JULIUS CARL SCHULZ (1808-1896) The Brandenburg Cuirassier Regiment at the outskirts of Berlin
Lot 8
15 00017 000
signed ‘Julius Schulz’ (lower right)
oil on cardboard
39.4 X 47.5 cm
executed in 1830-1840s
Provenance:
from a collection of Russian Emperor Nicholas I, kept in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo until it was sold in 1930s.
On the lower right corner of the painting, the number «59» is painted in blue and duplicated on the reverse in white paint through a stencil. This distinctive marking enables us to attribute the painting to the collection of Emperor Nicholas I (1796-1855), who appreciated and purchased works by German battalists.
The Archive of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) contains ‘The Inventory of paintings belonging to the late Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich’, compiled in 1856 (Inventory VI letter ‘A’, case 42-a. L.8 ob), with the following note under number 59: ‘59. Schultz. Prussian cuirassiers, passing in units. 9 x 10¾. In the Novotsarskoselsky Palace.’
Thus it may be assumed that the present painting belonged to Nicholas I and was kept in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, from where it was sold in the 1930s, together with most of its furnishings.
The painting depicts the Brandenburg Cuirassier Regiment of the Prussian Army, whose commander was Emperor Nicholas I. The painting features a monument to the anti-Napoleonic wars of 1813-1815, built by the architect Schinkel at the outskirts of Berlin and commemorating the allied military actions of the Russian and Prussian armies.