In spite of the elaborate precautions that were taken–the oaths of
secrecy, the military guards that accompanied the relays of china-clay
to the fortress at Meissen in which the works were established–by the
middle of the eighteenth century, at nearly all the courts of Germany,
imperial, royal, or serene, we find a porcelain manufactory already in
full work. It was the fashion of the day, and took its place, like the
opera company or the stud, in the equipment of an up-to-date
_Residenz-Stadt_. Only one or two of these princely factories survived
the time of turmoil at the end of the century and the Napoleonic
invasions. In no single one of the works can we find that any fresh line
was struck out or any important improvement made either in technique or
in design. The products of these different factories are often to be
distinguished only by the marks they bear, and these marks are as often
as not forgeries. We shall therefore confine ourselves to a somewhat
summary description, pointing out especially the relations of the
different centres to one another. The starting of a new manufactory
generally depended upon the successful bribing of some official or
foreman of works: at the beginning such aid was sought from Meissen,
but later on the assistance came from Vienna or from Höchst, so that on
this ground the relation of the works to one another might be
represented by a rough kind of genealogical tree.
VIENNA.–The beginnings of the factory at Vienna were humble. Claude du
Paquier, a Dutch adventurer, took out a patent for making porcelain in
1718, and with the aid of an enameller and gilder from Meissen, one
Hunger, a man with some knowledge of chemistry, carried on the work on a
modest scale, until in 1744 his factory and his secrets were bought by
Maria Theresa for 45,000 gulden. The Viennese porcelain was henceforth,
until the extinction of the industry in 1864, marked with the Hapsburg
shield, generally in blue, under the glaze (PL. C. 28), with the
addition, after 1784, of a contracted year-mark.
So long as the kaolin from Passau was employed the paste was inferior to
that of Meissen and Berlin, but in later days a better material was
obtained from Bohemia. The most flourishing period was from 1770 to
1790, and in 1780, we are told, there were three hundred and twenty men
employed. In early years the porcelain did not differ much from that of
Dresden, but in 1784, when Conrad von Sorgenthal became director, a new
style was introduced which has made the Viennese in some respects the
typical ware of a bad period. Much attention was paid to the gilding and
to the pigments employed, and the surface of the porcelain was covered
by an elaborate and often gaudy decoration. We are, however, informed by
an eminent German authority that ‘from 1785 to 1815 the Viennese
porcelain among all the manufactures of the time took, from an artistic
point of view, the highest rank’ (Jaennicke, _Keramic_, Stuttgart,
1879). It is in any case remarkable that, during a period of disastrous
war and foreign occupation, so much bad porcelain and good music should
have been produced at Vienna. It was at this time that the chemist
Leithner obtained, for the first time, an intense black from uranium and
perfected the process by which platinum is applied in low relief.
To the same chemist we must also attribute another speciality of the
Viennese porcelain of this time,–the decoration with designs in
polished gold upon a dead ground of the same metal. There are some
elaborately decorated plates at South Kensington which well illustrate
the merits or demerits of this ware. In spite of the early foundation of
the factory, the Viennese porcelain, as a whole, falls into the later
‘sentimental to classical’ period, that contemporary with Marcolini at
Meissen and with the earlier hard paste of Sèvres. The historical
development of the ware is well illustrated in the Industrial Museum at
Vienna, and it may be acknowledged that some success was obtained with
small figures and even life-sized busts. A good deal of cheap and
meretricious stuff made in the numerous private kilns in and around
Vienna in the latter half of the nineteenth century has lately found its
way into the English market.
BERLIN.–The porcelain of Berlin is of some interest to us for two
reasons, one historical and the other of a technical nature. On the one
hand it was thanks to the fostering care of the great Frederick that the
factory first assumed any importance, and on the other it was the great
attention given in later days to choice of materials (together with the
refractory nature of the paste) that led to this pure white ware being
employed above all others in the laboratory of the chemist. As at
Vienna, the origin of the works was humble, and in this case one perhaps
might even say ‘shady,’ if we are to believe the story that it was the
workmen who had stolen from the pocket of Ringler, the arcanist of
Höchst, the papers containing his recipes and private notes, who were
engaged in 1750 by the merchant Wegeli, the first to set up a kiln for
porcelain at Berlin.[160]
The ware that Wegeli made is not important. We find little figures and
groups in imitation of Kändler as well as cups and teapots decorated in
blue, _sous couverte_, with little sprigs; his mark, a W., has
unfortunately been used at other factories. It was indeed rather the
banker Gotzkowski who was the practical founder of the Berlin works, for
Wegeli had abandoned his enterprise at the commencement of the Seven
Years’ War.
