Samuel Gränicher

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Samuel Gränicher (born December 17, 1758 (baptism date) in Zofingen , † December 14, 1813 in Dresden ) was a Swiss painter and engraver .

Life

Samuel Gränicher: The cowshed, sepia drawing heightened with white

Samuel Gränicher was baptized on December 17, 1758 in Zofingen as the second son of the white tanner Samuel Gränicher and his wife Magedalena, née Sprüngli. After his father's death in 1771, he grew up with his older brother. The artistically gifted Samuel Gränicher completed an apprenticeship as a draftsman and copper engraver with Christian von Mechel in Basel . From 1778 the note Gränicher sculpsit appears on sheets of the Mechel'schen Verlag. Commissioned by Christian von Mechel, Gränicher toured the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland and neighboring countries in 1781 and drew pictures of the rural population. In 1783 the Mechels publishing house produced the colored copperplate series Suite de différens costumes de paysans et paysannes de la Suisse / Publiée par Chrétien de Mechel, which was published in several editions . On the first edition of the series with 24 engravings from 1785, Gränicher confidently added his signature S. Graenicher ad vivum delineavit et sculpsit , which was deleted in the editions from 1791, under the depiction of a young Black Forest farmer.

In the years to come, Gränicher continued to work for von Mechel before attempting to settle in Zurich in the vicinity of Johann Caspar Lavater . Together with Johann Heinrich Lips and others, he engraved vignettes for Lavater's Physiognomic Fragments and illustrations for Lavater's religious works, including one for Lavater's Jesus Messiah. From Zurich there was close contact with the Dresden Art Academy, founded in 1764 . Around 1790 Gränicher moved to Dresden and, after Georg Kaspar Nagler, took painting lessons from Giovanni Battista Casanova at the academy. Gränicher's enrollment at the academy in 1790 is guaranteed. In Friedrich Weinbrenner friendship album included his fellow students Gränicher from this time a charcoal drawing that probably represents the Saxon Switzerland.

In Dresden, Gränicher worked as an animal and landscape painter. In 1794 and 1801 he took part in the Dresden art exhibitions. He drew and etched depictions of animals, Saxon folk costumes and uniforms as well as vedutas of Dresden. He also copied old masters in oil. From the marriage with Christina Rosina Oertler, only one son survived from several births. Gränicher died impoverished in Dresden at the end of 1813.

Works

  • Suite de différens costumes de paysans et paysannes de la Suisse / Publiée par Chrétien de Mechel , Basel, 1783
  • Two anatomical tables for Justus Christian Loder: Anatomical tables for promoting knowledge of the human body, Landes-Industrie-Comptoir, Weimar, 1794
  • Portrait of Leonhard Euler , around 1780
  • Portrait of Theodor Körner as a boy , around 1800, miniature, Dresden University Library
  • Costumes in Sachsen Printed series of 4 booklets each with six colored depictions of various professional costumes , Heinrich Rittner, Dresden, 1803–1808
  • Costumes of the royal Saxon army , drawn by Sauerwein, etched in aquatint by Gränicher, 30 sheets.

literature

  • Georg Kaspar Nagler : New general artist lexicon . tape 5 . Publisher by EA Fleischmann, Munich 1837, p. 315 f . ( Digitized in the Google book search - keyword Graenicher, Samuel ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lucas Heinrich Wüthrich: Christian von Mechel , Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1956, p. 179
  2. ↑ Karin Sauer: Object of the Month October to December 2009, Karlsruhe City Archives

Web links

Commons : Samuel Gränicher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Gränicher, Samuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Graenicher Samuel; Gränicher, Johann Samuel; Graenicher, Johann Samuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and engraver
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Zofingen
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1813
Place of death Dresden