This is extremely rare lithograph (with hand-colored gouache) depicts Baron Rothschild‘s ironwork Wittkowitz by Moravian Ostrau /in German: Mährisch Ostrau , at the time In Silesia, , now Ostrava, Czech Republic. Since 2002 this ironwork has the status of National Cultural Monument of the Czech Republic.

The ironworks Rudolfshütte in Witkowitz near Moravian Ostrau was founded in 1828 at the suggestion of the Viennese professor Franz Xaver Riepl by the Olomouc Cardinal and Habsburg Archduke Rudolf Rainer. In the meantime, the factory has been expanded to include its own coking plant. In 1836 the first blast furnace was put into operation, two years later the second. In 1839 a rolling mill was added. After formation of a trade union that leased and expanded the hut long term, Baron Salomon Rothschild succeeded in 1843 to incorporate the work of his personal belongings. It was of particular interest to him because of the then current construction of the Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nordbahn. In order to be no longer dependent on the delivery of coal, was begun in 1852 with the construction of a shaft and mined the coal under the factory premises. In 1870, Anselm Salomon Rothschild, Salomon´s son, slowly withdrew from the industrial business. Therefore, in 1873, the Witkowitz mining and metallurgical trade union was founded, in which the Rothschilds held only 51 percent, the Viennese coal wholesaler Wilhelm Ritter von Gutmann but 49 percent. This participation situation remained intact until expropriation in the course of the Aryanization under National Socialism. The works were incorporated into the Reichswerke Hermann Göring and produced v. a. Ammunition and later components for the rocket unit 4 (V2). On October 20, 1942, the expansion to Ostrava-Kunèice began. The "Nová hu�" was later built on the site of the "Südbau" built there. After 1945, the company was taken over in Czechoslovak state ownership and now renamed as Vítkovické železárny Klementa Gottwalda n.p. (VŽKG). The focus in Czechoslovakia during this period was on the construction and expansion of the steelworks in Ostrava-Kunèice and Tøinec, so that Witkowitz was not modernized until the early 1960s with Soviet help. Since 2005, the ironworks belong to the Russian steelworks and conveyor group Evraz group under the name Evraz Vítkovice Steel. On a part of the area Škoda Vagonka a.s. settled.

In 2008, part of the site and some buildings were declared a European Heritage Sit

This lithograph is one of three lithographs of Rothild‘s ironworks in Silesia ( for another two see next and previous items). It was executed ca. in 1850 in the famous German publisher company Rieden&Knippel.

This company was grounded in 1840 in Schmiedeberg/Silesia by famous illustrator, drawer, lithographer and publisher Ernst Knippel (1811-1900) with his business partner Carl Julius Rieden ( 1802-1858).The publishing house Rieden & Knippel published lithographs. It also created about 80 lithographs of Upper Silesian industrial sites. Knippel made the first panorama of the former village and the modern city of Katowice. After the death of Rieden in 1858 Knippel led the publishing house alone. In the 1870s and 1880s, the publisher also produced postcards.

Literature: Thieme/Becker "Lexicon of artists from antique to contemporary", Leipzig, 1999; in -line: Wikipedia , articles about ironwork Wittkowitz of Baron Rothschild in Silesia and about lithographer Ernest Knippel.

Inscription: under the image there is inscription in German, here is translation in English: „ Baron Rothschild‘s Ironwork Wittkowitz, drawing and lithograph by Rieden & Knippel in Schmiedeberg in Schmiedeberg“. Technique: hand- colored (gouache ) lithograph, in original period matt and frame.

Measurements: only image h 17 3/4" x w 11 1/4" (45 x 28,5 cm ), full, matted and framed h 66" x w 20 5/8" (66 x 52,3 cm).

Condition: in very good condition.