Figure 1.-- Adolf Jebens is a German artisdtactive active inthe Baltic area and Russia aswella s Germany duruing the 19th century. Hewasoprimarily a portraitist. We do not know a lot about his body of work. But we have found a portrait of an unidentified boy in a red tunic with gold trim and pantelettes with military toys. (Interrnt listing usually describe this as a red dress.) It was apparently painted in St. Petersburg (1849). This means that he was surely an aristocratic Russian boy. And look at the toys. What boy would not have loved them. I don't think theartist dreamed than up. They proabably are his toys. Unfortunately we have no idea who the boy is.

We have very limited information on German artists Adolf Jebens. We also see his last name spelled as Gebens. Adolf was born in Elbing, a medieval city dating to 1237, located near the Prussian Baltic coast at the time (1819). It was a Hanseatic city. As a result of World War II is is now Elbląg, a Polish city between modern Polish Gdynia and Russian Kaliningrad. He attended the Cöllnische Gymnasium in Berlin. He then went on to study at the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts. Jebens finished his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1836-39). He trained in the studios of Carl von Steuben and Paul Delaroche. He began working as a portrait painter in Elbing, Danzig and Berlin (1839). He to Paris and again trained with Paul Delaroche (1841). He spent time studying in Rome (1842). She participated in the Paris Salon and the Berlin Academy Exhibition. He traveled through Warsaw (then par of the Russian Empire), Danzig and Elbing working as a portraitist for Danzig society (1843-46). Danzig at the time was a German city close to Elbing. Jebens then went to St. Petersburg, the Tsarist capital, He had having some success working as a portraitist for Tsarist society. He began teaching in the drawing school of the Society for the Promotion of the Arts in Saint Petersburg (1848). He was appointed a member of the Imperial Russian Academy of Arts. And then Academician of Genre Painting (1861). During a trip to Warsaw he executed various commissioned portraits of Tsarist soldiers (1863-64). He finally settled in Berlin at a time that Bismarck and Prussia were unifying Germany. We do not know a lot about his body of work. But we have found a portrait of an unidentified boy in a red tunic with gold trim and pantalettes with military toys. (Internet listing usually describe this as a red dress.) Also notice the black fur hat. The boy was apparently painted in St. Petersburg (1849). The year is notable for just after the democratic Revolutions of 1848 which Tsarist Russia helped suppress in Prussia and Austria. This means that he was surely an aristocratic Russian boy. And look at the toys. What boy would not have loved them. Unfortunately we have no idea who he was. I don't think the artist dreamed than up. They probably are his actual toys. Perhaps art historians will know more about this, did artists create non existent artifacts in their portraits at the time? They are certainly out-sized toys. Just look at that cannon! Unfortunately we have no idea who the boy was.

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Created: 11:54 PM 10/14/2025
Last updated: 11:54 PM 10/14/2025