The phlegmatic 1862

Eduard Ille made "The Phlegmatic" using pen and brown ink in Germany, sometime in the mid-19th century. The title refers to one of the four temperaments of ancient and medieval medicine. Here, it describes the man at the center of the composition. He appears strangely calm amidst the chaos of a house fire. The print seems to mock middle-class values of the time. Notice how the man saves his pet and trivial possessions such as a framed picture, but disregards the urgency of the blaze. Firemen rush in to combat the flames, but he remains detached. This was a time of great social change in Germany, with industrialization and urbanization transforming traditional ways of life. Ille’s satirical work can be examined through journals, newspapers, and popular literature of the period. These can reveal more about the social anxieties and cultural debates that shaped artistic production.