Lot 269 Dα

Alongside Eduard Gaertner, Wilhelm Brücke was one of the most important architectural painters in Berlin in the 19th century. His views of the up-and-coming metropolis are characterised by their precise draughtsmanship, warm colouring and the combination of expansive perspectives with a varied figures. In our picture, the parading cavalry is joined by a number of spectators, particularly from the upper middle classes, some of whom are watching the parade, while others appear to be engrossed in conversation. The scenery is completed by a hansom cab waiting at the left-hand edge of the picture and two dogs playing at the bottom.
The parade takes place on Berlin's magnificent boulevard Unter den Linden, against the backdrop of the Kronprinzenpalais. In 1793, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who later became King Friedrich Wilhelm III, moved into this 17th century city palace with his wife Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The crown prince continued to live there after his accession to the throne in 1797 until he died in 1840, the year in which this painting was created.
To the left of the Kronprinzenpalais is the Alte Kommandantur, also built in the 17th century, which was to be remodelled in the neo-Renaissance style later in the 19th century. The royal palace can be seen dimly behind it, while two windows of the armoury can just be made out on the left-hand edge of the picture, opposite the Crown Prince's Palace. A view of the Unter den Linden boulevard seen from the opposite direction looking towards the Zeughaus and the Neue Wache is housed in the collection of the Lower Saxon State Museum in Hanover.