Sleeping a hundred years...
....or The Brothers Grimm and the Politics of Sleeping Beauty
The prince sees the castle in the distance
Sometimes a story is just a story, and other times it is perceived as something else entirely. This is one of the latter times....
Once upon a time, in 1807 to be precise, the Brothers Grimm set out to collect and later publish the fairytales of Germany. In 1812 the first volume of Grimms Fairytales (Or Deutsche Kinder und Haus Märchen) was published and the rest, as they say, is history. But what about the context of that history? For the time in which the fairytales were collected was one of turmoil. Napoleon had recently conquered large parts of what would become Germany. French culture was dominant and among the opposition to the French rule the search was on for a German culture to counter culture-attack the French dominance. One of the cultural aspects that were, partially, pushed to the foreground because of this were the fairytales and old legends. The view of the fairytales as something particularly German continued long after Napoleon was gone.
Kinder und Haus Märchen, 1864 edition
Now it could be argued that this was simply a collection of fairytales and hardly something to pack a political punch. Yet, from a certain point of view, political was exactly what it was. In fact so political that when a large hall was decorated in Goslar, to commemorate the unification of Germany in 1871, a large cycle of fairytale paintings were included along side historical paintings. The fairytale selected? Sleeping Beauty.
The birth of Sleeping Beauty, a mural on the end wall in Goslar Imperial Palace, by Herman Wislicenus. Our girl can be seen as a baby in the window to the right.
The fairytales were seen as a vital part of the folk heritage. Inspired by the ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder the idea of a Volksgeist, or folk spirit, that defined the nation was all the rage. The Brothers Grimm were also deeply motivated but this way of thinking. In fact, in addition to fairytales they also collected legends, songs and other stories publishing "German Legends" (Deutsche Sagen) in 1816. Jacob Grimm was so convinced that the fairytales and legends contained the German volksgeist that he tried to combine them into a German mythology. The belief being that the volksgeist contained in the stories had also been a driving force behind such a mythology, and that traces of the mythology could be found in the fairytales because of the same volksgeist.
But what does all of this have to do with Sleeping Beauty? Well, this was considered by many to be the most German of all the fairytales. The most German here meaning the one that most clearly showed volksgeist,both in characters, contents and setting. In addition Sleeping Beauty served well as an allegory for the current political situation in Germany. To explain why that is, I need to delve into the political background a little more.
Detail of the Birth of Sleeping Beauty
For in large parts of the 19 th Century there was no Germany. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had been disbanded in 1806 and what would become Germany considered of various sovereign states of which Prussia was the largest. So basically there was no Germany. However there was a distinct idea about a common German culture, a common German language (and the fairytales were considered to be and important part of both these groups) and also the notion that the creation of a German state would be a good idea.
As an inspiration for German unification a lot of people looked to the Middle Ages with its united empire, powerful emperors and magnificent castles - the remnants of the latter being still littered across he countryside.
Burg Eltz, on the Rhine - just another castle littered across the countryside
This is where Sleeping Beauty comes in. She, or Dornröschen (Briar Rose) as she is known in German, lived in a castle, was related to a king and in many ways could be seen as a posterchild for the Middle Ages - at least how the 19th Century like to perceive it.
In addition, and this is the part that makes Sleeping Beauty so spectacularly useful, she was bewitched and fell asleep only to be awoken by a handsome prince. Rather like Germany, people said while drawing parallels like crazy. Germany had also been conceived and grown during the Middle Ages. A captivating, beautiful nation, they said - just like the fairytale heroine. But just like Briar Rose they were bewitched and tricked - the title of emperor was snatched away from them by foreign houses and wars ravaged German soil leaving only wretchedness behind.
But also like Sleeping Beauty Germany wasn’t dead, only sleeping and when the right prince would come along the princess and the nation would wake once more. Hopefully to a happy ever after.
Sleeping Beauty awakes, also from Goslar. She can be seen to the left of the painting and to the right, in carriage, is the new German Emperor Wilhelm I
In the painting above the parallel between Germany's re-awakening and Sleeping Beauty's is drawn rather directly. In the same instance that Briar Rose awakes the new German Emperor comes sailing in indicating that just like Sleeping Beauty is being awoken by her true love, so he is revivalist for Germany. His name was Wilhelm I, and he originally he was the king of Prussia but after the German unification of 1871 he became emperor and his family reigned until the end of the First World War.
Detail of Sleeping Beauty sleeping no more
Another reason why Sleeping Beauty was thought so fitting was the predominant place of nature. She did after all sleep in a castle overgrown by rosebushes - a human encapsulated in the vastness of nature so to speak. This part of the story was a particularly appealing metaphor or allegory for the Romantic movement.
The Romantic movement was concerned with grand passions, deep felt emotions and man's relationship to the wild and nature. The latter is particularly visible in the paintings of the German Romantic movement.
Caspar David Friedrich for example preferred to depict nature as something sublime and infused with religious sentiment.
Friedrich: Ruin in Forest
Often, like here, he fused religious buildings with a forest to get his point across. Religion was to be found in nature and you experienced religion by being in nature. So for the Romanticists the whole image of the resurrected sleeping beauty awoken from her sacred nature dwelling had a whole, and deeper, dimension.
Now to consider Sleeping Beauty in this light - as a symbol of resurrected history, a connection to Medieval history and as a metaphor for man's connection with the sublime in nature - the fairytale stops being just a fairytale and becomes something else entirely. Based on this its perhaps not so surprising that painters in the late 19th Century felt inspired to include a fairytale in large, stately financed monuments. After all the symbolic power of the tale was quite impressive.
