1869 Herchenhein Rhine Panorama

This is a gorgeous example of Frederick Herchenhein's c. 1869 panorama of the Rhine River from Mannheim to Cologne. It provides a bird's eye view of the great river, flanked by illustrations of riverside cities and countryside and adorned by dozens of vignettes.

A Closer Look

This is a fairly early example in the genre of long foldout Rhine panoramas, which first appeared in 1811 (drawn by Elisabeth von Adlerflycht) and were first published for commercial sale in the 1820s, continuing well into the 20th century. Like most Rheinpanorama, the present example is multilingual, catering to tourists from throughout western Europe.

The map or view follows the Rhine River from Mannheim to Cologne, with beautiful pictorial depictions of various landmarks, cities, statues, and castles along the way. It features 45 beautifully illustrated pictorial vignettes, including the Red Mosque of the Schwetzingen Palace, Rheinfels Castle, and statues to Luther, Beethoven, and Gutenberg, among others.

The covers include a representation of Lorelei, who, according to legend, threw herself into the Rhine after mistreatment by a faithless lover and then became a siren luring boatmen to their death. She is associated with a large rock along the right bank of the river, also named Lorelei (appears at left-center of the entire panorama, or top-left of the fourth image above). Rather than ancient folklore, the legend was created in the early 19th century by the German Romantic poet Clemens Brentano, who in turn inspired Heinrich Heine to write a poem about Lorelei, the text of which appears in German, French, and English here.

The French text of Heine's poem has been covered over with an English–language poem titled 'Up the Rhine' by Clinton Scollard, apparently a later addition pasted on by a previous owner. Other marks left by previous owners include occasional handwriting in English and French.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn and engraved by Frederick Herchenhein and was published in Mayence (Mainz) by David Kapp. Due to the multiple languages of the title, the OCLC includes ten listings with estimated dates ranging from 1850 to 1900. Some listings also co–mingle digital and physical copies, making an accurate census difficult. In any event, some ten to fifteen institutions in North America and Europe appear to hold physical copies of this view.