Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/max-liebermann-1509" aria-label="More by Max Liebermann" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Max Liebermann</a>
Memorial Service Emperor Frederick at Kösen
Purchased 1931
adults
birth to death
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
crowd
figure
flag - non-specific
forest
Germany
groups
history
Kösen
landscape
memorial
natural features (non-UK)
objects
people
places
politics and society
religious and ceremonial
royalty: Kaiser Friedrich III, memorial service, 1888
society
Thuringian Forest
<p>This is the earliest oil by Liebermann in the Tate collection. It depicts the memorial service of Kaiser Friedrich III, who died on 15 June 1888 only three months after ascending to the throne. Liebermann was in Kösen in the Thuringian Forest between spring and late summer of that year. He made and later exhibited several oils of the same subject, one of which was destroyed in 1945. This painting was inspired by the well-known painting 'Mission Service in the Beech Wood at Kösen' painted 20 years earlier by Adolf Menzel. Both the subject and the general composition is similar to Menzel's painting of 1868.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 March 1997
5 March 1997
1997-03-05
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
1997-03-05
Long Loan to the National Gallery
Loan-out
21 April 2011 – 19 February 2012
2012-02-19
21 April 2011 – 18 September 2011
2011-09-18
2011-04-21
Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Bonn, Germany)
http://www.kah-bonn.de/
14 October 2011 – 19 February 2012
2012-02-19
2011-10-14
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de
2011-04-21
Max Liebermann and Modern Art
Loan-out
1 May 2025 – 1 May 2026
2026-05-01
1 May 2025 – 1 May 2026
2026-05-01
2025-05-01
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
2025-05-01
National Gallery Bicentenary
Loan-out
Memorial Service for Emperor Frederick at Kösen
frame: 1150 × 860 × 110 mm
support: 930 × 641 mm
Purchased 1931
<p>This is the earliest oil by Liebermann in the Tate collection. It depicts the memorial service of Kaiser Friedrich III, who died on 15 June 1888 only three months after ascending to the throne. Liebermann was in Kösen in the Thuringian Forest between spring and late summer of that year. He made and later exhibited several oils of the same subject, one of which was destroyed in 1945. This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> was inspired by the well-known painting 'Mission Service in the Beech Wood at Kösen' painted 20 years earlier by Adolf Menzel. Both the subject and the general <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> is similar to Menzel's painting of 1868.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<b>Max Liebermann</b> 1847-1935 
<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/liebermann-memorial-service-for-emperor-frederick-at-kosen-n04591" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04591</span></a> <b>Memorial Service for Kaiser Friedrich at Kösen</b> 1888 
<p>
Inscribed 'M. Liebermann' b.l.Oil on canvas, 36 5/8 x 25 1/4 (93 x 64)
<br/>Purchased from Bruno Cassirer (Grant-in-Aid 'T' Fund) 1931
</p><p><i>Prov:</i> J.C. Ertel, Hamburg; Leo Lewin, Breslau; Lewin sale, Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 12 April 1927, lot 9 repr., and bt. in; with Bruno Cassirer, Berlin
<br/><i>Exh: Max Liebermann: Ausstellung zum 70. Geburtstage des Künstlers</i>, Königliche Akademie der Künste, Berlin, July-August 1917 (91); <i>Max Liebermann</i><span>, Kunsthaus, Zurich, June-July 1923 (36, repr.); </span><i>Sonderausstellung Max Liebermann</i><span>, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande u. Westfalen, Düsseldorf, June-July 1925 (31, repr.); </span><i>1850-1925 fünfundsiebzig Jahre klassischer deutscher Malerei</i><span>, Hugo Perls, Berlin, February-March 1926 (29); Deutscher Künstlerbund, Künstlerhaus, Hanover, February-April 1928 (221); </span><i>Deutsche Kunstausstellung</i><span>, Glaspalast, Munich, May-October 1930 (1546); </span><i>Max Liebermann 1847-1935, Isidor Kaufmann 1853-1921, Lesser Ury 1862-1931</i><span> ..., Ben Uri Art Gallery, London, November 1968 (1); </span><i>Germany in Ferment</i><span>, Dunelm House, Durham, October-November 1970 (1); Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, November-December 1970 (1); Leicester Art Gallery, December 1970 (1)</span>
<br/><i>Lit: </i> Friedrich von Boetticher, <i>Malerwerke des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts</i><span> (Dresden 1895), Vol.1, p.866; Hans Rosenhagen, </span><i>Liebermann</i><span>
(Bielefeld and Leipzig 1900), p.34; Erich Hancke, </span><i>Max Liebermann</i><span> (Berlin 1923), pp.244-6; Karl Scheffler, </span><i>Max Liebermann</i><span> (Wiesbaden 1953), p.57, repr. pl.26</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Max J. Friedländer, <i>Max Liebermann</i><span> (Berlin </span><i>c</i><span>.1924), pl.35; John Rothenstein, </span><i>Modern Foreign Pictures in the Tate Gallery</i><span> (London 1947), pl.42 </span>
</p><p>
Kaiser Friedrich III died on 15 June 1888 only three months after his accession. Liebermann was at Kösen in the Thuringian Forest that year from the spring until the end of August. 
</p><p>
According to the catalogue of the Lewin sale, the present work is his first version of this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>. A second, revised version, showing an angle of vision slightly more to the left and with changes in the grouping of the figures, was acquired in 1916 by the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, but was unfortunately destroyed in 1945. <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>Paintings</span></a> of this subject were exhibited in the <i>Münchener Jahresausstellung von Kunstwerken aller Nationen</i><span>, Königl. Glaspalast, Munich, 1889 (580a) and the </span><i>37th Annual Exhibition of Pictures</i><span>, French Gallery, London, 1890 (73), but it is not clear which version, or versions, these were. 
<p>As has often been pointed out, Liebermann was inspired by the well-known painting 'Mission Service in the Beech Wood at Kösen' by Adolf Menzel, painted in 1868, a picture similar not only in subject but in general composition. 
</p><p>
<b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Ronald Alley, <i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.439-40, reproduced p.439 
</p></span></p>
Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults birth to death cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents crowd figure flag - non-specific forest Germany groups history Kösen landscape memorial natural features (non-UK) objects people places politics and society religious and ceremonial royalty: Kaiser Friedrich III, memorial service, 1888 society Thuringian Forest