De twee honingdieven

1858–1865

Work for the “Fliegende Blätter” and Kaspar Braun

Busch drew close to the artists' association Jung München (Young Munich), wrote and drew for its newspaper, and the publisher of satirical papers Kaspar Braun proposed a collaboration that gave him enough to live on. Between 1860 and 1863 he contributed more than a hundred pieces to the “Münchener Bilderbogen” and “Fliegende Blätter”.

1865

“Max and Moritz”: Richter declines, Braun buys

Busch offered Richter the manuscript of “Max and Moritz” without a fee, but Richter rejected it as sales prospects seemed poor; his former publisher Braun bought the rights for 1,000 gulden, roughly twice a craftsman's annual wage. The book tells of seven pranks by two mischievous boys who are finally ground up and fed to ducks.

June 1867

From Munich to Frankfurt: meeting his brother Otto

Busch decided to leave Munich, where few relatives lived and the artists' association had been temporarily disbanded; in June 1867 he met his brother Otto in Frankfurt, who was working as a tutor to the family of the banker and industrialist Kessler.

1867–1872

Johanna Kessler — patron and friend

Johanna Kessler, the banker's wife, a mother of seven and an influential patron of art and music whose villa was open to artists, musicians and philosophers, believed Busch to be a great painter — although his humorous drawings did not appeal to her — and gave him an apartment and studio in her villa, later an apartment nearby. Her support and the introduction to Frankfurt's cultural life made the “Frankfurt years” his most artistically productive.

1868

The second edition: “Max and Moritz” begins to sell

Sales were slow at first but improved after the second edition; by Busch's death there had been 56 editions and more than 430,000 copies sold. Critics ignored the book at first, and in the 1870s teachers described it as frivolous and an undesirable influence on the moral development of young people.

1870

“The Life of Saint Anthony of Padua” appears

The satire on Catholic belief was released by the publisher Moritz Schauenburg just as Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility, which Protestants harshly criticised. Scenes of Antonius admitted to heaven with a pig and of the devil, as a half-naked ballet dancer, seducing the saint were deemed controversial.