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Naval History
Portrait of Adolph Wilhelm Berger

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Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 29.11.2025

Photographer: Carl Wigand (1845-1883). Portrait of Adolph Wilhelm Berger (1829-1898). 1850s. Quarter-plate daguerreotype with gilt-ruled paper surround. Ca. 9 x 7,5 cm. Newly sealed behind glass in modern brown canvas clamshell box with gilt-stamped title "Adolph Berger".

This finely preserved daguerreotype portrays Adolph Wilhelm Berger in the uniform of a Prussian naval officer, bearing the rank of Leutnant zur See II. Klasse. Likely taken to commemorate his promotion in 1855, the portrait was commissioned at the studio of Carl Wigand in Berlin, then one of the city’s leading daguerreotypists. Berger began his naval training in 1848, when he and four fellow cadets joined the U.S. frigate St. Lawrence in Bremerhaven to study American naval practices - part of a broader advisory initiative led by Captain Hiram Paulding to support the development of German naval forces. The mission ended in July 1849 with the cadets’ discharge following the ship’s return to Bremerhaven, as Prussia had entered into conflict with Denmark.
Further instruction followed in 1863-64, when Berger trained aboard H.M.S. Black Prince with the British Royal Navy. He sustained serious injuries during the Second Schleswig War in 1864 while serving on the Arcona. Between 1867-1877, he commanded several vessels, including the Musquito, Niobe, Hansa, Renown, and the armored frigate Friedrich Carl. He ultimately rose to the rank of Vice Admiral, marking a distinguished career in the formative years of the Prussian and later Imperial German Navy. – Tarnishing in edges, otherwise in very good condition.

Lit.: Hans H. Hildebrand and Ernst Henriot. Deutschlands Admirale 1849-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1988.