Type: Limited edition prints
Size: 48cm x 33cm / 65cm x 50cm
Tirage: 100 copies each
A pencil drawing of the “Victory - The Unification of Northern and Southern Germany“ (German : Victoria – Die Vereinigung von Nord- und Süddeutschland) painting by Anton von Werner, from the Saarbrücker Rathauszyklus (Saarbrücken town hall cycle) now in the Historisches Museum Saar.
Painted in 1879 - 1880, the painting is an allegorical representation of the unification of the southern German states with the North German Confederation. The handshake of North and South, under the blessing of Victoria with the German imperial crown. The size of the painting is 3,5m x 2,5m.
The Victoria painting served as the motif of a series of permanent postage stamps from the Reichspost with representative depictions of the German Empire. In 1897 the Victoria painting was published in the magazine Moderne Kunst in Meisterholzschnitten (11, 1897, p. 85) together with a poem entitled Germany’s Unification by Adalbert von Hanstein:
„Im Donner der Schlacht, vom Sturmwind umfacht,/Der das Reich und die Einheit geboren,/ Haben Süd und Nord mit eisernem Wort/Den Bund sich der Treue geschworen./Im Friedenslicht mild vor dem Heldenbild/Des Kaisers von hundert Jahren/Steh´n heut´sie bereit, zu erneuern den Eid/Und ewig — ewig zu wahren!“
“In the thunder of battle, fanned by the storm wind,/Who gave birth to the Empire and Unity,/South and North swore allegiance to each other with an iron word/The Alliance./In the light of peace, mild in front of the heroic image/The emperor of a hundred years/Stand ‘Today you are ready to renew the oath/And to keep it forever!’
“In the thunder of battle, fanned by the storm wind,
Who gave birth to the Empire and Unity,
South and North swore allegiance to each other with an iron word,
The Alliance.”
Adalbert von Hanstein
