Wallerstein, Romantic Road

Wallerstein came into existence in 1238 when it was initially known as Steinheim. Originally owned by Emperor Barbarossa, ownership was transferred to the House of Oettingen in 1250. The Oettingens developed the town and brought prosperity to it until they lost their independence in 1806, when the town was incorporated into Bavaria.

Wallerstein is a small town which, together with its neighbouring villages, totals a mere 3,400 residents. However, Wallerstein has a notable inhabitant, William Von Moll Berczy, born in the town in 1744 and passed in 1813 in New York City. William was regarded as the founder of the city of Toronto, Canada. He was originally named Johann Albrecht Ulrich Moll, but changed his name upon marriage.  In 1792, he sailed to America, and although he settled in Philadelphia, he eventually set up a business in York, Upper Canada, which today is known as Toronto. William helped build homes in York and also the nearby town of Markham.

William was an accomplished painter, and one of the significant stories told is by the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) and its rival, the North West Company (NWC), both Canadian companies. Back in 1805, NWC commissioned William to paint a portrait of Admiral Nelson, who at that time was regarded as the greatest British naval officer, to bolster the spirits of the company’s fur traders. However, Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar in the same year, and, with an outpouring of sympathy in Quebec, Canada, the company decided to commission a complementary painting depicting the battle. Basing his paintings on the works of other master painters, William went big. He wanted his paintings to be on a large scale and ended up using canvases measuring 7x4ft (2.1x1.2m). The completed paintings hung in NWC's office until its merger with its nemesis, HBC, when they were transferred to HBC’s corporate office and added to its corporate art collection.

However, this story does come with a bit of mystery. The paintings were never signed, and the painter, being William, was unidentified. Whilst the paintings were handed down and had significant historical importance, it was on the basis that the artist was, at the time, anonymous. So begins the unravelling of the mystery, or as a 1948 article called it, “The Riddle of the Paintings”.

The search for the original artist began in the 1900s, when a senior staff member wrote an article in a magazine asking whether any former HBC officers knew anything about the artist. Unsuccessful, the paintings moved around, became neglected, until, in 1948, curiosity raised the question again to no avail. Suggestions were made that the paintings may have been by the artist Dulongpre. However, that was also debunked when the style of the leaves and flowers on the canvas was eventually matched to another family portrait known to have been painted by William. It was not until 1991, when a piece of correspondence dated 1807 written to William was discovered. The letter said: “…the large and monumental picture of Lord Nelson was to be completed in three weeks. I congratulate you on this.” And with this, a century-old mystery was finally solved.