Chronology

1820

Birth of Carl Haag on 20th April in Erlangen as the second son of master baker Johann Christoph Haag and his wife Barbara, née Weber.

1826

First day of school in the boys' primary school Erlangen-Neustadt.

1828

Father's death. Move to Frauenaurach.

1833

Completion of schooling and confirmation in Frauenaurauch, followed by apprenticeship as a porcelain painter in Nuremberg.

1834

The family moves to Nuremberg, entry to the Royal Polytechnic School.

1836

Enrolment in the Nuremberg Art School, director: Albert Reindel.

1839

First exhibition in the Albrecht Dürer House, Nuremberg.

1841

Member of the Albrecht Dürer Society, Nuremberg, art exhibition in the Nuremberg Burg.

1842

Exhibition in the Albrecht Dürer Society. Mother, brothers and sister move to Frauenaurach. Haag is living on the Lorenz Square in Nuremberg.

1843

Portrait painting. First journey to Munich.

1844

Last exhibition in the Albrecht Dürer Society. Move to Munich, Arcisstrasße 16.

1845

Studies of the works of Cornelius, Kaulbach and Rottmann. Does not enrol at the Art Academy. Success with miniature portraits. Commissions from Duke Max in Bavaria. Sponsorship by Graf Tascher de la Pagerie, the Baroness of Buseck and the Countess de Lalaing.

1846

Summer in Franconian Switzerland. Departure for Paris, but until the Spring of 1847 remains in Brussels. Visits to Gustaaf Wappers and Louis Gallait.

1847

First journey to London, visit to the Old Royal Watercolour Society exhibition. Experiments with colours. In the Autumn for the first time to Italy, Winter in Rome. Miniature portraits exhibited in the National Academy New York.

1848

Living in London, 10 Shaftesbury Terrace. Enrolment in the Royal Academy of Arts. Friendships with Julian Harney and Ferdinand Freiligrath. Accident when handling gunpowder. Right hand operated on by Dr. Prescott Hewett.

1849

Recommences study of painting and exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts. Sponsor: Edward Douglas-Pennant (Lord Penrhyn).

1850

Associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society, first exhibition there, annually further exhibitions. Travels to Oberwesel on the Rhine. In the Autumn to Nuremberg, Mittenwald, to the Wetterstein mountains and the Tyrol. Detour to Lake Lucerne.

1851

Brother Conrad Weber is a divisionary vet, first class with the 2nd Artillery Regiment in Wurzburg. Mother, brothers and sisters move to Wurzburg. Journey to the Bavarian Alps. Probably Winter in Munich.

1852

Journey to the Tyrolean Jachenau and the Karwendel mountains. In Hinterriß meeting with Prince Karl III of Leiningen (Queen Victoria's half-brother) and Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha (the Queen' brother-in-law). To Venice and Rome, to Pompeii and the Gulf of Napes, Winter in Rome.

1853

Visit to the islands of Procida and Ischia, in the Spring return to London. Member of the Royal Watercolour Society as the first non-British citizen. Invitation from Queen Victoria to the Scottish Castle of Balmoral. Encounter with the photographer Dr. Ernst Becker.

1854

Appointment as court painter to Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Cobourg and Gotha. Journey to Dalmatia and Montenegro. Winter in Venice.

1855

Living in London, 1 Golden Square. In the Autumn to Rome for almost two years. World exhibition in Paris.

1856

Member of the German Art Society, Rome, president of the Cervaro Artists' Festival at Castel Guibileo. Excursions to the Albanian and Sabine mountains, to the Campagna and to Tivoli.

1857

From Rome to Munich. Winter in Munich, Singstraße 31. Exhibitions in London and Manchester, World exhibition in Paris.

1858

Friendship with Franz Hanfstaengl in Munich. In the Autumn, journey to the Orient via Athens, Smyrna and Alexandria to Cairo. Sharing lodgings and studio with Frederick Goodall in the Coptic Quarter. To the Pyramids and Suez on the Red Sea. Winter in Cairo.

1859

To Jerusalem. As one of the first non-believers in the Dome of the Rock. From Jerusalem to Samaria and Galilee, Nablus, Nazareth and Tiberias. At Mount Tabor with Sheikh Aqil Agha. On to Damascus, encounters Roden Nöel and Emily Beaufort. With Lady Jane Digby and her husband Sheikh Medjuel el-Mesrab to Palmyra. From Damascus to Baalbek, by ship from Beirut to Cairo.

1860

En route in Cairo and on the Nile, then return to London. Living first in 6, Chesterfield Street, then in 16 New Burlington Street. Exhibition of pictures of the Orient. Becomes a British citizen, member of the volunteer regiment The Artists' Rifles.

1862

Journey to Regensburg, to the Chiemsee, the Berchtesgaden Alps and the Hoher Göll.

1863

Again with Queen Victoria in Balmoral. Founding member of the Arts Club.

1864

Purchase and refurbishment of the Red Tower in Oberwesel. Summoned by the Queen to Balmoral. Returns to Oberwesel for the topping-out ceremony. Honorary member of the Brussels Société Royale Belge des Aquarellistes. Winter in Oberwesel.

1865

Moves into the Red Tower. Queen Victoria passes the tower in her special train. Journey to Luneburg. Encounter with Ida Juliane Büttner, daughter of the town commandant Anton Wilhelm Büttner. Engagement. Winter in London.

