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HBC has so far acquired only limited information on German artists who have painted interesting works illustrating boys' fashions. One of the most important was Winterhalter, a favorite of Queen Victoria. His portraits, however did not concentrate on Germans. We have also noted a few images that are not attributed to specific artists, but are dated. With the German artists, nationality can be complicated. There were a large number of German states with the Holy Roman Empire and klater the German Confederation. There were also German speakers living outside Germany oproper, especially in Switzerland. Before the 19th century, some of these artists may have looked in themselves as Germans. Ther was also Austria which after the Ausrtro-Prussian War (1866) was exccluded by Bismarck from Geramny, but where many which historically has been an essential part of Germany.
The Swiss artist Albert Anker painted many school pictures. In one painting, 'Die Dorfschule' (1848), the boys in a class are playing and misbehaving while the girls behaving like they should. Another of his paintings is called "Dorfschule im Schwarzwald" (1858).
The paintings provide a woinderful view of what school was like fir German children in the mid-19th century.
HBC has been unable to find any information on this minor German artist. We know he painted in the early 19th century as we had a portriat done in 1838. Germany of course did not exist in the early 19th century. We do not know what German state he was from. His art rather stadles the chasm between primitive/naive art and a great portratist. He is of interest becaise he is German, and we have realtively few German artists. In addition, his portrit gives us insight not only in Germany, but into the 1830s which is the decade before photograpohy which HBC still has only limited information.
Heinrich/Notker Becker is not a major German artist, but does have a fascinating biography. Heinrich was born in Mülheim, Ruhr (1883). We know nothing about his childhood. The Ruhr was the industrial heart of Germany. He grew up in Cologne, where as youth he also completed an apprenticeship in of all places, a locomotive factory. This was not an nunusual in the heavily industrialized Ruhr, but is rather unusual for an artist. He had no artistic training as a youth. He entered the Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach as a lay brother and was given the religious name Notker (1903). He was both artistically and technically gifted. He began wirking as assistant to the architect Father Ludger Rincklake and the painter Father Andreas Göser (1863-1925). As part of that association, he was involved in the construction of the monastery churches in Gerleve and Eibingen. His primary involvement was with the huge apse mosaics that Father Andreas Göser created in Maria Laach. With the training he received, Becker began completing is own works, both seculat portraits and religious works. He produced both paintings and glass windows. His paintings are said to be influenced by the the Beuron art school. Twonportaits of children are said to be skeches created to model church staine glass windows. He became famous for his church art and was awarded important German and important commissions.
German painter Lucas Cranach (the Elder) takes his name from the small town of Kronach in South Germany, where he was born. Very before the turn of the 16th century. He settled in Vienna and began working in the intelectual circles associated with the newly founded university. Cranach went to Wittenberg as court painter to Frederick III (the Wise), Elector of Saxony. It was there he painted matching portraits of a Saxon Prince and Princess.
Theodor Dengler was born in Germany (1867). He seems to be a very popular artist. We noticec several internet sites dealing with sales of his paintings. We have not, however, been able to find any biographical information. Hopefully HBC readers will be able to find some information about Dengler. We belirve he painted mostly portraits. Dengler painted in a realistic style. Thus his portraits are a superb record of period fashions. Of course photography by the time Dengler worked provided many such images. Dengler's work provides the added insights of color. We notice a beautiful portrait of an unidentified mother and child. We are not sure how to date it, we believe the 1890s. Most art sites describe the child as a 'daugghter', but without the names there is no way to be sure about gender. Thinking back to the Renoir painting of Madam Duberville, the 'girl' with a hoop, etc, we wonder if the child is infact a boy. The child weaers a white dress with a blue sash. Notice the huge back bow. The chikd hs long haie, but not surked into ringlets. There is a small shoulder bow. The out fit is completed with blue three-quarter socks and brown high-top shoes. We know that white dresses were very common for younger childre, including boys. And we know that girls as well as boys wore white dresses with blue sashes. One reader asks, "Weren't wide sashes worn by boys?" This we are not sure about, but is something we will consider in our dress section.
Albrecht Dürer was born at Nuremberg in 1471. He was first a goldsmith, travelled around the country and to Italy. He married Agnes Frey. They had no children. He is regarded as one of the famous painters between MiddleAges and the Renaissance. He is noted most for religious motives but he also did landscape and portraits as well of studies about proportions of the human body. Perhaps his most famous drawing is "Praying hands". He did a self portrait of himself as a youth. He did it while looking into the mirror at the age of 13 or 14. Notice the interesting clothing!
