{"product_id":"anton-hoffmann-munich-signed-military-illustration-prussian-infantry-skalitz-1866","title":"Anton Hoffmann Munich Signed Military Illustration Prussian Infantry Skalitz 1866","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThis is an original signed pen-and-ink military illustration by the Munich painter and illustrator Anton Hoffmann (1863 to 1938), depicting Prussian infantry in the attack during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, with a manuscript caption on the reverse referencing the engagement at Skalitz in the campaign of Königgrätz. The sheet measures 10 by 7 inches (25.4 by 17.8 cm) and is a published plate leaf, printed on lightweight paper, from an illustrated historical work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe drawing is a spirited combat scene rendered in the confident pen technique for which Hoffmann was known. At its center a Prussian infantryman in the spiked helmet (\u003cem\u003ePickelhaube\u003c\/em\u003e) of the period charges forward through rough grass, his rifle and fixed bayonet in hand, his equipment and rolled greatcoat swinging with the movement. Immediately behind him an officer, also in the \u003cem\u003ePickelhaube\u003c\/em\u003e, thrusts a sword high overhead to urge the line on, while to either side further soldiers advance, fall, and press into the fight, the whole composition driving diagonally across the sheet with great energy. The image is signed in the lower left within the design \u003cem\u003eAnton Hoffmann v. München\u003c\/em\u003e (Anton Hoffmann of Munich). The reverse carries a manuscript title in red ink reading \u003cem\u003eRegensberg v. Skalitz b. Königgrätz S. 732\u003c\/em\u003e, a page reference to the source volume, together with an inventory number and a faint publisher's stamp of a Stuttgart printing house, indicating the sheet was issued as an illustration on page 732 of a historical book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe event the illustration commemorates belongs to the war that reshaped Germany. In 1866 the long rivalry between Prussia and Austria for leadership of the German states erupted into the Austro-Prussian War, a conflict engineered in large part by the Prussian minister-president Otto von Bismarck to break Austria's dominance and clear the way for a Prussia-led unification. The Prussian army, reorganized by Helmuth von Moltke and armed with the breech-loading \u003cem\u003eDreyse\u003c\/em\u003e needle gun, moved into Bohemia in a rapid converging advance. Among the actions fought as the Prussian columns pressed forward was the Battle of Skalitz (Skalice) on 28 June 1866, where the Prussian V Corps drove Austrian forces from a strong position along the Aupa, one of a series of victories in the last days of June that opened the road into Bohemia. These engagements led within days to the decisive clash at Königgrätz (also called Sadowa) on 3 July 1866, the largest battle in Europe since the Napoleonic wars, in which Moltke's converging armies destroyed the Austrian main force and effectively decided the war. The Prussian triumph expelled Austria from German affairs, brought the northern states into the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation, and set the stage for the founding of the German Empire five years later. The illustration, with its charging needle-gun infantry, captures exactly the aggressive spirit of that campaign.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe artist gives the sheet its particular collector interest. Anton Hoffmann of Munich was among the most prolific and respected German military illustrators of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a specialist in the uniforms, battles, and regimental history of the German armies whose work appeared throughout the patriotic and historical publishing of the Wilhelmine era. His drawings illustrated campaign histories, regimental accounts, and popular military works, and his careful attention to uniform and equipment, combined with a vigorous sense of movement, made him a favored hand for exactly this kind of historical battle scene. Signed examples of his work are actively collected both as military art and as illustration, and a sheet depicting the 1866 war, the conflict that began the unification of Germany, sits well within the story that Der Rittmeister documents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eCondition is consistent with a published plate leaf of the period. The paper is toned and shows light handling, a small chip and short tear at one corner, and minor edge wear, with fold or storage lines as expected of a book sheet. The printed image remains crisp and fully legible, the Hoffmann signature clear within the design, and the manuscript caption and stamp on the reverse readable. There is no significant loss to the image.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eFor the collector, signed Anton Hoffmann military illustrations are attractive and accessible pieces of German military art, valued for the artist's reputation, his accuracy of uniform and detail, and the historical subjects he treated. This example combines Hoffmann's signature with a scene from the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and a documented connection, through its reverse caption, to the fighting at Skalitz in the Königgrätz campaign. It will appeal to the collector of German military art and illustration, of the wars of German unification, and of Prussian infantry history, and it frames and displays handsomely as an original work by a named and collected military artist.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50149181653231,"sku":"12-95","price":87.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/9169\/5855\/files\/12-95_1.jpg?v=1783542878","url":"https:\/\/derrittmeister.com\/products\/anton-hoffmann-munich-signed-military-illustration-prussian-infantry-skalitz-1866","provider":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}