Since time immemorial, the city of Munich has been praised for the charm of its women. More than 200 years ago, the enlightener Johann Pezzl enthused: “I have never found so many beautiful women and girls in one place anywhere!” And on their cheeks he even saw lilies and roses blooming. But the most beautiful girls must have lived in the Oberland at the time, where the fresh air and the physical work made the female faces shine quite enchantingly. There was a good reason why so many painters rushed to Miesbach, Schliersee and Tegernsee to portray these beautiful women full of life. Which, in turn, encouraged the ladies of Munich’s chic crowd to orient themselves stylistically on them and to wear the once derided peasant costume as leisure wear.
The singer Elisabeth Eglgraser (1790-1865), who was to become famous as Fischerlisl, embodied the ideal of the “beauties from the Oberland” as described by travel writers. The sign of their inn from 1822 hangs in the local history museum in Schliersee. It is emblazoned with the words “Zur Fischer Lisl. Ala Donna del Lago”.
The folklorist Ulrike Tress noticed this sign for the first time when she was on guard duty in the Schliersee local history museum. The scene painted on a wooden panel in the semi-darkness of the attic immediately caught her attention, she recalls. A young woman in traditional Schliersee costume can be seen in the center of the picture. “I was fascinated by this motif because the girl is rowing two men across the lake, one with a guitar and the other with a painter’s portfolio,” says Tress. And that’s not all: “The young people seem as if they are celebrating a triumph over moral concepts and the worries and duties of everyday life.”
What is particularly astonishing is the image of women that is expressed here in the conservative Biedermeier era. Tress wondered how it came about and who the woman in the picture actually was. This aroused her scientific ambition, even if the sources were scarce and the research proved to be tough. The quest to find out everything about this woman took many years, but it was worth it. Because now Tress was able to self-publish a biography that is rich in content, beautifully designed and also exciting, in which the author clearly works out why the Fischerlisl is considered an icon of Bavaria.
In 1822, when the picture was completed, Elisabeth Schrädler, who had been married to Eglgraser since 1818, ran an inn on Schliersee with her husband. The scene can be seen as a throwback to the free life of her youth, says Tress. That they and not the men row is not unusual. As the daughter of a fisherman, she was used to dangling across the water in a boat. The fact that women also did such work was particularly fascinating for the men from the city.
Women in the tavern: monumental painting of the beer girl Coletta Möritz as Schützenlisl (1881).
(Photo: Johannes Simon)
“The Fischerlisl embodied the image of a strong, free woman from the people who didn’t want to conform to the traditional role of her time,” says Tress. From the singing-loving “Donna del Lago” developed an emancipated landlady who became a role model for many other Liesl or Kathi. On the Königssee near Berchtesgaden, the beautiful “Schiffer-Cathy” allegedly even carried the Bavarian king. The fisherwoman from Lake Chiemsee, on the other hand, brought many an artist to the most beautiful corners of the lake. Even at the Munich Oktoberfest, the names of large festival tents such as Schützenliesl and Fischervroni are reminiscent of the tradition donated by the Fischerlisl.
Speaking of Munich. Born in 1790, Elisabeth often came to the residential city as a young girl to visit the Dulten. According to Tress, it was no coincidence that she of all people embodied the ideal of country life. She was beautiful and talented, and as the daughter of the court fisherman Schrädler, she certainly enjoyed an elevated position.
Young artists painted them, poets sang about them, writers described them. This is how the public image of Fischerlisl was formed, who became a self-confident and independent landlady and woman. “She lived extremely freely – first as a beautiful girl, later as a seasoned patriarch,” says Ulrike Tress. Crowds of guests visited her in her inn, including the first Bavarian King Max I. They all wanted to see her up close. Thanks to the lithographic printing technique developed in Munich in 1803, her portraits quickly spread. Only King Max II was less impressed by her. It is said that he fled during his visit after the aging Fischerlisl had gotten too close to him with her hug and her stories.
The court painter Joseph Karl Stieler, a childhood friend of Fischerlisl, also encouraged the creation of the Bavarian myth. He originally painted the “Lieserl vom Tegernsee Portrait”, which now hangs in the Wright Museum in Wisconsin, for King Ludwig I’s gallery of beauties. Ulrike Tress thinks it’s possible that he had the Fischerlisl from Schliersee in mind.
Ulrike Tress: The Fischerlisl from Schliersee. Icon of the Bavarian myth. Self-published 2022, 28 euros.