The pleasure of doing nothing.

 

The second antique photographic print I acquired was ‘Dolce Far Niente’ (1895), by Franz Hanfstaengl. In this case the photographed painting is by German artist Conrad Kiesel (1846-1921). To be honest, I acquired that second photograph almost as a decorative complement to the previous one, because at that time I did not know behind the murky stories that its author was hiding.

Again, it was a framed albumen or silver gelatin photographic print embossed with the Artist’s dry stamp in the bottom right corner, ‘F. Hanfstaengl 1895 Munchen’. The photographic print was partially coloured by hand, and mounted on board. Hand-painted colour accents were probably applied with watercolours and gouache or oil. Before direct colour photography was invented in the 20th century, colour images were made by carefully hand-painting monochrome photographs. The measures of the picture are: plate 100 x 135 mm., cardboard 120 x 155 mm.

Top: Photographic print by F. Hanfstaengl. Below: Painting after Conrad Kiesel.

The scene depicted here is in line with the emerging interest in exotic imagery that travel to exotic lands and cultures aroused. ‘Dolce Far Niente’ is an Italian phrase for pleasantly doing nothing. Its author, Conrad Kiesel, was initially trained as an architect, then he went on to be a sculptor in Germany. Following a visit to Holland, Kiesel returned to Berlin to study painting, and then moved home to Duesseldorf. Under the tutelage of Wilhelm Sohn, Kiesel acquired his exquisite sense and technique for depicting fabrics and colors. In 1885 he settled in Berlin as a portraitist and genre painter, while maintaining his reputation as a sculptor. He attracted paintings commissions from Emperor Wilhelm II and obtained an honorable professorship at the Berlin Academy of Arts. Throughout his life, Kiesel submitted works at the annual Great Art Exhibition in Berlin and the Glass Palace Exhibitions in Munich. In 1900 he received an honorable mention at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.

 

But let's go back to the alleged author of the photograph. Who was Franz Hanfstaengl, and why does this photographic print contain his name if Hanfstaengl had died in 1877? Actually, he was a well-known German photographer, publisher, portraitist and lithographer. Hanfstaengl was trained in lithography, and had contact with Alois Senefelder. He then studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, between 1819 and 1825. In 1826 he moved to Dresden, where he began the task of copying the canvases of the Dresden Gallery in lithography. Then he returned to Munich, leaving his Dresden establishment in his brothers' hands. In 1833 he founded his own lithographic studio in Munich, adding later a fine art printing shop. Between 1835 and 1852 Hanfstängl published some 200 lithographic prints of masterpieces from the Dresden Picture Gallery. 

 

In 1853 Hanfstaengl added a photography workshop to his Munich premises. He was a leader in the evolution and development of photoengraving, where photographs are transferred onto copper plates and high quality printer’s copies are developed. For the first time photoengraving made it possible to reproduce popular artworks by famous artists and made affordable for the general public. Franz Hanfstaengl visited then great museums and galleries all over the world, and photographed famous pictures from which to produce photoengravings. That way a unique collection of famous artworks began. Artists like Albrecht Durer, Leonardo Da Vinci, Hans Holbein and others are represented in his precious collection. Because of the excellent reputation of the Franz Hanfstaengl printing company, numerous artists had their original etching plates published there. The Blanc Kunstverlag (http://blanc-kunstverlag.de) is the current owner of the photoengraving plates, and still prints from them to this day.

Hanfstaengl had already achieved great recognition as a portrait lithographer for Munich's high society. With his new photo studio he became a court photographer, and produced portraits of distinguished people, including the young King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the composer Franz Liszt, the first German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, better known as ‘Sissi’.

At the time this photograph was shot, one of his sons, Edgar Hanfstaengl (1842-1910), was running the family business. He was certainly a very significant figure. Since 1867 he had worked in Munich in his father's art business, starting that same year a love affair with the fiancée of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the Duchess Sophie Charlotte, sister of ‘Sissi’. Sophie later married Prince Ferdinand Philippe Marie d'Orléans, Duke of Alençon.

Since 1868 Edgar had managed his father's photographic workshop, and had expanded the business with the Franz Hanfstaengl Fine Arts Publishing House. Edgar had several sons who continued the business after his death, in 1910. Thus, the family business continued in Munich, London and New York. His son Egon (1884-1915) was in charge of the London branch, established at 16 Pall Mall East, while another of his sons, Ernst (1887-1975), ‘Putzi’, managed the New York branch. Ernst was a German-American businessman trained at Harvard, who included among his circle of acquaintances such personalities as Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, or the actor Charlie Chaplin. But he was also intimate friend with the infamous Adolf Hitler. In 1917 the American branch of the family business had been confiscated as enemy property, and Ernst had to return to Germany in 1922. There he first heard a speech by Hitler, and Hanfstaengl introduced himself to the nazi leader at one of those events, initiating a close friendship.  After the failed Beer Hall Putsch (1923) in Munich, Hitler went into hiding in Hanfstaengl's home. Later, it was Hanfstaengl himself who introduced Hitler to Munich's high society, and helped finance the edition of his Mein Kampf, as well as the official newspaper of the NSDAP, the Völkischer Beobachter (People's Observer). Hitler was even godfather to his son Egon. Hanfstaengl became the head of the Foreign Press Office in Berlin.

    

But Hanfstaengl was soon aware of the brutality of the regime, and disputes arose with the German Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, Hanfstaengl lost Hitler's favor, being dismissed in 1933. Instigated by Goebbels Hitler took revenge for his adverse comments with a cruel joke. Hanfstaengl was put on a plane. The plan was to let him believe that he was going to be left in ‘red Spanish territory’ to work as an agent for Francisco Franco, although it seems that the plane was only circling over Germany. Hanfstaengl was convinced that he was going to be thrown off the plane. After a while, the pilot announced that he had to make an emergency landing, but he landed safely at Leipzig airport. Hanfstaengl was so frightened that he defected shortly afterwards. He then moved to Britain, where he was imprisoned after the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, Hanfstaengl was handed over to the United States, and worked for President Roosevelt's ‘Project S’, revealing information about Nazi leaders and providing much information about Hitler, including details of his private life. In 1944, Hanfstaengl was returned to the British, who repatriated him to Germany at the end of the war. Hanfstaengl died in Munich in 1975. One of Ernst's siblings, Erna Hanfstaengl (1885-1981), Edgar's daugnter, had also a fascinating life, but this time we will let the readers find out for themselves.

 

The Hanfstaengl Gallery, ‘well-known reproductions on view throughout the year’.

 

Concerning the London branch, which specialized in fine art reproductions, the Hanfstaengl Gallery was regularly included in the list of London exhibitions in the annual The Year's Art. Just the year of our photographic print, 1895, an advertisement in this publication announced the moving of the gallery to Pall Mall: "Franz Hanfstaengl begs to announce that the English Branch for the sale of his fine art reproductions is now transferred from 5 Rathbone Place to larger and more convenient premises at 16 Pall Mall East, London SW".

 

Sources:

 

-“Herr Edgar Hanfsteangl,” Times, 24 April 1958, p. 15.

 

This was the turbulent and unusual story of the Franz Hanfstaengl’s family, creators of this photographic print. Perhaps many of the artworks one can purchase at Portobello Road market also hide an intriguing story, which naturally one is unaware of at the time of acquiring them. Who knows what amazing stories would be waiting the following Friday.