A.L. Eckardt was a listed German artist. He apparently worked with Dresden porcelin factories. His portraits were done in porcelin and then hung like regular painted portrasits. We note a pair of portraits from a Denver family. We wonder if the family visited Dresden. Or perhaps just sent photographs to Dresden. The two porcelins were done by KPM. We are not entirely sure why a mother would want a porcelin rasther than a painted portrait. Perhaps she loved fine porcelin.
Fritz Freund was born in Darmstadt and died in Miesbach but studied in Munich. Fritz grew up in Munich. His father was Hugo Freund, a bank manager. He studied law largely as a result of his father's advice, but his interests were more with art. He studied art at the Munich Academy with Gabriel von Hackl, Nicolaus Gysi and William of Lindenschmitt. He joined the Munich artists' cooperative (MCG). His work was at first highly realistic, but we was influenced by the impressionists in his later work. He became acquinted with the Miesbach area after spending a summer there. He subsequently moved his family to a villa there (1900s). His work then was generally set in Miesbach or theenvirons. He painted a beautiful altar piece for the Evangelical Church of the Apostles there. The internet seems to be of various minds about the exact date of his death. One site suggests that he lived until 1942. He was obviously something of a realist and was fond of depicting German social scenes. Probably his best known painting is entitled "The Snowball Fight"--a canvas in which the boys safte school have launched into a massive snowball fight in the street outside the schoolyard. (We suspect thsat throwing sbowballs was prohibitedf in the schoolyard.)
We hknow nothing about Robert Gottshalk, a German artist of the 1930s, at this time. We have one of his painting. It is a portrait of an unidetified German boy wearing a blue sweater with a white-collared shirt underneath, dark blue short trousers, and grey long stockings. He also wears strap shoes. He is depicted with one of his toys, a doll dressed as
Harlequin, a famous comic figure from the tradition of commedia del arte. The portrait is dated 1932 and is probably a good representation of boys' clothing in the early 1930s.
Bernhard Gutmann created beautiful paintings using the palette of an Impressionist, brilliant colors laid down in the bold and broad brush strokes of the Post-Impressionists. Some of his works include children in depictions of everyday life. Bernhard was born in Germany during 1869 and arrived in New York City at the age of 23. Within a few years he would work his way up to Superintendent of Drawing in Public Schools, marry a wealthy heiress, open a studio in Paris, show his own works throughout the world and become Regional Director for The Public Works of Art Project. However, it isn't until a renewed interest in his work in the 1980's that he was referred to as "the American Gauguin".
Carl Adolf Henning (1809-1900), was a German painter active in Berlin during thre Biedermeier period. He was the son of a court Kapellmeister (choir master). He graduated from the Berlin Academy (1823). He traveled in Italy with fellow painter Heinrich Mücke to study the great master works (1833-35). He returned to Berlin to launch a successful career as a portraitist. We see both full sized and small portraits. He also painted of historical and mythological subjects. He was elected a member and professor at the Berlin Academy (1839) He married Marie Jordan (1816-99) (1836). His brother-in-law and friend was another painter Rudolf Jordan. He was a highly competent portatist. Some art critisize his porrtaits as overly sweet. Given his long life, we have only found a relatively few portraits.
Hans Holbein the Younger has provided us a glimpse of a 16th century school (1516). The sign painted here was done quickly as a favor for a friend when Holbein was very young. Holbein was in fact become one of the great portraitists of all time. Hans was born in Augsburg, Germany (197/98). His father was also a painter--Hans Holbein the Elder. Hans and his brother Ambrosius learned their craft in their father's studio. Their father sent the youths to Basel to work under the directiin of Hans Herbster (1514). While in Basel, Holbein met the famed humanist--Erasmus. He would paint a masterful portrait of Erasmus. Holbein went to Luzern where he decorated the house of the magistrate (1517). He then traveled to Italy to see the work of the great Itakin Renaissance masters (1518). Holbein was accepted as a member of the painters' guild in Basel (1519). He was by this time recognized as a master artist. He married Elsbeth Binsenstock. The Reformation and resulting fighting and dislocation affected Basel and Holbein could no longer prosper there. He decided to move to England (1526). He had letters of introduction from Erasmus. Here with is reputation he found lucrative commissions. One of his great works is the portrait of Sir Thomas Moore, at the time Lord Chancellor. Holbein died of the plague (1543).
Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen was a prolific and popular German genre artist who painted imahes idealizing peasant childhood. Meyer von Bremen was born in Bremen (1813). While he is bst known fir his images of pesant children, especially toubg girls, he also at differebt stahes painted Biblical and family scenes and his ltest reincarnation painted genre scenes of young women. At the age of 21 years he went to Düsseldorf to study at the Academy of Art under Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow (1834). He and others became known as the Düsseldorf School. Meyer opened a studio (1841). As he attrcted increasing attention, he moved to Berlin (1853).