German writers are not agreed as to what share should be given to the
king in the removal of the staff and workmen of the Meissen works to
Berlin in 1761. Frederick at that time was hard pressed by his enemies
and in great want of money; in the letter, quoted below, he writes that
he has nothing left but his honour, his coat, his sword, and _his
porcelain_. He has been accused of forcibly removing to Berlin, not only
the workmen, but the artists also and other members of the staff at
Meissen. On the other hand, it is claimed that the removal was
voluntary, and brought about by the offers of good pay made by
Gotzkowski. Frederick at that time had other things to do,[161] and it
was not till the close of the war in 1763 that he purchased
Gotzkowski’s new works for a large sum. He now had leisure to take a
personal interest in the manufacture. About this time the kaolin which
had been previously brought from Passau, in Bavaria, was obtained, of
better quality, from the quarries near Halle which still supply the
Berlin works. The sale of the porcelain was forced with true Prussian
energy: its purchase was obligatory for lottery prizes, to the amount of
10,000 thalers every year, and no Jew could obtain a marriage
certificate except on the production of the receipt for the purchase of
a service of porcelain. It is for this reason that the Berlin ware is in
Germany sometimes known as _Juden porcellan_. Grieninger, a Saxon, was
the practical manager of the works from the time of their foundation by
Gotzkowski to the end of the century. During this period the porcelain
produced differed little from that previously made at Meissen. A shade
of pink, derived from the purple of Cassius, was much admired by
Frederick, and forms the _pendant_ to the famous rose-colour of his
bitter enemy, Madame de Pompadour.
The changes made after this time were chiefly of a practical nature. The
horizontal furnaces were early replaced by the cylindrical type now
generally in use in Europe, and as long ago as 1799 steam power was
employed in the preparation of the materials. The chemist, above all,
has at all times played an important part at Berlin.
Many strange applications of porcelain, some more curious than really
beautiful, were introduced about the beginning of the nineteenth
century. A close imitation of lace and _tulle_, made by dipping into a
specially prepared slip a real tissue which was afterwards burned away,
was a nine days’ wonder when first introduced. (A veiled bust in white
biscuit of Queen Louise of Prussia, now at Dresden, is perhaps the most
famous example of this ware.) Another application of porcelain was to
the ‘transparencies’ or _lithophanie_, in which the design, as seen by
transmitted light, was given by variations in the thickness of the
paste.
The only mark of interest on the porcelain of Berlin is the sceptre (PL.
C. 31), the prized ensign that the electors of Brandenburg bore on their
shield as an emblem of their position as Arch-Chamberlains of the Holy
Roman Empire.[162] It was this sceptre (very slightly indicated on the
earlier examples, and resembling, perhaps intentionally, the Saxon mark)
that the Prince de Ligne observing on his plate, when dining with the
king, affected to take for a sword, and made the occasion of a
‘two-edged’ compliment.
HÖCHST.–The fayence of Höchst, a town lying between Frankfort and
Mainz, had acquired some reputation early in the eighteenth century, and
already, by the year 1720, one of the manufacturers, Göltz, had
attempted to make porcelain. But not until he had obtained the
assistance of a runaway workman or ‘arcanist’ from Vienna, one Ringler
(a name which occurs over and over again in similar connections–see
note, p. 262), was anything of importance accomplished.[163] The kilns
were now rebuilt on the Viennese model, and by the year 1746 porcelain
of good quality was produced. The works had already received many
privileges from the local prince, in this case the archbishop-elector of
Mainz, and about 1778 (or perhaps earlier) the whole establishment was
purchased by him. This prince was a patron of art and fond of display,
so that during his day the manufacture was conducted on a non-commercial
basis. The chief claim to attention of the ware made at Höchst depends
upon the little lifelike figures that were modelled by a clever sculptor
who worked there from 1768 or 1770 to 1780. The work of this Johann
Peter Melchior, who survived till 1825, is preferred by some collectors
to anything made at Meissen. He migrated late in life first to
Frankenthal, and then to Nymphenburg. The wooden models from which he
worked are now much sought after in Germany. It is stated that the
kaolin used at Höchst was obtained from Limoges, but this can only apply
to a comparatively late period. The works came to an end with the
invasion of the French in 1794. The mark, a six-spoked wheel, sometimes
surmounted by a crown (Pl. c. 29), is derived from the arms of the
arch-episcopal see of Mainz,–indeed the Höchst ware is sometimes known
as _porcelaine de Mayence_.
