Letter, 1860 Sept. 23 (Karlsruhe, Germany) to Mrs. Mary Barnwell Stuart (Port Royal, S.C.)

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Stuart, James Reeve. Letter, 1860 Sept. 23 (Karlsruhe, Germany) to Mrs. Mary Barnwell Stuart (Port Royal, S.C.)

Letter, 1860 Sept. 23 (Karlsruhe, Germany) to Mrs. Mary Barnwell Stuart (Port Royal, S.C.)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/141188604

Letter, 23 September 1860, of James Reeve Stuart is written from Karlsruhe, Germany and addressed to his mother, Mary Barnwell Stuart, who lived in Port Royal, S.C. The letter discusses James' travels through Germany and the sights he had recently seen while studying at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich and the Karlsruhe Art School. Stuart and his family enjoyed close ties to Senator Robert Woodward Barnwell (the "Rob" referenced in the letter being Robert Hayne Barnwell, the senator's son). Other family members mentioned include George Cuthbert, William Elliott, John Elliott, as well as most of Stuart's siblings. James calls Karlsruhe "the place where I commenced to be a German," but since his traveling partner Rob left Germany to return home, Karlsruhe seems to have lost some of its luster for James: "The last I saw of [Rob] he was standing on the platform of the station at Leipsig which he was to leave at seven. I left at five. To prevent my feeling lonely I determined to do a little sight seeing by myself...." The rest of the letter describes some of the places he visited to stave off his solitude: the Wartburg in Eisenach, where "Luther was shut up for ten months and commenced the translation of the Bible." There James saw "the spot on the wall where the inkstand struck when [Luther] threw it at Satan one night." Also chronicled are trips to Dresden, Ronigstein castle, and Berlin, descriptions of which include impressions of Charlottenburg Palace, the Neues Museum, and elsewhere, with detailed descriptions of the sculpture, paintings, frescoes and other art work. Describing his visit to Leipzig, Stuart remarked to his mother on his negative impressions of the local Jewish community, "The great fair was in progress in Leipsig and the City crammed. There are people from all quarters of the globe there and generally of a rather disreputable appearance especially the Jews, the meanest dirtiest greasiest set you can imagine, wearing cylinder hats and black tight fitting coats to the ankles."

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