He at first focused on stasndard Biblical scenes which were popular at the time. His second interation was everyday life, primsrily expressed Hessian peasantry scenes. Works include ‘The Jubilee of a Hessian Pastor’ (1843), ‘Christmas Eve,’ ‘Blindman's Buff,’ ‘The Soldier's Return,’ ‘The Inundation’ (1846), and ‘The Repentant Daughter’ (1852). He eventually began concentrating on young girls. These are the scenes for which he is today best remembered. Among his best known works are 'The Little Flower Girl (1853)', ‘The Fairy Tale,’ ‘Children Playing Blindman's Buff,’ and ‘Grandfather and Grandchild’. Many are execulted with smypathy and humor. He did not focus on poverty, but did address it with 'Begger Children' (1880), near the end of his career. His third interation was poignet images of young women These works include ‘The Tryst’. ‘The Love Letter’, ‘The Letter’ (1873).
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim was born in Hanau (1800). Hanau was part of Hesse. Germany would not unify until late in Oppenheim's life. He is commonly seen as the first modern Jewish artist. There were rlativly few Jewish artists ntil the 10th century. Mosaic disapproval of human depictions discouraged Jwish representationl art. During his era Jews began converting in substantil nimbrs atvaime in which Grmans states began incremntal rnfranchisement. During his lifetime only in America did Jews have full civil rights. He was part of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. We do not know a great deal about his childhood. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. His artistic abilities were noted at an early age. He received his first lessons in painting from Conrad Westermayr in Hanau. He enteres the Munich Academy of Arts at the age of 17 years which is interesting because Bavaria still have bery restictiv laws governing Jews. He travekled to Paris where he studid under Jean-Baptiste Regnault. H then went to Rom , studying with Bertel Thorwaldsen, Barthold Georg Niebuhr, and Johann Friedrich Overbeck. From this earliest point he tool an interest in Jewish topics. He made sketches in the Jewish ghetto there. He painted some of these scenes after returning to Germny. He settled in Frankfurt (1825). His first major wirk, 'David Playing Before Saul"mwas well received. Goethe was an admirer. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach conferred the title of honorary professor on him, an early sign of Germany's move toward tolerance/ .
Czech artist Leopold Pollak was born in Lodenitz (1806). This is a town in what is now the Czech Republic. At the time it was in Bohemia, part of the Austrian Empire which was under fire from Napoleon's French Empire. Leopold's father was a prosperous Jewish merchant. His talent for drawing was noted as a child. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1819). He studied under the Director of the Academy Joseph Bergler for 5 years. He wnt on to study in Vienna under Johann Peter Krafft. His parents helped him move to Rome so he could finish his artististic education (1831). He studied under an established German arist, Leopold Schutz. He quickly joined the circle of German-speaking artists in Rome (1832). This was a natural development as Bohemia at the time was part of the German cultural sphere. It is difficult to define his nationality. He was born in Austrian Bohemia as part of a Jewish family raised in a German cultural meliu, and painted primarily in Italy (the Roman Papal States). Pollak was a founding member of the Deutscher Kunstler Verein (Federation of German artists). Much of his work was thus done in Italy. He was particularly known for charming genre images.
Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow was a German romantic painter. He was born in Berlin during a time of enormous change (1789). At the time this was part of the kingdom of Prussia. He was the second son of the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow, who designed 'The Berlin Quadriga'.
His father gave him his first instruction in drawing as a boy. When he became interested in painting, he studued under Friedrich Georg Weitsch (1758-1828), a well established artist. He served as a soldirr in the Prussian Army (1806-07) This was during disastrous Fourth Coalition in which Austria nd Prussia were decisively defeated by Napoleon. None of this, however, shows up in his art. Rather we see a lot of Christian-themed works. Aftr his military experience, he went to Rome with his older brother Rudolph. He became one of the most important painters in the the Nazarene movement. Prussian was a Protestant country, bur Schadow dcided to vonet to Ctholcism seeing thazt as how is art wa leading him whicvh he lectured and wrote about.
Schadow developed paintings for churches. In 1826 he was made director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf which he reoriented towards the production of Christian art (1=826). He was a founder of the of the Düsseldorf school. Art historins generally see his imoprtance not in his paintings, but in his role in founding the Düsseldorf School. We notuce some portraits, but his work is dominated by relgious scenes. Von Schadow married Charlotte von Groschke (1820). They had two children: Sophie and Johann Gottfried Rudolf. He painted a portrait of the children (1830).
