EDITOR'S NOTE

The painters represented here alongside with the two writers to whom
this volume is devoted, are Cornelius, Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Rethel,
and Kaulbach. These men were not only contemporary with Hebbel and
Ludwig, but may indeed be called their artistic counterparts. Though
widely differentiated by individual temper and talent, these painters
and poets belong to the same phase of mid-century German literature and
art: the striving of Romanticism beyond itself, the struggle for a new
style uniting depth of feeling and terseness of delineation, the longing
for a new view of life harmonizing the worship of the past with the
demands of modern society and the problems of the day. Hence the heroic
note in the work of these painters and poets, hence their predilection
for great historical or mythological or religious subjects, hence their
leaning toward tragic conflicts in every day situations, hence their all
too conscious striving for pointed effects; hence, also, the inspiring
influence emanating from their best productions.

KUNO FRANCKE.




THE LIFE OF FRIEDRICH HEBBEL