FÜRSTENBERG.–The Duke Karl of Brunswick was one of the earliest German
princes to establish a porcelain factory; this was at the castle of
Fürstenberg, on the Weser. The works were organised about 1746 by the
Baron von Langen, who was something of an arcanist; and from Höchst, in
1750, the assistance of an experienced potter, one Bengraf, was
obtained. Bengraf had to escape by stealth from Höchst, where he had
been in the employ of Göltz, and reached Fürstenberg after many
sufferings and privations. A point of interest in connection with the
porcelain made at a later time at this factory is that flour-spar
(fluoride of calcium) has formed an important element in the composition
of the glaze. In the Museum at Brunswick may be seen more than eight
hundred specimens of this porcelain, and any want of originality is made
up for by the extraordinary variety and number of the different wares
that have been copied. It is not perhaps surprising, in view of the
close family ties existing between the dukes and our second and third
Georges, to find copies of our English soft pastes, especially of
Chelsea. The clarets and maroons of this latter ware were imitated with
some success. A landscape-painter of some local fame, whose works may be
seen in the gallery at Brunswick, one Pascha Weitsch, was employed to
paint views on this porcelain, and good portrait-busts–of Lavater and
of Raphael Mengs, among others–may be found in the adjacent museum. The
factory has continued in operation up to quite recent times. The
Fürstenberg mark, a large F in a flowing hand (PL. C. 30), may be
observed not unfrequently on china in old collections in England. There
was more than one specimen at Strawberry Hill.
LUDWIGSBURG.–We now come again upon the arcanist Ringler. In 1758 he
was tempted away from Höchst by the Duke Karl Eugen of Würtemberg, and
placed at the head of a manufactory of porcelain which had lately been
established at Ludwigsburg, the Versailles or Potsdam of the dukes,
situated some nine miles to the north of Stuttgart. The paste of this
ware is not remarkable for purity of tint, and I do not know whether we
are to believe the statement that the materials came in part from
France. The enamel painting is distinguished by its high finish; on the
gala services made for the court, among wreaths of flowers in low relief
we find carefully painted beetles and butterflies. The little, highly
finished statuettes and groups are of some merit. In the Museum of
National Antiquities at Stuttgart is now to be seen an extensive
collection of porcelain, purchased in 1875 from Herr Murschel, and here
the Ludwigsburg ware can be well studied. The shield of Würtemberg,
with
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXII._ 1. MEISSEN. 2. LUDWIGSBURG.]
its three pairs of antlers, is sometimes found on this ware (PL. C. 35),
but more often the initials of the reigning duke–or (after 1806)
king–with or without a crown (PL. C. 36). It is this last mark that has
probably given rise to the absurd name of Kronenburg by which this ware
is sometimes known among dealers. Soon after 1775, when the dukes
abandoned Ludwigsburg as a place of residence, the factory declined in
importance, but the manufacture lingered on till the year 1824.
NYMPHENBURG.–About the middle of the eighteenth century the electoral
prince, Max Joseph, established some works at Neudeck, on the Au, in
ducal Bavaria, and this factory, it is said, was visited and reorganised
by the ubiquitous Ringler in 1756. In 1758, however, the manufactory was
removed to the summer residence of Nymphenburg, near Munich. Heintzmann
painted landscapes, and other artists copied famous pictures from the
Munich Gallery, on the fine white ground of this porcelain. The
elector-palatine inherited the ducal territory in 1778, and hither, in
1799, came many workmen from Frankenthal when the palatinate was invaded
by the French. This ware is best represented in the National Museum at
Munich. The works are still carried on, but they are now in private
hands. The Nymphenburg porcelain may generally be recognised by the
shield of Bavaria, ‘fusilly’ (PL. C. 35), but this shield takes various
forms and the mark is often very small.
