Aus den Weinbergen von Wörth

War was declared between France and Prussia in the early summer of 1870. Fierce fighting broke out in the Alsace, the major battle taking place at Wörth on August 6 in which the French under Count MacMahon, were defeated. The artist of the present lot, who had participated in the Franco-Prussian war himself, painted this tragic and romantic scene in 1872 which he called 'In the vineyards of Wörth'. He depicted a scene of human tragedy with a keen eye for detail, in which a dying Prussian soldier hands over his water-bottle to a wounded 'Turco', a North African soldier fighting for the French enemy. In the bitter scene played out by these silent witnesses, the helmet in the dramatic light of the background, and the red bèret in the foreground, add to the striking vividness of the scene. The painting was very well received and when it was exhibited in Vienna in 1873, the art critic E. Pecht described it as outstanding and praised it for its uniqueness and sense of morality.

See illustration