Focus on this artwork and explore the History.
In the summer of 1870, Menzel was on vacation in Switzerland, which he cut short after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. According to tradition, he was sitting in a restaurant on the first floor of the Linden in Berlin on July 31, 1870 and was thus able to witness the king's departure for the army. Menzel wrote that he did the painting with his left hand, as for example those from his series about Frederick II. Significantly, Menzel, originally left-handed, had learned the ability to work equally well with both hands. For reasons of lighting in the composition, he chose the right hand for the preliminary drawing and the left hand for the painterly part. Max Jordan assumed the painter's position to be on the south side of the Linden near the Russian Embassy, not far from the Brandenburg Gate. But the neo-baroque facades on the right do not match. This then-modern type of ornate architecture was under construction on Friedrichstrasse. At that time, a late-classical style prevailed on Unter den Linden. Elsewhere it is said that Menzel reported that “on July 31, 1870 he was on his way to the hairdresser’s when he suddenly saw the king’s carriage on Unter den Linden. The farewell waves and various shouts would have made it clear to him that Wilhelm was about to leave the capital in order to travel to the troops marching up on the Rhine."Menzel made several sketches for this painting, which are in various museums. The title of the painting was initially Unter den Linden in Berlin in the afternoon of July 31, 1870 or The Linden in Berlin in the afternoon of July 31, 1870, which was used in the first exhibitions; later this title was dropped.
Franco-Prussian War Frederick II Berlin Brandenburg Gate Unter den Linden