FRANKENTHAL.–Somewhat more interest attaches to the porcelain made at
Frankenthal, a town of the palatinate, not far from Mannheim, if only
because at its foundation we are brought into connection not only with
the earlier German works, but at the same time, indirectly, it is true,
with Sèvres. Here, according to one account, came Ringler, in 1751,
leaving Höchst in disgust, after he had been robbed of his papers and of
his secrets. At any rate, a few years later, in 1755, Paul Antoine
Hannong, a member of a famous family of potters at Strassburg, was
granted a privilege to found here a factory of porcelain. Hannong had
graduated as a porcelain arcanist, and had already fruitlessly
endeavoured to sell his secrets to the authorities at Vincennes. As the
royal porcelain works, on their removal to Sèvres, now began to claim
the monopoly for the whole of France, Hannong was not allowed to set up
his kilns at Strassburg.
The electoral prince Karl Theodor bought the works at Frankenthal in
1761, and devoted himself to obtaining the best artists (Melchior, among
others, was brought from Höchst) and most skilful potters, so that for a
few years the porcelain here produced was in its way as good as any made
in Germany–indeed it was attempted to rival the contemporary work of
Sèvres in the delicacy of the painting and the brilliancy of the
gilding. This ware is always to be associated with the Elector Karl
Theodor, and its glory came to an end when, in 1778, he abandoned the
palatinate on becoming elector of ducal Bavaria. The factory, however,
was not finally closed till about 1800. The most usual mark is the
lion-rampant crowned, from the arms of the palatinate (PL. C. 32); the
initials of Karl Theodor are also found surmounted by a crown (PL. C.
33). There is a curious plate of this ware in the Franks collection; it
bears a Latin inscription (containing a chronogram for 1775) which
states that all the various colours and gilding used at the works are
made use of in the decoration.
FULDA.–Porcelain was probably made at Fulda as early as the year 1741,
but it was only in 1763, or perhaps even later, that the prince-bishop
set up the ‘_Fürstliche Fuldaische feine Porzellan-Fabrik_’ close by
his palace. The daintily modelled and carefully finished ware here made,
marked with a double F or by a cross (PL. C. 37 and 38), is seen
occasionally in English collections. The fireclay as well as the
beechwood for his kilns was obtained from the adjacent volcanic hills of
the Hohe Rhön. As not only the bishop himself but the canons of the
church also availed themselves somewhat freely of their privilege of
appropriating whatever pleased them, as presents to their friends, a
heavy loss was incurred, and the works were closed soon after the death
of the founder.
Porcelain was also made during the latter half of the eighteenth century
at Gotha and several other places in the neighbourhood of the Thüringer
Wald. There are specimens of the ware made at many of these kilns–at
Kloster Veilsdorf, at Wallendorf, at Gross Breitenbach, Limbach, Gera,
and especially at Gotha–in the Franks collection of continental
porcelain. A good deal of common porcelain for table use is still made
at scattered factories in this district.
STRASSBURG.–Without committing oneself to any political _parti-pris_,
we may conveniently say a word of the ceramic history of Strassburg at
this point, although in the eighteenth century the town already belonged
to France.[164] The Hannong family had here from the beginning of the
eighteenth century been making fayence, and this family is of interest
to us as forming a link between the porcelain of Germany and that of
France. Charles François Hannong, probably with the assistance of a
German arcanist, attempted the manufacture of hard porcelain as early as
1721. It was his son Paul Antoine who first entered into negotiations
with the French for the sale of the secret of making hard porcelain.
This was in 1753. Not only did these negotiations come to nothing, but,
as we have already mentioned, Hannong was hampered in his attempts to
establish a porcelain factory in his native town. In 1755 we find him
with the elector-palatine at Frankenthal. After his death in 1760, the
factory at Strassburg was carried on for a time by his son, Pierre
Antoine, but in 1766 the latter went to France and started a factory
first at Vincennes, and later in the Faubourg St. Lazare, under the
patronage of the Comte d’Artois. Later still we find him employed at the
Vinovo works in Piedmont. His eldest son, Joseph Adam Hannong, struggled
on for some time at Strassburg under the protection of the local
magnate, the Cardinal de Rohan. Thus for more than sixty years four
generations of this family played a prominent part in the dissemination
of the knowledge of hard porcelain in Europe, although the actual wares
made by them are of little importance.[165]
The factory at the adjacent town of Niderwiller appears to have derived
its inspiration directly from Meissen. Porcelain was here made from
German clay as early as the sixties. At a later time the works belonged
to the Comte de Custine, and some well modelled biscuit figures, the
clay for which was obtained from Limoges, were then turned out.