Carl Schloesser was a German painter. We have no information yet on his life. He apparently painted historical genre scences. The one painting we know of is 'Forbidden Fruit' which pictures schoolboys smoking. It provides an interesting glimpse of a German school in ther early 19th Century. (We are not sure why one of the boys wears a French cap.) The painting is a historical scene set a few decades before Schlosser began painting. Thus while it looks realistic, I don't think he was painting from memory. It showed how older boys like men in the early-19th century still wore knee breeches while the the younger boys wore long pants. We aere not sure about the boy's French headwear, you would have thought this might be a bit subversive to wear in a German school.
The Tischbeins family originated in Hesse, a state in central Germany. American are familiar with it as King Gerorgean contracted for Hessian mercuinaries to fight in the American Revolution. At the same time, the Tischbein family was becoming one of the most important family of craftsmen and artists in central Europe (18th century). August Anton Tischbein was born in Rostock, MeckIenburg (1805). Wilhelm Tischbein, the painter and antiquarian who notably accompanied Goethe on his trip to Italy was his uncle. August Anton like many of the Tischbeins travelled throughout Italy because of their interest in art. He was, however, the only Tischbein to open a studio in Italy. He lived in Trieste which at the time was part of the ustrian Empire (1838-67). Johann Jacob Tischbein painted landscapes and animals. His son August Albrecht Christian Tischbein was a portraitist and genre painter. Grandson August Anton worked in his father's studio also bcame an rtist. He entered the Berlin Art Academy at age 19 years.
He then entered the Dresden Academy (1826). He made his first trip to Rome to study master works (1829). He made another trip to study master works and broaden his horizons, this time to the Netherlands, England, the cities on the Rhine, and Switzerland (1832). He ended up in Munich to continued his studies. Munich gave him access to the Alps and he made many trios to the Bavarian Mountains, the Tyrol, and northern Italy. He painted many landscape and genre scenes set in the Alps. He traveled to Rome again (1837). He subsequently taveled throughout northern and southern Italy. He finally settled in northern Italy. He married in Venice Venice and settled in Trieste. '
Louis Toussaint was a German artist noted for his rural genre paintngs. His name dounds French. Presumably is family was part French, but we do not yet have biograohical details. We know virtuslly nothing bout him, but note he was active in the 1850s, 60s, and 70s. Many of his rural paintings include children. The costuming looks to be somewhat idealized from the early 19th century, but country people may have dressed in these stles even in the mid-19th century. Photograph existed by the time of his paintings, but was most staid studio portraits. The genre scenes he painted could only be captured in paintings.
Paul Hermann Wagner (1852-1937) was a German painter. Like other painters of the 19th and early 20th centuries, he painted many genre scenes. Wagner began his art career learning glass painting at the Josephinenhütte in the Giant Mountains. As a young man with his glass skiils, he moved to Munich (1875). He found worked as a porcelain painter. It is at this time began academic studies of art for the first time. He attended the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München (1875) amd the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, graduating (1881). Wagner's work includes many emotive, romantic scenes that seem intended to capture a childhood moment. His work was not linited to childre, but this was a very large part of it. Wagner was a prolific artist. Many of his works appear on the internet and are reproduced on many sites, but very little bibliograpgical information about him despite the proliferation of his works.
Another important German -speaking artist is is Ferdinand Georg whoin was born in Vienna. He mostly painted portraits, landscapes, still life and genre scenes of everyday live. Some see his genre paintings are rather unrealistically happy others appreciate the nostalgic atmoshere inhis paintings. We notice one lovely image of Christmas in Austria with the children who have just woken up and still in their night gowns are checking their shoes to see what Santa brought them.
Gottlieb Daniel Paul Weber is an important 19th century German artist. He painted under the name Paul Weber and was an especially prolific artist. He was born in Darmstadt. As a boy he developed an interest in asrt. He studied in Frankfort. By the age of 25 he traveled to the United States to Philadelphia. We do not know a lot about his work, but notice portaits incliding portraits of boys.
Theodor Leopold Weller was a very important German genre painter of the 19th century. He was pupil of P.v.Langer at the Munich Academy and later lived in Rome during 1825-1833 and 1840-1848. He also worked in Mannheim as royal painter and director of an art gallery. His speciality was Italian genre. Today his works are displayed in various German museums for example in the Reiss-Museum Mannheim. We note a portrait of a boy done in 1834 painted in oil on paperboard. Wevknow nothing about the boy, nor do we understand his out fit which includes what look like crossed sashes. I might have guessed the boy is Italian, but the date the portrait was taken do not match when Weller was in Rome.
Winterhalter painted te crown heads of Europe. He was Victoria's favorite portrait painter. He painted two of the most famous portrits used by HBC. One of course is the young Edward VII wearing a white sailor suit. Te other is of the young royal family.
We have found some unidentified paintings that we believe were done by German artists. Here the clothes or background may provide valuable clues. Of course, there is no way of knowing for sure if they are paintings by German artists. Perhaps our readers will have some thoughts on the matter.
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