print
- Museum number
- 1854,1020.769
- Description
-
Three sons, standing in the centre of the room receive their dying father's blessing as they depart for war; father lying in a bed to left; weeping mother standing behind to left; weeping sister seated on the floor to right; second state, with the shadows strengthened.1812
Etching
- Production date
- 1812
- Dimensions
-
Height: 297 millimetres
-
Width: 347 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Text from Antony Griffiths & Frances Carey, 'German Printmaking in the Age of Goethe', BM 1994, no. 107 :
Russ was himself an intense German patriot. The print is dated 1812 in the plate, which means that it is before the 'Freiheitskrieg'. In 1812 the most likely service for which these young men would have been called up was as auxiliaries to aid the French in the invasion of Russia. But Russ's print is clearly a patriotic call to a noble war, which could only have been against the French. The echo of David's famous painting of 'The Oath of the Horatii' is certainly deliberate.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1994/5 Sept-Jan, BM, 'German Printmaking in the Age of Goethe', no. 107.
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1854,1020.769