Very rare painting by Friedrich Perlberg – Kaiser Wilhelm II’s journey to Palestine (1898)

Friedrich Perlberg – Orientalist painter of the German Empire

A very rare painting by Friedrich Perlberg, an important watercolorist and landscape painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Perlberg, son of the painter Christian P., was born in Nuremberg in 1848 and died in Munich in 1921. He studied under August von Kreling and undertook an oriental journey to Egypt, Nubia, and the Sudan in 1886, which had a lasting influence on his work.

Kaiser Wilhelm II’s journey to Palestine (1898)

On the back of the painting is a note reading "Palästina‑Reise Kaiser Wilhelms II." (Kaiser Wilhelm II's journey to Palestine). From October 11 to November 26, 1898, the Kaiser traveled through the Ottoman Empire, including Constantinople, Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. The highlight of the trip was the consecration of the German Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.

The watercolor depicted shows the visit of the imperial couple and their entourage returning from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem – a moment Wilhelm II later described as an "uplifting feeling."

Subject & artistic significance

Perlberg accompanied the 1898 Palestine journey personally and created numerous orientalist paintings, which are now considered among the most important artistic documents of this historical expedition. The work at hand is a particularly rare example of this series.

Dimensions: approx. 70 × 49 cm (incl. frame).

Collector relevance

Paintings by Friedrich Perlberg depicting Kaiser Wilhelm II’s journey to Palestine are extraordinarily rare and highly sought after by collectors of German Empire memorabilia, orientalist art, Wilhelmine art, and historical travel imagery.