1849 Manuscript Diary of a Young Woman’s Account of the Frankfurt Parliament’s Aftermath, Medical Treatment by Philipp Franz von Walther, and a Personal Encounter with Painter Wilhelm von Kaulbach, and More

On offer is a compelling German-language manuscript travel diary from 1849, recording a family journey through the Rhineland, southern Germany, and Austria during the closing months and immediate aftermath of the German revolutions of 1848–49. Written by an unnamed young woman travelling with her prestigious and wealthy parents, the journal combines an observant, frequently humorous account of travel with material of particular interest to researchers of political culture, medicine, art, women’s history, and nineteenth-century tourism.

Among its most notable passages are a visit to Frankfurt’s Paulskirche shortly after the National Assembly had departed, with descriptions of the surviving parliamentary decorations and drawings on the deputies’ desks; treatment of the writer’s mother by the eminent Munich ophthalmologist Philipp Franz von Walther, whose prescribed leeches the narrator personally applies; and an extended conversation with the painter Wilhelm von Kaulbach during a visit to his studio. Elsewhere, the family inspects hospitals, visits the unfinished setting for Munich’s monumental Bavaria statue, encounters railway construction that interrupts its journey, and enters the world of early tourist entertainments through diorama and camera obscura exhibitions.

The writer’s identity remains unresolved, but the diary preserves useful clues. The family has strong Hamburg connections, and the narrator compares Munich’s theatre with the one in Hamburg. The author's father shows his travelling companions two houses in Halle in which he formerly lived, including his old room, now occupied by a student. In Leipzig he visits Professors Günther and Erdmann, explicitly identifying Günther as his friend. The Günther household subsequently entertains the family at length, with meals, a walk in the Rosenthal, and ice cream at a tavern. Letters from Aunt Therese, Grandmother, and “the little ones” connect the journey with a wider family circle at home.

The father's repeated hospital visits and medical acquaintances suggest a possible professional interest in medicine, although his occupation is not established. The combination of named contacts, former residences, family correspondence, and a detailed itinerary offers worthwhile possibilities for further attribution.

Inside the Paulskirche after the National Assembly

One of the journal’s strongest historical passages describes the family’s July visit to the Paulskirche. The National Assembly had ceased meeting in Frankfurt on May 30, 1849; the remaining parliamentarians moved to Stuttgart, where their assembly was forcibly dispersed in June. The diarist therefore entered a chamber whose political significance was both immediate and unsettled.

She records:

“Die Kirche … war noch überall mit dreifarbigen Fahnen und Tüchern geschmückt. Es war überhaupt noch Alles so, wie es in der Nationalversammlung gewesen war.”

“The church … was still decorated everywhere with tricolour flags and cloths. Everything was still as it had been during the National Assembly.”

The visitors are shown the seats of Lichnowsky, Auerswald, and Blum—names already associated with the violence and losses of the revolutionary period. Particularly striking is the narrator’s disapproval of faces and figures drawn on the desks. She contrasts these diversions with the deputies’ responsibility for Germany’s welfare and concludes with a sarcastic remark about the supposedly great and dignified minds among them.

This is a personal response to the physical remains of the parliamentary experiment, recorded within weeks of its collapse. The passage offers researchers an engaging example of how the chamber and its former occupants were being presented to visitors and judged by them.

Medicine, Hospitals, and Family Nursing

The medical content extends well beyond passing references to illness. In Frankfurt, Father and the narrator inspect both the Hospital of the Holy Ghost and the Israelite hospital. The writer comments on their arrangements and notes, with evident surprise, that the latter reportedly had eight patients and six doctors.

In Munich, Mother develops a painful, reddened eye. The family consults Geheimrat Walther, identified in the diary as the city’s leading eye doctor. He prescribes eye drops and leeches. The ensuing account places the narrator directly within the treatment:

“Es wurden also Blutigel geholt und während ich sie Mama hinter’s Ohr setzte, gieng Papa aus, um das Krankenhaus zu sehen.”

[“Leeches were therefore fetched, and while I placed them behind Mama’s ear, Papa went out to see the hospital.”]

