MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN -1879 -1881 563 



did, and then had a remarkable exhibition of some of his 

 most curious characteristics. 



Entering the room, I saw, just at the right, a large pic- 

 ture, finely painted, representing a group of Frederick's 

 generals, and in the midst of them Frederick himself, 

 merely outlined in chalk. I said, "There is a picture 

 nearly finished/' Menzel answered, "No; it is not fin- 

 ished and never will be. " I asked, ' l Why not ? " He said, 

 "I don't deny that there is some good painting in it. But 

 it is on the eve of the battle of Leuthen ; it is the consul- 

 tation of Frederick the Great with his generals just be- 

 fore that terrible battle; and men don't look like that just 

 before a struggle in which the very existence of their 

 country is at stake, and in which they know that most of 

 them must lay down their lives. ' ' 



We then passed on to another. This represented the 

 great Gens d'Armes Church at Berlin; at the side of it, 

 piled on scaffoldings, were a number of coffins all decked 

 with wreaths and flowers ; and in the foreground a crowd 

 of beholders wonderfully painted. All was finished ex- 

 cept one little corner ; and I said, ' ' Here is one which you 

 will finish. ' ' He said, ' ' No ; never. That represents the fu- 

 neral of the Revolutionists killed here in the uprising of 

 1848. Up to this poirit" and he put his finger on the 

 unfinished corner "I believed in it; but when I arrived at 

 this point, I said to myself, 'No; nothing good can come 

 out of that sort of thing ; Germany is not to be made by 

 street fights. ' I shall never finish it. ' ' 



We passed on to another. This was finished. It repre- 

 sented the well-known scene of the great Frederick blun- 

 dering in upon the Austrian bivouac at the castle of Lissa, 

 when he narrowly escaped capture. I said to him, t ' There 

 at least is a picture which is finished." "Yes," he said; 

 "but the man who ordered it will never get it." I saw 

 that there was a story involved, and asked, "How is 

 that?" He answered, "That picture was painted on the 

 order of the Duke of Ratibor, who owns the castle. When 

 it was finished he came to see it, but clearly thought it 



