# William I Departs for the Front, July 31, 1870

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/william-i-departs-for-the-front-july-31-1870-r6ad0d9c3d1995d>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [MENZEL, Adolph von](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da>)
- Date: 1851-1900
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 63 x 78 cm

## Commentary

This painting is a key document in the new German nation&#39;s propaganda, balanced between the gracious culture of the past and the bourgeois monarchy of the post-Industrial Revolution. The combined flags of Prussia and Germany on the Unter den Linden housefronts testify to a great new nation - modern Germany - united by battle against the invading French. In this painting Menzel displays an approach that points to the most literal aspects of early Impressionism.

## Related artworks

- [A Flute Concert of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/a-flute-concert-of-frederick-the-great-at-sanssouci-r733bba26cb90c9>)
- [Afternoon at the Tuileries Garden \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/afternoon-at-the-tuileries-garden-detail-r815991314c6b33>)
- [Afternoon at the Tuileries Garden](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/afternoon-at-the-tuileries-garden-r74cf6633d12384>)
- [Living-Room with the Artist&#39;s Sister](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/living-room-with-the-artists-sister-r6a9bbb3dee7db3>)
- [Moonlight on the Friedrichskanal in Old Berlin](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/moonlight-on-the-friedrichskanal-in-old-berlin-r8089c8c1d4fa32>)
- [Rear of House and Backyard](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/rear-of-house-and-backyard-rbac5610a13e2c3>)
- [Sister Emily Sleeping](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/sister-emily-sleeping-r0420571dc2f87a>)
- [Sister Emily Sleeping](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/sister-emily-sleeping-r4b37b6b1e6929f>)
- [Storm on Tempelhof Mountain](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/storm-on-tempelhof-mountain-rf368436060e3de>)
- [Studio Interior with Casts](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/studio-interior-with-casts-r5c6d558449f052>)
- [Study of a Woman with a Fan](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/study-of-a-woman-with-a-fan-rd12d8cfa62d940>)
- [Théatre du Gymnase](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/menzel-adolph-von-rbd83b6d1c9b8da/thatre-du-gymnase-rffb68eb2d79677>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)