“Bonsoir, messieurs!” Frederick II in the Castle at Lissa, Sketch

In his History of Frederick the Great, Franz Kugler describes a fictive story during the Seven Years’ War: after the victory at the Battle of Leuthen, the king took a troop of men and followed the enemy to where they had fled. When the Prussians came under fire, the king called for reinforce ments. However, he himself rode on to the castle at Lissa, where he greeted the surprised enemy officers with the words: “Bonsoir, messieurs! No doubt you were not expecting me. But might one find a lodging here for the night?” In their confusion, the Austrians did not notice that the king was as yet with out his men, who only arrived later to capture the enemy in the castle. Menzel situates the recognition scene in the stair well at the moment when Frederick II is boldly entering the castle. The consternation and horror felt by the Austrians match the Prussian king’s audacity. In 1858 Menzel created a large-scale version (Hamburg Kunsthalle) of this sketch.