Technique: Lithography on Paper

Inscription: Lower right signed: "Philipp Veit inv.". At the lower part inscribed by the artist's hand: "Bürgermeister Winter hält Robert Blum".

Date: 19th century

Description: Little is known about the activity of the history painter and Nazarene artist Philipp Veit as a caricaturist. In fact, like other Nazarenes who are more associated with religious motifs, he also produced a number of caricatures, among which political themes on the German Revolution of 1848 account for the largest share. The fact that Veit, like his pupil Eduard von Steinle, "lived in the focal point of the revolutionary events in Frankfurt was bound to provoke them to caricature". (Suhr 1985, p. 148) The present lithograph, on the other hand, turns to an event that did not take place in Frankfurt but in Heidelberg. The event to which the caricature alludes could not be clearly identified, except by the inscription "Volksversammlung in Heidelberg". The childlike figure in the arms of the wildly grinning man in the wide robe represents the member of the National Assembly Robert Blum. Attempts to identify the standing figure have so far named the deputies Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852), Christian Friedrich Winter (also mayor of Heidelberg) or Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier (1787-1867), and even went so far as to see something diabolical in the figure. An exact attribution is also not possible because the event that connects the clearly recognisable Blum with Heidelberg cannot be narrowed down either.

Keywords: Philipp Veit; Nazarene artist; Caricaturist; Political themes; German Revolution; Year 1848; Frankfurt; Heidelberg; People's Assembly; Lithograph; Event; Deputies; National Assembly; Robert Blum; Friedrich Ludwig Jahn; Christian Friedrich Winter; Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier; Identification; Figure; Wildly grinning man; Childlike representation; Diabolical element, 19th century, Realism, Politics, Germany,