# Trump's portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264 "2023-06-09T20:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/41 "2023-06-12T14:57:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was trying to find the original. According to the Smithsonian’s Art Inventories Catalog, the current owner is ‘Unlocated’. I’m guessing that Ferris’s estate has all the original ‘Pageant of a Nation’ paintings in a warehouse somewhere and is just collecting fees from the various reproductions, even although the copyrights have presumably now expired. [Word to the Kaiser, 1902, (painting). (si.edu)](https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!239159~!0#focus) ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/42 "2023-06-12T15:14:20Z")
He was described as a “distractible doofus” in The New Yorker: > **[What Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire?](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-happens-when-a-bad-tempered-distractible-doofus-runs-an-empire)** > > Donald Trump is reminiscent of Kaiser Wilhelm II, during whose reign the upper echelons of the German government began to unravel into a free-for-all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/43 "2023-06-12T15:29:17Z")
> [@APB](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I was trying to find the original. > > According to the Smithsonian’s Art Inventories Catalog, the current owner is ‘Unlocated’. I’m guessing that Ferris’s estate has all the original ‘Pageant of a Nation’ paintings in a warehouse somewhere and is just collecting fees from the various reproductions, even although the copyrights have presumably now expired. > > [Word to the Kaiser, 1902, (painting). (si.edu)](https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!239159~!0#focus) Are we sure that’s the same painting? Everything I’ve seen names it _Doctrine of Monroe._ ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/44 "2023-06-12T16:47:11Z")
The painting is by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Ferris also painted this spectacular piece: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Capture-of-Blackbeard.jpg/1280px-Capture-of-Blackbeard.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Capture-of-Blackbeard.jpg/1280px-Capture-of-Blackbeard.jpg) “Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard” It was featured as a two-page spread in the American Heritage Junior Library volume _Pirates of the Spanish Main_ and subsequently in the movie _The Goonies_. Sorry, got distracted. Here’s a photo of Roosevelt standing in front of what appears to be the same globe as in the painting: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Teddy_Roosevelt_portrait.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Teddy_Roosevelt_portrait.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/45 "2023-06-12T18:41:57Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Are we sure that’s the same painting? Yes. This is the description from its 1923 copyright registration. > [@](#): > > Word to the kaiser. Roosevelt standing at right with hand on globe, and Dr. Von Holleben at left, in president’s private office. [Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1923 Works of Art, Photos, Prints For the Year 1923 New Series Vol 18 Part 4 : Library of Congress. Copyright Office. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyr184libr/page/94/mode/1up) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264.md?page=2)