Report on the “Mors Imperator” Affair (1887)
📖 Read the German & English side by side →
A sober notice from the Austrian art chronicle, tracking the contradictory reports as the scandal unfolded — from the Kaiser reportedly wishing the picture admitted, to fresh deliberations, to a final word that it stays excluded — closing with her own defiant announcement. A disinterested, day-by-day record.
The “Mors Imperator” Affair
Österreichische Kunst-Chronik, Vienna, 6 August 1887
“Mors imperator,” a painting by Hermine v. Preuschen depicting Death overturning a throne, was rejected by the admission court of the academic art exhibition in Berlin.
Shortly afterwards one read in the German papers that Kaiser Wilhelm had informed the Senate of the Academy that he saw nothing objectionable in the picture's subject, and that, if the rejection had been made only on account of the picture's tendency, he wished it admitted.
A few days later the daily papers were notified (partly by telegraph) that fresh deliberations over “Mors imperator” were under way, and that the subsequent inclusion of the painting in the exhibition was probable.
A further report we have read in this “sensational” affair states that the German Kaiser entirely shares the view of the admission court, and that “Mors imperator” remains excluded.
Finally, Frau v. Preuschen announces a special exhibition of her picture and calls upon “the sound judgment of the public to be the judge in her honest cause.”
Notes & references
Sources for the quotations and allusions — hover the dashed terms above for a quick note. Added by this project; not in the original.
- admission court — The “Aufnahmsgericht” — the jury that decided which submissions were admitted to the Academy's annual exhibition.
- tendency — The picture's “tendency” (Tendenz) — the polite euphemism for its perceived political import; the sticking point was whether Death overturning a throne slighted the aged Kaiser.
- honest cause — She is quoting the close of her own open letter — see the translation of that letter.