German stamp from 1964
The prince sees the castle in the distance
Sometimes a story is just a story, and other times it is perceived as something else entirely. This is one of the latter times....
Once upon a time, in 1807 to be precise, the Brothers Grimm set out to collect and later publish the fairytales of Germany. In 1812 the first volume of Grimms Fairytales (Or Deutsche Kinder und Haus Märchen) was published and the rest, as they say, is history. But what about the context of that history? For the time in which the fairytales were collected was one of turmoil. Napoleon had recently conquered large parts of what would become Germany. French culture was dominant and among the opposition to the French rule the search was on for a German culture to counter culture-attack the French dominance. One of the cultural aspects that were, partially, pushed to the foreground because of this were the fairytales and old legends. The view of the fairytales as something particularly German continued long after Napoleon was gone.
Kinder und Haus Märchen, 1864 edition
Now it could be argued that this was simply a collection of fairytales and hardly something to pack a political punch. Yet, from a certain point of view, political was exactly what it was. In fact so political that when a large hall was decorated in Goslar, to commemorate the unification of Germany in 1871, a large cycle of fairytale paintings were included along side historical paintings. The fairytale selected? Sleeping Beauty.
The birth of Sleeping Beauty, a mural on the end wall in Goslar Imperial Palace, by Herman Wislicenus. Our girl can be seen as a baby in the window to the right.
The fairytales were seen as a vital part of the folk heritage. Inspired by the ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder the idea of a Volksgeist, or folk spirit, that defined the nation was all the rage. The Brothers Grimm were also deeply motivated but this way of thinking. In fact, in addition to fairytales they also collected legends, songs and other stories publishing "German Legends" (Deutsche Sagen) in 1816. Jacob Grimm was so convinced that the fairytales and legends contained the German volksgeist that he tried to combine them into a German mythology. The belief being that the volksgeist contained in the stories had also been a driving force behind such a mythology, and that traces of the mythology could be found in the fairytales because of the same volksgeist.
But what does all of this have to do with Sleeping Beauty? Well, this was considered by many to be the most German of all the fairytales. The most German here meaning the one that most clearly showed volksgeist,both in characters, contents and setting. In addition Sleeping Beauty served well as an allegory for the current political situation in Germany. To explain why that is, I need to delve into the political background a little more.
Detail of the Birth of Sleeping Beauty
For in large parts of the 19 th Century there was no Germany. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had been disbanded in 1806 and what would become Germany considered of various sovereign states of which Prussia was the largest. So basically there was no Germany. However there was a distinct idea about a common German culture, a common German language (and the fairytales were considered to be and important part of both these groups) and also the notion that the creation of a German state would be a good idea.
As an inspiration for German unification a lot of people looked to the Middle Ages with its united empire, powerful emperors and magnificent castles - the remnants of the latter being still littered across he countryside.
Burg Eltz, on the Rhine - just another castle littered across the countryside
This is where Sleeping Beauty comes in. She, or Dornröschen (Briar Rose) as she is known in German, lived in a castle, was related to a king and in many ways could be seen as a posterchild for the Middle Ages - at least how the 19th Century like to perceive it.
In addition, and this is the part that makes Sleeping Beauty so spectacularly useful, she was bewitched and fell asleep only to be awoken by a handsome prince. Rather like Germany, people said while drawing parallels like crazy. Germany had also been conceived and grown during the Middle Ages. A captivating, beautiful nation, they said - just like the fairytale heroine. But just like Briar Rose they were bewitched and tricked - the title of emperor was snatched away from them by foreign houses and wars ravaged German soil leaving only wretchedness behind.
But also like Sleeping Beauty Germany wasn’t dead, only sleeping and when the right prince would come along the princess and the nation would wake once more. Hopefully to a happy ever after.
Sleeping Beauty awakes, also from Goslar. She can be seen to the left of the painting and to the right, in carriage, is the new German Emperor Wilhelm I
In the painting above the parallel between Germany's re-awakening and Sleeping Beauty's is drawn rather directly. In the same instance that Briar Rose awakes the new German Emperor comes sailing in indicating that just like Sleeping Beauty is being awoken by her true love, so he is revivalist for Germany. His name was Wilhelm I, and he originally he was the king of Prussia but after the German unification of 1871 he became emperor and his family reigned until the end of the First World War.
Detail of Sleeping Beauty sleeping no more
Another reason why Sleeping Beauty was thought so fitting was the predominant place of nature. She did after all sleep in a castle overgrown by rosebushes - a human encapsulated in the vastness of nature so to speak. This part of the story was a particularly appealing metaphor or allegory for the Romantic movement.
The Romantic movement was concerned with grand passions, deep felt emotions and man's relationship to the wild and nature. The latter is particularly visible in the paintings of the German Romantic movement.
Caspar David Friedrich for example preferred to depict nature as something sublime and infused with religious sentiment.
Friedrich: Ruin in Forest
Often, like here, he fused religious buildings with a forest to get his point across. Religion was to be found in nature and you experienced religion by being in nature. So for the Romanticists the whole image of the resurrected sleeping beauty awoken from her sacred nature dwelling had a whole, and deeper, dimension.
Now to consider Sleeping Beauty in this light - as a symbol of resurrected history, a connection to Medieval history and as a metaphor for man's connection with the sublime in nature - the fairytale stops being just a fairytale and becomes something else entirely. Based on this its perhaps not so surprising that painters in the late 19th Century felt inspired to include a fairytale in large, stately financed monuments. After all the symbolic power of the tale was quite impressive.
German stamp from 1964