This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(May 2021) |
Georg Schmidt | |
---|---|
Born | 24 January 1712 |
Died | 25 January 1775 63) | (aged
Georg Friedrich Schmidt (24 January 1712 - 25 January 1775) was a German engraver, etcher and pastel painter, in the Rococo style.
His parents were cloth makers, and it was originally intended that he would follow them into the trade, but he displayed artistic talent at an early age. When he was fourteen, he was allowed to take lessons at the Prussian Academy of Arts. On the advice of his teachers, an apprenticeship for him was obtained with the engraver, Georg Paul Busch .
In the 1730s, he began his mandatory military service, but continued to produce engravings. After doing one of then-Crown Prince Frederick he was released from service, through the intercession of Frederick's mentor, Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow, and started his own business.
During his time at the Academy, he befriended the Director and court painter, Antoine Pesne, who was originally from France. Pesne provided him with a recommendation to the painter, Nicolas Lancret, so he could continue his studies in Paris. In 1736, together with his former fellow-student and friend, Friedrich Wilhelm Hoeder , he left Berlin and headed there. While passing through Straßburg, they met the engraver, Johann Georg Wille, and he joined them. Schmidt and he shared a room for several years, while waiting for admission to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and became close friends. A small pension from then-King Frederick helped him live in relative ease.
Nicolas IV de Larmessin , "Engraver to the King", took him into his workshop, where he completed a seven-month training course; engraving portraits for art dealers and providing some illustrations for the publisher, Michel Odieuvre . In 1740, with some assistance from Hyacinthe Rigaud, he became self-employed. In 1742, King Louis XV officially granted permission for Protestants to attend the Académie Royale. The following year, however, he accepted an offer to become a court engraver back in Berlin. He returned there in the middle of the Second Silesian War, and his first major assignment was creating tactical maps of the battles of Kesselsdorf and Soor, which were published in 1746. That same year, he married Dorothée Luise Viedebandt, whose father was Director of the Russian Trading Company in Berlin. A large dowry may have been a factor. Two years later, their son August was born. He turned out to be an unruly child, who sometimes sold his father's works secretly and squandered the money.
Much of his work involved illustrating King Frederick's writings, although he also produced portraits and copies of the works of Rembrandt. Following the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, the demand for art decreased dramatically, and tensions rose at the court. As did many of his colleagues, he accepted an invitation from Empress Elizabeth of Russia and went to St. Petersburg on leave, without his family. He would spend five years there. From 1758, he was the head of an engraving school. Most of his work involved portraits. Despite numerous requests for him to stay, he left shortly after Elizabeth's death, in 1762, and returned to Berlin. August died in 1766, aged only eighteen.
Having established his reputation throughout Europe, he soon became a wealthy man and was able to acquire a collection of original etchings by Rembrandt. He did, however, continue to give lessons at the Prussian Academy. Over the years, his style fell out of fashion, and he found himself slowly being overshadowed by younger engravers who were willing to work for less. Dorothée died in 1771, and Georg followed in 1775, aged sixty-three. His estate was sold at auction. His tomb, in the Luisenstädtische Kirche, was destroyed along with the church during World War II.
Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of the 19th century, and was the most successful artist of his era in Germany. First known as Adolph Menzel, he was knighted in 1898 and changed his name to Adolph von Menzel.
Since the 18th century Berlin has been an influential musical center in Germany and Europe. First as an important trading city in the Hanseatic League, then as the capital of the electorate of Brandenburg and the Prussian Kingdom, later on as one of the biggest cities in Germany it fostered an influential music culture that remains vital until today. Berlin can be regarded as the breeding ground for the powerful choir movement that played such an important role in the broad socialization of music in Germany during the 19th century.
The Prussian Academy of Arts was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Prussia.
Johann Georg Wille, or Jean Georges Wille was a German-born copper engraver, who spent most of his life in France. He also worked as an art dealer.
Anna Dorothea Therbusch was a prominent Rococo painter born in the Kingdom of Prussia. About 200 of her works survive, and she painted at least eighty-five verified portraits.
Johann Friedrich Bause was a German copper engraver; primarily of portraits.
Johann Elias Ridinger was a German painter, engraver, draughtsman and publisher. He is considered one of the most famous German engravers of animals, particularly horses, hounds and hunting scenes.
Friedrich Carl Albert Schreuel, also known as Frederik Karel Albert Schreuel and Jan Christian Aelbert Schreuel, was a Dutch-born painter.
Joseph Johann Ludwig Uphues was a German sculptor.
Hugo Hagen was a German sculptor.
The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great on Unter den Linden avenue in Berlin's Mitte district commemorates King Frederick II of Prussia. Created from 1839 to 1851 by Christian Daniel Rauch, it is a masterpiece of the Berlin school of sculpture, marking the transition from neoclassicism to realism. The bronze statue shows "The Old Fritz" dressed in military uniform, ermine coat and tricorne hat on horseback above the leading generals, statesmen, artists and scientist of his time. Walled in during World War II, it was disassembled by East Germany in 1950, reassembled in Sanssouci Park in 1963, and returned to its original location in 1980.
Frederick the Great Playing the Flute at Sanssouci or The Flute Concert is an 1852 oil on canvas history painting by the German painter Adolph Menzel. It depicts Frederick the Great, King of Prussia playing the flute at an evening concert at Sanssouci and is now in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
Georg Goldberg was a German copper and steel engraver of Jewish descent.
Philipp Jakob von Scheffauer was a German Neoclassical sculptor.
Paul Joseph Bardou was a German portrait painter.
Johann Wilhelm Schütze was a German painter and art professor. His birth year is sometimes given as 1814, and the place as Berlin. He has often been confused with Wilhelm Schütze, a painter from Munich.
Franz Xaver Andreas Jungwirth was a German copper engraver and etcher.
Frederick the Great was the subject of many portraits. Many were painted during Frederick's life, and he would give portraits of himself as gifts. Almost all portraits of Frederick are idealized and do not reflect how he looked according to his death mask. It has been suggested that the most accurate representation of Frederick may be the picture of a flautist from William Hogarth's series Marriage A-la-Mode.
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Müller was a German copperplate engraver.
Ephraim Gottlieb Krüger was an engraver from the Electorate of Saxony in Germany who was also notable as a professor at the Dresdner Kunstakademie.