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Description
‘Portrait of a Solder’
Biography: Arthur Kampf
Preliminary sketch for ‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen’ (lost).
Created around 1895.
With sticker on the backside of ‘Goldfield Galleries, Los Angeles’.
This painting is a preliminary sketch for the famous painting ‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen’, which Arthur Kampf created in 1896.
‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen’ has been in the possession of the ‘Schlesisches Museum für bildende Künste’ in Breslau (Wroclaw, Poland), but is missing since 1922. The work was displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunst-Ausstellung’ in 1897.
Left: Arthur Kampf, ‘Mit Mann und Ross und wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen‘, 1896. Depicted is an original litho (kunstdrück).
Right and below: detail of ‘Mitt Mann und Ross und wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen‘.
Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen depicts the defeated French soldiers coming back (to Germany) from Russia in 1812. The soldiers are exhausted, dirty, hungry and diseased as can be seen quite well on the face of ‘Portrait of a Soldier’. The French troops were completely crushed in Russia in 1812. Six years earlier, Napoleon, the Emperor of France since 1804, defeated the German army at Jena and Auerstedt. After the defeat in Russia in 1812, it took another year before Germany was liberated from the French. In the Battle of Leipzig, October 1813, the foundation was created for the German Empire of 1871.
Arthur Kampf created similar preliminary sketches for other historical works, like: ‘Volksopfer’ (1894), ‘Ansprache Friedrichs des Grossen an seine Generale in Köbne’ (1893), ‘Der Choral von Leuthen’ (1887) and ‘Aachener Bürger bitten general Jourdan um Schonung der Stadt’ (1905). Some of these sketches are depicted in the book ‘Arthur Kampf’, Veldhagen & Klasing 1944.
‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen’ displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunst-Ausstellung’ in 1897. Depicted in the exhibition catalog.
‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen‘ are also the first words of a German folksong from 1813.
The slogan ‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen hat sie der Herr geschlagen’ was later used by the Nazis when they invaded Poland. On top of this filmposter ‘Invasion of Poland’: ‘Mit Mann und Ross und Wagen, so hat sie Gott geschlagen!..’
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 56 x 46 cm, unframed 40 x 30 cm |
| – signed | : left under |
| – type | : oil on canvas. created 1895 |
| – misc. I | : on backside: ‘Goldfield Galleries, Los Angeles’ |
| – misc. II | : professional cleaned and reframed |
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