Humanities desk
< January 24	<< Dec \| January \| Feb >>	January 26 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

January 25

The Skating Minister

Today’s (January 25, 2022) featured picture is "The Skating Minister." The text says it was "virtually unknown until 1949." I checked both the article on the picture and on the painter - neither mentions this or why it became popular after then. Why was it unknown and why did it become popular? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wis2fan (talk • contribs) 04:39, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

That comment is in the very first entry for the article, and its editor has not been here for over ten years. However, looking in Newspapers.com (pay site), there's an article from The Independent, London, March 4, 2005, p.13, which says "Hardly anyone knew of the artwork, which is not mentioned in any of the early books on Raeburn, until it was bought for the nation in 1949. Ellis Waterhouse, then the NGS [National Gallery of Scotland] director, bought it for 525 pounds at Christie's in London." It's worth mentioning that the article was actually reporting on research that claims the attribution is incorrect; that the real creator is Henri-Pierre Danloux, "a little-known French painter." --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:24, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Well done Mr Baseball Bugs, using those details I found this article, which says of the 1949 auction:

Christie’s had on this occasion included a photograph of the picture in its promotional literature and that is likely to be the first time it had ever been reproduced.

It goes on to say that it didn't become really well-known until a London exhibition in 1997, it was not included in a 1972 book of the gallery's best items. I will update the article later. Alansplodge (talk) 13:57, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Phew, I had to add in a new section, The Skating Minister#History. Feel free to edit if anything else comes to light. Great question Wis2fan, we like ones like that! Alansplodge (talk) 20:53, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I appreciate the prompt research and answer. I get curious about offhand statements. Maybe it should be added it was unknown because it was in a private collection or private hands (my assumption). Sorry I forget to sign sometimes. Wis2fan (talk) 04:21, 26 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lead paragraph now amended. Alansplodge (talk) 12:59, 26 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

History of German canning

Hi! I'm trying to find some good sources on the history of canning in Germany, but I'm coming up empty handed. Do you have any recommendations? Best, Tyrone Madera (talk) 20:27, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The best I can do is the briefest of mentions in Food Culture in Germany (p. 21). Alansplodge (talk) 20:59, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Another attempt yields a lot more detail at Foreign Trade in Canned Goods by United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce (1912) pp. 35-43. Alansplodge (talk) 21:10, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

These sources have been helpful; thank you! Tyrone Madera (talk) 17:19, 27 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I found a webpage about a cannery in Wolfenbüttel founded in 1872 by Gustav Busch (a brother of Wilhelm Busch) and partners, said to be one of the first in Germany. It is an excerpt from an article on the cannery published in a book with the title Heimatbuch für den Landkreis Wolfenbüttel 2014. (The cannery is mentioned in Weissweiler's biography of Wilhelm Busch, but only in passing.) --Lambiam 00:29, 26 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This page states that the first canneries in Germany appeared in the 1840s. But here we read that the first German tin cans were manufactured in 1830 by Heinrich Züchner. The firm he founded apparently still exists; it is not a cannery but a wholesaler in packaging goods and materials. The page does not say who the buyers of these 1830 cans were, but writes that in 1886 Heinrich's son Rudolf founded a cannery in Seesen with Heinrich Sieburg, which he left three years later to found his own company. --Lambiam 00:54, 26 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

So cool! Thank you for your help finding these sources! Tyrone Madera (talk) 17:21, 27 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]