young king ludwig II

After being raised in an ancient castle in the Bavarian Alps near Swan Lake (I am not making this up), Ludwig’s harsh and authoritarian father died, leaving Ludwig the throne when he was only nineteen.

Not much interested in affairs of state, the boy spent his time taking midnight train rides, building fairytale castles, and commissioning operas from the volatile composer Richard Wagner.

Eventually the Swan King’s ministers tired of his extravagances, and had him declared legally insane. Three days later he was found mysteriously drowned in der Starnberger See.

I’m still working on the color sketches for this, but I thought I’d post it in B&W for now.