David Hess

Caricature by David Hess, published in London under a pseudonym. David Hess (29 November 1770 – 11 April 1843) was a Swiss writer, caricaturist, soldier and politician.

Life Hess was born on 29 November 1770 in Zurich, the son of Johann Rudolf Hess and Martha de la Tour. He grew up on his paternal family's estate, the , in Zurich's Unterstrass district.

Hess saw the invasion of French troops and the end of the Old Swiss Confederation while serving as a captain with the Zurich troops in Aarberg, but did not take part in the Battle of Grauholz. although he was not particularly active in it.

Hess had a wide circle of acquaintances, including Johann Martin Usteri, Johann Gottfried Ebel, the young Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, and Philipp Christoph Kayser. Another target of his many unpublished cartoons were the Zurich government and Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1801 he published a successful collection of caricatures under the pseudonym David Hildebrand.

In addition to his own diary, Hess wrote a biography of Salomon Landolt, the governor of Greifensee. In his entertaining 1818 work "Badenfahrt" (Trip to Baden), Hess described the city of Baden and its baths. He also drew all of its illustrations.

He remained a sharp critic of post-revolutionary conditions and democratic aspirations. In 1832, when protesters of the Industrial Revolution set fire to a mechanical spinning factory in Uster, he commented mockingly:

"You know the people aren't too bright when even in broad daylight, the party in Uster couldn't be celebrated until it were illuminated."