1866

Marries Ida Büttner on 16th May in Luneburg. Death of his mother Babette Haag in Wurzburg. Purchases a villa in the London suburb of Hampstead.

1867

Moves into the Ida Villa in Hampstead, 7 Lyndhurst Road. World exhibition in Paris. Birth of son Victor, Queen Victoria's godchild.

1868

Birth of son Emil. Member of the Burlington Fine Arts Clubs. Exhibition in Leeds.

1869

Founding member of the German society for art and science, German Athenaeum. International art exhibition in Munich.

1870

Birth of daughter Erna. Haag's fiftieth birthday. Brother Conrad sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for wrongful use of horse feed.

1871

Charitable exhibition in aid of widows and orphans of the 1870/71 war. Birth of son Norman.

1872

Conrad Weber is pardoned. Journey to Wellmersdorf near Cobourg.

1873

Exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts. Second travels to Egypt and Nubia. Medal of honour for Danger in the Desert at the Vienna world exhibition. Winter in Cairo.

1874

Cairo: awarded the officer's cross fourth class of the Medjidieh order by the Ottoman empire. Return to London. Death of brother-in-law Albert Büttner in Cape Town.

1876

Solo exhibition in the German Athenaeum, London, with 88 works. Berlin academic art exhibition.

1877

Summer in Oberwesel. Participation in the imperial festival of the Dusseldorf artists' society. Journey to Copenhagen. Death of father-in-law Wilhelm Anton Büttner in Luneburg.

1878

Journey to Paris for the world exhibition. Created knight of the French Legion of Honour. Family holiday in Bevensen, Luneburger Heath. To Antwerp for the artists' festival.

1879

International art exhibition in Munich.

1880

Exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts, again the following year.

1882

Member of the Royal Society of British Artists. Bavarian state and art exhibition in Nuremberg. Exhibition in the Grosvenor Gallery.

1883

Introduced to the Rhineland manufacturing family Reusch, St. Goar by the painter Christian Böttcher. Exhibition in the Royal Society of British Artists.

1885

Solo exhibition on the occasion of his 65th birthday in the London Goupil Galleries with 215 exhibits.

1886

Member of the Committee of Council on Education to investigate the durability of watercolour pigments.

1887

Royal Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester. Awarded the Commander's Cross second class of the Order of Saxe-Ernestine. Acclaimed in Men of the Time. Death of brother-in-law Julius Büttner in Mobile, Alabama, USA.

1888

Exhibition in the Royal Society of British Artists.

1889

Journey to Friedrichroda. Composes the Notizen über meine künstlerische Carrière und sonstiges Leben (Notes on my artistic career and other life) in Schloss Reinhardsbrunn. Failed attempts by Duke Ernst to elevate Haag to the Bavarian aristocracy. Son Norman is a law student in Lausanne.

1890

Purchase of the neighbouring Keßler house in Oberwesel. Vice-president of the R.W.S. Hubert von Herkomer portrays Carl Haag. Son Emil is a second lieutenant in the 18th Royal Hussars in British India.

1891

Silver wedding anniversary. Acclaim for Haag in John L. Roget's History of the Old Water-Colour Society. Death of Dr. Prescott Hewett.

1893

Death of Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Cobourg and Gotha. Awarded the Cobourg-Gotha Cross of Merit for Art and Science. Awarded the Bavarian St. Michael Order of Merit. Norman enters the United Kingdom consular service.

1894

Godson Karl Weber becomes head of the Nuremberg Bauamt. Death of brother Fritz in Wurzburg.

1895

Norman Haag becomes British Vice-Consul in Cherbourg, France.

1897

Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles (Brussels international exhibition). Death of brother-in-law Dr. Clemens Büttner.

1898

Jubilee exhibition in Vienna.

1899

Emil Haag is wounded three times in the Boer War. Haag's last visit to Queen Victoria.

1900

Memorial plaque mounted on the house where Haag was born in Erlangen, Theaterstraße 2 to commemorate his 80th birthday. Exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

1901

Final painting: self-portrait in a gilded frame, presented to Haag's home town. Honorary Retired Member of the R.W.S.

1902

Final R.W.S. exhibition in London.

1903

Moves in July permanently to the Red Tower in Oberwesel. Birth of great-niece Gusti Haag in Wurzburg.

1904

Emil Haag trains as an interpreter in the Camberley Military Academy in Surrey.

1907

Last journey to Wurzburg to visit relatives.

1909

Erna Haag's marriage to the East Indies trader Edward Darrel Kilburn in Hampstead.

1910

Renaming the Talstraße in Erlangen as Haagstraße to celebrate Haag's 90th birthday.

1911

Death of Ida Haag on 27th December in the Red Tower. Cremation three days later in Mainz. Internment in St. Michael's graveyard in Luneburg on 16th February 1912.

1914

After the start of the war, Victor Haag, as a British citizen, is interned in the Ruhleben camp near Berlin. Emil Haag is a major in the South Wales Mounted Brigade in Carmarthen. Normal Haag is transferred to the London War Office, later becomes Consul in Flushing.

1915

Death of Carl Haag on 17th January in the Red Tower in Oberwesel. Funeral procession to the station on 21st January with great sympathy expressed by the people of Oberwesel. Cremation in Mainz. Ashes scattered by his grandson Ian Haag in May 1953 at the foot of the tower.