Frederick the Great at Lissa: Bonsoir, Messieurs

The Battle of Lissa (December 5, 1757) was a decisive Prussian victory in the Seven Years' War, and Frederick the Great's encounter with the Austrian officers in the village of Lissa — his famous greeting 'Bonsoir, Messieurs' to the enemy generals who had occupied the local castle, unaware that Frederick's forces had routed their army — became one of the great anecdotes of Prussian military history. Menzel depicted this moment in 1858, during his sustained engagement with the heroic narrative of Frederick II. The scene offered Menzel exactly the kind of charged, specific historical moment he excelled at: a confrontation freighted with irony, authority, and the particular kind of cool wit that Frederick's legend attributed to him. The Hamburger Kunsthalle, which holds the canvas, has one of the major collections of German nineteenth-century painting and placed this work within a distinguished context of Frederician imagery. Menzel's rendering of this nocturnal encounter required his skills in both costume history and artificial light.

The nocturnal or interior setting requires Menzel's skill with candlelight. The confrontation between Frederick and surprised Austrian officers creates compositional drama of contrasting postures, with Frederick's composed figure anchoring the scene.