Lot 2145 D α

The present painting is Anton von Werner's own design for a mural that the artist created for the assembly hall of the Kiel College of Scholars that was destroyed during the Second World War. In addition to this large-format design in oils, two small sketches in watercolour and pencil still exist today (in a sketchbook created in Rome in 1869, in private ownership and in the Schleswig-Holstein State Museum) as well as several figure and costume studies (in private ownership and in the Kunsthalle Kiel and the Schleswig-Holstein State Museum). The present monogrammed design, dated 1870, is thus probably the most important testimony to the war-damaged Kiel mural by the history painter Anton von Werner. A smaller version of the overall composition, now in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, was only created seven years later as a replica after the mural (exhib. cat. ‘Anton von Werner’, op. cit., p. 238, no. 244).
Anton von Werner received the commission for this mural from the Prussian state in 1869 when he was in Rome. As a counterpart to this mural, which was intended for the south wall of the assembly hall in the Kiel College of Scholars, he also designed a depiction of ‘The National Uprising of 1913’ for the north wall, which was also destroyed in the Second World War. A painted design also still exists for this mural, which thus forms the counterpart to the work offered here and is now kept in the Kunsthalle Kiel (inv. no. 736).
Anton von Werner executed the two monumental murals in Kiel (each measuring 3.5 x 7 metres), which have semi-circular upper borders, from July to September 1870. The artist also designed the ornamental framing, which can already be seen on the present design and which contains the famous quote by Luther ‘Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me, Amen!’. Anton von Werner has here depicted one of the most important and momentous events of the Reformation. Following the Pope's ban on Luther, Emperor Charles V invited the reformer to the Imperial Diet in Worms in 1521, promising him free passage. In front of the assembled imperial estates, Luther resisted the call to renounce his teachings, citing the Bible and his conscience. In this densely populated depiction of the historical event, Anton von Werner focuses on the confrontation between the fiercely gesticulating Luther and the emperor, who is seated in an elevated position beneath a canopy, surrounded by his advisors. The numerous other historical figures are described in detail in the exhib. cat. ‘Anton von Werner’, op. cit., p. 238.
The two Kiel murals and the present design were created just a few months before the proclamation of Wilhelm I on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace, which Anton von Werner captured in some of his most famous and iconic history paintings.