Carl, Count Brandis, Die Blumen-Monde. Zwölf Blumen-Bilder nach der Natur photographirt von Carl Grafen Brandis; mit Original-Dichtungen von Felix Dahn, dessen Gemalin und Schwester. [The Flower Months. Twelve Flower Pictures Photographed from Nature with Poems by Felix Dahn, his Wife and his Sister] (Wien: Lechner [1891]). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process

While a member of the Amateur Photography Club of Vienna, Carl Brandis prepared 13 heliogravures (including title page) on chine-collé for the Viennese publisher and university bookseller Rudolf Lechner (1822-1895).

Although they appear to be a trompe-l’œil trick, each still life is taken ‘from nature’ with flowers, ferns, and grasses arranged to frame a letterpress poem by Felix Dahn (1834-1912). One arrangement for each month of the year. The loose plates are housed in an elaborate publisher’s cloth portfolio approximately 2 ft tall (64 x 49.5 cm).

In 1893, Brandis received favorable notices for his still-life photography at a Salzburg exhibition, but no other mentions of the artist survive.

Felix Dahn was a German law professor, author, poet and historian. His wife, Therese von Droste-Hülshoff (1845-1929), was also a writer, and a relative of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Dahn’s sister Constanze von Bomhard (1846–1933) was a writer, too, publishing under the pseudonym C. Hirundo.

Exhibition of the Salzburg Amateur Club. On 15 June, it was solemnly inaugurated by Sr. Kaiser Highness Archduke Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Toscana, and surprised the arrangement with its elegance, richness and many really excellent pictures. . . .The number of pictures exhibited is 2000, and since we have only a modest selection here, it may be considered which gigantic production corresponds to this collection. …We can confine ourselves here only to the most outstanding exhibits, and there deserve mention. …; Count C. Brandis with still life. – Photographische Korrespondenz, 30 1893