The Sleep of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa

After studying in Vienna, Julius Veit Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld moved to Rome, where he met the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig I (1786–1868). Upon the prince’s accession to the throne in 1825, Ludwig called Schnorr to the Bavarian capital of Munich to undertake a large series of state paintings, including scenes from the lives of three pre-eminent figures in German history: Charlemagne (c. 747–814), Rudolph von Hapsburg (1218–1291), and the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (1122–1190), so named because of his red beard. The Sleep of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa most likely originated in this project.

The legend of twelfth-century Emperor Barbarossa lying dormant in a mythic cave in the Kyffhäuser mountain range, awaiting Germany’s time of need, became a popular motif during the 19th century. The Romantic era was full of German nationalistic hopes, provoked by the Napoleonic occupations, making the promise of unification under a legendary hero an attractive narrative. In Schnorr’s painting, the placement of the minutely detailed chalice and sword on either side of the seated Barbarossa might be a reference to the Church and state joined in the imperial person of the Holy Roman Emperor. Additionally, Barbarossa wears Schnorr’s free variation of the imperial crown long reputed to have belonged to the founder of the Empire, Charlemagne.