Ludwig Gruner
Wilhelm Heinrich Ludwig Gruner (born February 24, 1801 in Dresden , † February 27, 1882 in Dresden) was an engraver and director of the Dresden Royal Cabinet of Copper Engravings.
Gruner began his studies in painting under Klinger in 1815, then devoted himself to engraving under Krüger and went to Milan in 1825 , where he continued his studies under Giuseppe Longhi and Pietro Anderloni .
In 1828 he visited southern France and Spain, where he devoted a three-month study to the Escorial . Returning in 1832, he completed the engraving of the portrait of Anton Raphael Mengs and then went to England and Scotland. Madonnas after Raphael and the suspension of Moses (from the collection in Blenheim Palace ) were the work that occupied him there.
Returning to Milan, he delivered the portrait of Giulio de Medici, Moses to Murillo and the Pax vobiscum after Raphael's picture in the possession of Count P. Tosi of Brescia.
In 1837 Gruner turned to Rome, where he mainly studied after Marc Anton and produced engravings from a series of mosaics under the title I mosaici della cupola nella cappella Chigiana di S. Maria del Popolo in Roma inventati da Raffaelle Sanzio d'Urbino (Rome 1839) manufactured. This was followed by the frescoes on the ceiling of the hall of Heliodorus.
In 1842 Gruner went back to England to make drawings in the size of the original based on Raffael's cardboard boxes in Hampton Court Palace . Later he gave under the name "Lewis Gruner" the magnificent work Fresco decorations and stuccoes of churches & palaces in Italy during the fifteenth & sixteenth centuries with descriptions (London 1844, 2nd ed. 1854) and on the orders of the Queen The decorations of the garden pavilion in the grounds of Buckingham Palace (1846).
This was followed by the engraving based on the dream of the knight by Raphael in the National Gallery. Commissioned by the British government to produce a book with sheets for the art institutions in color printing based on the best samples in Italy, in 1850 he delivered the magnificent work Specimens of ornamental art selected from the best models of the classical epochs .
His engravings also include Christ on the Mount of Olives according to Raphael (London, National Gallery) and the distribution of alms by St. Lawrence from the Fiesole Chapel in the Vatican. Then he published the Raphael Caryatids from the Vatican in 15 sheets (1852).
Soon afterwards he was appointed director of the royal copper engraving cabinet in Dresden. In this position he published:
- The bas-reliefs on the front of the Orvieto cathedral , marble sculptures from the Pisan school (text by Braun, Leipz. 1858);
- "Lo Scaffale", or presses in the sacristy of the church of Sta Maria delle Grazie at Milano. Illustrations of the painted decorations by Bernardino Luini (London 1859-60);
- The Green Vaults Dresden, illustrations of the choicests works in that museum of art (Dresden 1862);
- The Terracotta architecture of North Italy: (XIIth-XV centuries); pourtrayed as examples for imitation in other countries; from careful drawings and restorations (London 1867).
For the English court he supplied the decorations for the mausoleum of the Duchess of Kent in 1860 and the designs for the mausoleum for Prince Albert in 1861. He died on February 27, 1882 in Dresden.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gruner, Ludwig |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gruner, Wilhelm Heinrich Ludwig; Gruner, Lewis; Gruner, Ludovico |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German engraver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 24, 1801 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 27, 1882 |
| Place of death | Dresden |