SWITZERLAND.–A good deal of porcelain was made in the eighteenth
century both at Zurich and at Nyon, on the Lake of Geneva. The various
wares are well represented in several of the local Swiss museums.
The porcelain of ZURICH belongs essentially to the Saxon group. The
hard, greyish or dead-white paste, and the flowers or landscapes
carefully painted in opaque colours, point at once to the origin of the
ware. The factory was established as early as 1763, with the assistance
of an arcanist, one Spengler, from Höchst. The Swiss poet, Solomon
Gessner, took a great interest in the works, himself painting landscapes
on several pieces. From Ludwigsburg also came Sonnenschein, to model
some clever and lifelike figures. A coral-coloured ware made at this
time was much admired. The Zurich factory did not long survive the
French invasion: it was closed in 1803. This porcelain is marked in blue
under the glaze with a capital Z of German form (PL. D. 49).
At NYON, on the other hand, the influence came from Sèvres, in later
times at least, for on the earlier specimens the tulips, birds, and
landscapes are of a Saxon type. The white ware, _semé de
fleurettes_–blue violets and roses–is perhaps the most characteristic.
There were probably two factories here at the end of the eighteenth
century. Of these the better known one was established by Maubrée, a
flower painter from Sèvres, to whom is attributed the porcelain marked
with a hastily sketched fish in blue (PL. D. 50). Some of the Nyon
porcelain was decorated at Geneva, and at a later date we find more than
one artist of the latter town holding an important position at Sèvres;
indeed under Charles X., a Genevese, Abraham Constantin, who copied the
pictures of Raphael on porcelain, was director of the art school
attached to the royal factory.
HUNGARY.–A factory was established by Moritz Fischer at Herend, in
Hungary, early in the nineteenth century. The porcelain of Herend is of
especial interest to us, for Fischer appears to have mastered the
problem of producing the brilliant and jewel-like enamels of the
Chinese. Some of his imitations of the _famille rose_ are excellent. He
appears to have devoted himself to making coffee-cups and other small
objects for the Turkish market. There is an interesting collection of
his ware at South Kensington. The _rouge d’or_, the green and even the
black grounds of the Chinese are well imitated, but the blue, _sous
couverte_, and the iron red are not so successful. He also imitated the
porcelain of Sèvres and Capo di Monte. Fischer stamped his ware with the
word Herend in very small characters, and the Hungarian coat of arms is
sometimes added over the glaze (PL. C. 39).
* * * * *
At the time of the great porcelain fever of the eighteenth century, of
which the culminating period may be held to be coincident with the Seven
Years’ War (1756-63), the North of Europe–Holland, Denmark, and
Russia–formed part of the great province that had its metropolis at
Meissen, while the southern countries–Spain and Italy (in part)–may be
said to have looked to Sèvres for their inspiration. As for England, its
allegiance was divided, but at the beginning, and certainly during the
best period, the French influence was predominant; and later on, as
regards the materials at least, we struck out a line of our own.
HOLLAND.–There is little of novelty or originality to be found in the
hard-paste porcelain made at this time in the North of Europe. The great
days of Dutch art were over long before the introduction of porcelain
into Holland, and the little that was then made fell readily into the
Saxon school of decoration. Somewhere about 1760 the Count of Gronsfeld
Diepenbroik established some of the Meissen workmen at Weesp. The mark
on this early ware is doubtless derived from the Saxon swords (PL. C.
40). Later, when removed to OUDE LOOSDRECHT, the works were under the
superintendence of a Calvinist _pastor_–his name is given as Moll. The
mark on his porcelain, however, M. O. L., certainly referred in the
first place to the place of manufacture (PL. C. 41). On the death of
the reverend director in 1782 the factory was removed to Amsterdam,
where the porcelain known generally as OUDE AMSTEL–a name that is often
made to include the other Dutch porcelain of the time–was manufactured.
