Flowers for the Faculty

Count Franz Pocci (1807-1876), Viola tricolor: in picture and rhyme (New York: Stroefer & Kirchner, [1876]). Chromolithographs. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-0315Q

Franz Pocci, a high official in the Court of King Ludwig I, was also a musician, artist, and writer. He collaborated with “Papa Schimid”, founder of the Munich marionette theater, designing and painting the sets, curtains, and props, as well as writing a number of the stories. Pocci went on to publish many illustrated children’s books, which can be found in the Cotsen Library and the Graphic Arts division here at Princeton. In Viola tricolor, printed in astonishing chromolithography, Pocci replaces all the faces with flowers. He is responsible for both the art and the verse.



Faculty Professors
Here stand the University chaps,
In their grand official gowns and caps;
And thinks full sure, each learned elf:
“The cleverest here? - ‘tis I myself!”





The Painter at His Easel
Thus many a painter once gay and glad,
Sits before his picture, and says full sad:
“Oh had I but turn’d this work in to cash!”
“But nobody buys since the last great smash!”