Junge aus Wiedensahl (Schusterjunge)

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.

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.

27 March 1871

The “Antonius” trial: a ban and the publisher's acquittal

The state's attorney in Offenburg charged Schauenburg with “vilification of religion and offending public decency through indecent writings”, and the district court of Düsseldorf banned the book; Schauenburg was acquitted on 27 March 1871, but in Austria distribution was prohibited until 1902. Schauenburg refused to publish further Busch satires to avoid future accusations.

1872

“Helen Who Couldn't Help It” appears

The satire on religious hypocrisy and dubious morality was published by Otto Friedrich Bassermann, a friend Busch had met in Munich, and was soon translated into other European languages. Many details are seen as criticism of the Kesslers' way of life: Mr Schmock resembles Johanna Kessler's husband.

1872

Leaves Frankfurt and returns to Wiedensahl

Toward the end of the 1860s Busch alternated between Wiedensahl, Lüthorst and Wolfenbüttel, where his brother Gustav lived. His five years of closeness with Johanna Kessler ended with his return to Wiedensahl in 1872; afterwards they wrote to each other, contact was interrupted from 1877 to 1891 and revived with the help of Kessler's daughters.

1875–1877

The Tobias Knopp trilogy

“Adventures of a Bachelor” (1875), “Mr. and Mrs. Knopp” (1876) and “Julie” (1877): without pathos Busch makes his hero aware of his mortality, and in the first part the bachelor, after visiting married friends, proposes to his housekeeper. According to the biographer Wessling, Busch became sceptical of marriage after writing it: he told Marie Anderson that he would never marry, being in good hands with his sister.