At THE HAGUE, in 1778, a company was formed to make porcelain. This was
under the patronage of the local magnates. They obtained the assistance
of German workmen, and took the well-known badge of their town–a stork
holding a fish in its mouth–as a mark (PL. C. 42). This was painted in
blue _under the glaze_–for the native porcelain at least. In the case
of the foreign white ware, much of which was decorated here–the soft
paste of Tournai especially–the mark was painted _over the glaze_. The
somewhat heavily decorated porcelain of the Hague, painted with
landscapes, sea-pieces, and flowers, is now much sought after by the
Dutch. At the time, however, the competition of both Oriental and German
porcelain, of the enamelled fayence of Delft and later of the English
wares, left little place in Holland for a native porcelain.
SWEDEN.–The fayence and soft-paste porcelain made at Marieberg and at
Rörstrand–both places in the neighbourhood of Stockholm–received their
inspiration from Delft and Sèvres (or rather perhaps from Mennecy)
respectively. Some hard paste was also made at Marieberg about 1780. The
rare specimens of this ware are of considerable artistic merit. Of the
soft-paste Swedish porcelain there are some custard-cups, closely
imitating the Mennecy ware, both at South Kensington and in the Franks
collection. The hard porcelain (and also, it is said, a ware that
appears to be of a hybrid paste) bears as a mark the three crowns of the
house of Vasa (PL. C. 44).
DENMARK.–At Copenhagen there were some early attempts at a soft paste
made by a Frenchman named Fournier about 1760.[166] The mark–F. 5.–on
this ware refers to Frederick V., the reigning king. But the famous
factory of hard-paste porcelain, that has of late years shown so much
enterprise and originality,[167] was founded in 1772 by F. H. Müller, a
chemist and Government official, the materials being obtained from the
island of Bornholm. In this case the German influence came from Meissen,
and also, it would seem, by way of Fürstenberg, for we hear of a certain
Von Lang from that town (probably the Von Langen mentioned above), baron
and arcanist, who helped in the founding of the works. The factory was
taken over by the Government in 1779, and it was long worked at a loss.
The mark of three wavy lines in blue on this ware stands for the Sound,
the Great and the Little Belt (PL. C. 43). The curved mouldings,
radiating in sets of three from a central medallion, sometimes found on
bowls and plates, may also have a similar reference. This latter
decoration is shown well on a bowl at South Kensington, painted with
birds and flowers in gold frames. The handsome _cabarets_ and
dinner-services produced in the eighteenth century belong to the German
school of the time, and have little relation to the more recent
developments about which we shall have a word to say in chapter xxiii.
RUSSIA.–Peter the Great, at the instigation of his friend and ally,
Augustus of Saxony, is said to have projected a manufactory of porcelain
at St. Petersburg, but the scheme was not carried out till the time of
the Empress Elizabeth. This was probably about 1756, or perhaps
earlier, and she doubtless, a few years later, welcomed the Meissen
potters driven out by her mortal enemy, Frederick.[168] Under Catherine
II. these works rose to some importance, and among the many artists and
sculptors attracted to her court, not a few–Falconet, among
others–were employed as modellers or painters on porcelain. But on the
whole the Russian porcelain was influenced more by Saxon models, and we
hear that the gaps in the court services of Meissen ware were so well
replaced by native pieces that the new dishes and plates were not to be
distinguished from the old. The kaolin and the china-stone were derived
from native sources.
After the Napoleonic war the manufacture of gigantic vases, in the style
of those made at Sèvres under Brongniart’s _régime_, was attempted, and
several skilful artists migrated from France. Technically the porcelain
was not inferior to the hard paste of the latter country. The only mark
is the initial of the reigning Emperor or Empress in Russian characters
(PL. C. 46), surmounted sometimes by a crown, but beyond these letters
there is nothing Russian about the ware. The factory, which is still
carried on, has always been an appanage of the court, and its chief
produce has consisted in gala pieces for imperial presents.
Not much seems to be known about a certain Gardner, an Englishman, who
in 1787 organised a porcelain factory at Tver, near Moscow. Some
statuettes with his initials, written in Russian, have been attributed
to him. His name occurs in full, again in Russian letters, on some
small pieces of ribbed porcelain, decorated with green and gold. The
factory seems to have long preserved his name, for on a statuette of a
Russian peasant, in the Franks collection, the words _Fabrika Gardnery_
are accompanied by the initials of Alexander II.
