Time Horizon
Reinhold Begas’ life and work extended over a period of eighty years from the “Vormärz” in the run-up to the 1848 Revolution to the eve of the First World War. Three political systems marked this “long 19th century”: the German Confederation (1815–1866), the North German Confederation (1866–1871) and the German Empire (1871‑1918).
The Schiller Monument at Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, inaugurated in the year of the founding of the German Empire, brought Begas immediate fame and recognition as an artist.
From that time on Wilhelm I, Friedrich III and Wilhelm II acted directly as his commissioners and patrons. They entrusted Begas with the creation of their representative portraits. Wilhelm II charged him with the design of the most important monuments that were to distinguish Berlin, the capital of the empire. With their Neo-Baroque style the National Monument for Wilhelm I, the Siegesallee (Victory Avenue) and the Bismarck Monument shaped the image of the “Wilhelminian Age”.
