The professor of the Feyertag School, Herr Mitterer, had done important preparatory work in Munich to gain a favorable decision. My brothers had imparted to him the entire process. He had found that the so-called crayon process, of which I had shown proofs as early as 1799, was best adapted for his purpose of reproducing elementary drawing-lessons, and he had succeeded in inducing the Government to establish a lithographic institute under his direction, in which my brothers were employed as lithographers. To be sure, this was a violation of my franchise; but the reason was that the authorities supposed my brothers to be the owners of the franchise, both on account of the name and because they had conducted the Munich printery for some years in my name.
Freiherr von Aretin counted on the sole use of the franchise, which he had believed to be unassailable when he formed our company and advanced the necessary money; but when in time he complained because the Royal Government as well as private persons established printeries, he received the reply that the art had long ceased to be a secret,—as if a condition of the franchise had been that a useful process must be kept secret. In that case I could not have employed any man either for drawing or printing, as that would have involved the loss of secrecy and thus the loss of the franchise.
My connection with Freiherr von Aretin lasted four years. During this time I turned out a great amount of government work, such as circulars, statistical tables, charts, etc., besides many specimens in various forms of art. At that time the idea was first conceived for the present text-book of lithography, and, indeed, we published the first installment of the sample plates. Still, our enterprise was far less successful than Freiherr von Aretin and I had hoped.
It was very difficult to obtain skillful workmen, especially writers and artists. Even Strixner and Pilotti, whom we had engaged and who worked at producing facsimiles of the Royal Manual Drawing Cabinet, were very slow to gain the necessary perfection and speed. And again we lacked the manager, namely, a man who understood business and knew what to produce and how to sell it.
I myself was heavily burdened, as I had not only to exercise continual supervision of the five presses, but also was practically the only one who could prepare the plates for those presses. Added to this was the fact that the printers were almost all uneducated men, some of whom could not even read, and they spoiled many plates that I had to reproduce. This caused so much loss of time that already was insufficient, that it is no wonder that several presses came to a standstill frequently. Luckily there were government jobs at times that demanded fifteen thousand and more impressions. This enabled me to prepare new material while the presses were busy. On the whole, however, this work had the disadvantage of demanding such speed that usually all the five presses had to work at it, so that, when it was done, they were all at a standstill together, sometimes for weeks; and then the wages, etc., consumed the previous profit, so that in the end little or nothing was left.
Thus it was natural that Herr von Aretin, who was being annoyed at this time by other affairs, began to lose his enthusiasm for lithography. Therefore, when he had to go to Neuburg as Governmental-Director, and could not participate personally any more, and when, at the same time, Herr Gleissner and I obtained situations with the Royal Tax Service, he sold the establishment to Herr von Manlich, the Director of the Royal Gallery, and to Herr Zeller, a merchant.
Although our connection was broken in this manner, and despite the fact that we had not won the expected results, still stone-printing had attained respect and support through Freiherr von Aretin's patronage. We had to thank him for the fact that our institution was praised by the most celebrated native and foreign statesmen, and even by their Royal Highnesses, the Crown Prince of Bavaria and his most noble sister Charlotte, present Empress of Austria. Our beloved Crown Prince wrote on paper with the so-called chemical or stone-ink, "Lithography is one of the most important inventions of the century." And his noble sister wrote the short but eloquent words, "I honor the Bavarians!" These lines were printed on the stone in their presence.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince exhibited so much interest in this Bavarian invention that he condescended to order the sculptor, Kirchmeier, of Munich, to model my bust in plaster, so that in the future, when lithography should have attained an honorable place in the whole public estimation, it could be carved in stone and erected among the most celebrated artists of Bavaria.
In general my connection with Freiherr von Aretin had given me several well-founded prospects for an active and honorable future. He promised that, when his circumstances permitted, he would put me into position to use my entire time only for making useful inventions, for which purpose I should have all the material and workers that I might need. We would then investigate all branches of art and industry, to discover possibilities of improvement. He possessed the true viewpoint, appreciating how I could best be useful to the fatherland, and perhaps to all humanity. I shall ever consider it as my greatest misfortune that circumstances made it impossible to carry out this plan, and thus to justify the great confidence that he reposed in my inventiveness and ability.
A second beautiful hope arose in France, where I was encouraged by Freiherr von Aretin to expect the management of an imperial lithographic institute, with a great financial allowance, Herr von Manlich, and the French artist, Herr Denon, who was in high favor with Napoleon, having made strong efforts to that end. This hope also met disappointment owing to the circumstances of the times.