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German History in Documents and Images
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Anton von Werner, Baptism in my House [Taufe in meinem Hause] (1879)
This painting is by Anton von Werner (1843-1915), the Hohenzollern dynasty’s preeminent painter of historical portraits and panoramas. It depicts the baptism of the artist’s oldest son Fritz on February 10, 1879. Prussia’s Crown Princess Victoria – the daughter of England’s Queen Victoria – and Prussian Postmaster General Heinrich von Stephan served as godmother and godfather. Werner’s well-appointed Berlin villa on Potsdamer Strasse and its “red salon” [roter Salon] are shown here (his studio was on the second floor). The artist himself is also featured, as is his friend, the painter Ludwig Knaus (1829-1910), who appears in the background. The smiling crown princess holds the child in her arms, while her husband, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (the future Kaiser Friedrich III), stands at center right (with full beard, holding his helmet).