Günther, 1979; Bd. 1-4

Collection of Tsar Nicholas I, Alexander Palace, St Petersburg, inventory number 96
Private Collection Germany

Nicholas I married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the only daughter of Frederick III of Prussia in 1817. Prussia experienced vastly changing fortunes during the first half of the 19υth century, essentially as a result of its position vis-à-vis Russia and France. Heavy defeat against Napoleon's army in 1807 resulted in Prussia losing considerable land and forced its Royal family to flee from the capital. Later, after Russia defeated Napoleon in 1812, Prussia's position strengthened once more as it was able to break imposed political ties with France, and align itself more closely with Russia. In 1815 Prussia played a vital strategic role in the final defeat over Napoleon at Waterloo. Julius Schulz, listed in Thieme und Becker, is best known as a military painter, who exhibited at the Berlin Academy from 1824-46. The offered lot depicts an idealised contemporary tableau of Prussian soldiers bivouacking. A hint of romance between a soldier and a local peasant woman enlivens the scene and to the left stands a soldier from the first Grenadier regiment named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I. The court of Nicholas I was considerably influenced by the Russian Romantic poet and translator Vasily Zhukovsky (1783-1852). Zhukovsky brought contemporary German literature to Russia through his translations of Schiller and other Romantic poets. It was also he who recommended that Nicholas I purchase two paintings by Caspar David Friedrich which are now jewels of the collection at the State Hermitage Museum. They were bought as gifts for Empress Alexandra in 1820 during the couple's stay in Berlin following the Empress's depression in the wake of the still birth of their third child. Adding to the considerable art collection started by Catherine the Great, Nicholas I acquired the most extensive collection of German Art among the Imperial Tsars. He patronised many contemporary artists, such as the eminent Prussian military and portrait painter Franz Kruger, who was engaged for a time at the Imperial court as a portraitist. Nicholas I had a taste for military views and Prussian artists excelled at this genre. The offered lot was bought by Nicholas I and hung in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo. Most of the art and furnishings in this palace were sold in the 1930s, which is evidently when the offered lot made its way to the West.