Daniel Chodowiecki 1726–1801

Chodowiecki’s pictures continue to delight viewers to this day with their subtle humour, whilst also provoking thought. The socio-political themes of the Enlightenment that they allude to and explore have lost none of their relevance to this day.

The Farewell of Jean Calas

For the first time, the most important works relating to Chodowiecki’s 1767 painting ‘The Farewell of Jean Calas to his Family’ from three different collections are on display in one place. Chodowiecki’s composition was based on the tragic fate of the Toulouse merchant Jean Calas and thus on one of the most notorious judicial scandals of the Enlightenment.

As a Lutheran-Reformed Christian, Calas belonged to a religious minority that was subjected to severe repression in France at the time. When one of his sons took his own life in 1761, the family initially attempted to pass off the suicide as murder in order to secure a Christian burial for their son. Consequently, Jean Calas himself eventually came under suspicion of having strangled his son because of the latter’s alleged intention to convert to Catholicism. Although there was no evidence to support this accusation, religious fanaticism directed against Protestantism led to Jean Calas being sentenced to death and publicly executed on 10 March 1762.

Appalled by this miscarriage of justice, the philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) wrote the treatise ‘On Tolerance’ (1763) and secured the posthumous rehabilitation of Jean Calas and his family in 1765.

Chodowiecki’s dramatic and highly emotional depiction of the moment when Calas, condemned to death, bids farewell to his family, ranks among the defining images of the Enlightenment. The composition was intended to evoke emotion and empathy, thereby contributing to the moral development of the audience.

Themes of the Enlightenment

Alongside Chodowiecki’s principal painting from the Gemäldegalerie and all the drawings and prints created in this context, the exhibition features Chodowiecki’s red chalk drawings depicting a Berlin network of Enlightenment figures, including the writer and publisher Friedrich Nicolai and the philosopher of religion Moses Mendelssohn. They are representative of the many intellectuals of their time who championed a new culture of debate and discourse and fought against conspiracy theories and esotericism. In his extensive body of prints and drawings – a selection of which is on display in the exhibition – Chodowiecki addressed Enlightenment themes such as education, family and social order, and contributed to the dissemination of these new discourses.

Chodowiecki 300

The cabinet exhibition was curated by Mailena Mallach (Kupferstichkabinett), Anna Schultz (Academy of Arts) and Sarah Salomon (Gemäldegalerie) and forms part of the ‘Chodowiecki 300’ network, which will celebrate the multifaceted Berlin artist at various venues to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth in 2026.

• A cabinet exhibition by the Kupferstichkabinett as part of ‘Chodowiecki 300’, in cooperation with the Academy of Arts, Berlin, and the Gemäldegalerie of the State Museums in Berlin