The juxtaposition is memorable: Mother receives treatment in the hotel, her child administers it, and Father pursues another hospital visit. Such details make the diary useful for studying domestic nursing, treatment while travelling, and the relationship between professional advice and care undertaken by family members.

Other medical contacts include Dr. Cohen, with whom Father corresponds, and a young Hamburg physician named Dr. Gerson. In Heidelberg, the son of a Dr. Stemann recognizes Father and joins the family’s excursions. These individuals remain incompletely identified.

Kaulbach, Galleries, and Monumental Munich

The family’s engagement with art is extensive and often highly personal. Visits include Frankfurt’s Städel Museum, Munich’s Glyptothek and Pinakothek, royal interiors, artists’ studios, and a bronze foundry.

The Kaulbach encounter is especially notable:

“Wir hatten das unermessliche Glück, daß Kaulbach sich lange mit uns unterhielt.”

[“We had the immeasurable good fortune that Kaulbach spoke with us at length.”]

The narrator also describes his monumental Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, identifying its intended destination as the Neue Pinakothek and recounting its dramatic figures and imagery. Together, the painting description and studio conversation provide a contemporary viewer’s response to a major artist and work.

The writer is by no means uniformly reverential. She dismisses much of what she sees in the Pinakothek, while admiring Kaulbach enthusiastically. Visiting the head of the Bavaria statue, she doubts the claim that twenty-five people could fit inside, estimating room for only six. The family also visits Schwanthaler’s studio and the unfinished Ruhmeshalle, recording the monumental project before the Bavaria’s unveiling in 1850.

Travel, Entertainment, and the Writer’s Voice

The itinerary encompasses Cologne, Bonn, the Siebengebirge, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Heidelberg and the Neckar valley, Heilbronn, Stuttgart, Munich, the Bavarian lakes, Berchtesgaden, Salzburg, Golling, Hallein, Leipzig, and Halle.

Railways, steamers, hired carriages, stagecoaches, horses, and donkeys all figure in the journey. Between Plauen and Reichenbach, unfinished railway infrastructure forces a transfer to a post coach; the travellers observe a vast bridge under construction, apparently the Göltzschtalbrücke. At Hallein, the narrator describes the special trousers, smocks, straps, and caps issued for the salt-mine visit. Border officials search the family’s luggage, while written material carried in a pocket escapes discovery—to the writer’s expressed relief.

In Cologne, a diorama presents the Battle of Kulm and a changing view of Lake Lucerne with rain, sunshine, and moonlight. A Munich beer-cellar visit includes a camera obscura. Theatre performances, hotel meals, crowded pleasure gardens, and spa excursions further document the commercial and social landscape of travel.

The diary’s appeal also rests in its voice. The narrator complains of exhausting overnight travel, laughs at a castle guide, climbs ruins when her parents hesitate, and alternates between religious awe and sharp criticism. Enraptured by a Neckar landscape, she humorously observes that the donkeys show no corresponding appreciation and simply trot onward. These moments give immediacy to an account that combines cultural education with discomfort, amusement, family obligations, and youthful independence.

For researchers and collectors, the manuscript brings together several unusually productive subjects: the recent memory of the Frankfurt Parliament, medical practice and family care, artistic encounters, transport development, and the experience of a probable young woman travelling within an educated family. Its interest is sustained by specific encounters and candid observations, while its unresolved authorship leaves a meaningful avenue for further research.

Biographical Notes

Philipp Franz von Walther (1782–1849) was a distinguished German surgeon and ophthalmologist associated with the universities of Landshut, Bonn, and Munich. A major figure in early nineteenth-century surgery and eye medicine, he co-founded the Journal der Chirurgie und Augenheilkunde. The diary records treatment during the final year of his life.

Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1804–1874) was a leading German history painter and became director of the Munich Academy in 1849. His monumental Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, completed in 1846, became a central work in the Neue Pinakothek when that gallery opened in 1853.

Otto Linné Erdmann (1804–1869), very probably the Professor Erdmann visited in Leipzig, was a prominent chemist, professor of technical chemistry, and rector of Leipzig University in 1848–49.

Ludwig von Schwanthaler (1802–1848) was the sculptor responsible for the design of the Bavaria statue. The family’s 1849 visit to his studio occurred after his death.