Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller

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Self-portrait by Wertmüller

Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller (born February 18, 1751 in Stockholm ; died August 5, 1811 Wilmington , Delaware ) was a Swedish painter who emigrated to the United States and, among other things, made a portrait of the first President, George Washington .

Life

Wertmüller was a son of Johan Ulrik Wertmüller and his wife Maria. He began to study sculpture with Pierre Hubert L'Archevêque at the Kungliga Konsthögskolan Stockholm from 1765 to 1771 , but then turned to painting. At the age of 21 he came from Stockholm to Paris in 1772, where he studied for one year at the Joseph-Marie Viens School and two more years at the Academy of Fine Arts with Lorenz Pasch and his relative Alexander Roslin . He then followed in 1775 Vienna to the French Academy in Rome. There he made pictures of ruins, ancient statues or reliefs, but also drew from living models. He stayed in Rome until autumn 1779, then lived briefly in Lyon and returned to Paris in May 1780.

His works include nudes of " Ariadne on the beach of Naxos " from 1783 or " Danaë och guldregnet" (Danaë and the laburnum) as well as numerous portraits of well-known personalities, which are in the National Museum in Stockholm. King Gustaf III. von Sweden appointed him his first court painter. Wertmüller became a member of the Swedish and French Academy of Arts. He made a painting of the French Queen Marie-Antoinette and her two children Marie Thérèse Charlotte and Louis Joseph Xavier François in the gardens of the Petit Trianon . The painting was exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1785 but received little recognition. The queen herself didn't like it.

In 1788 Wertmüller went to Bordeaux and after the outbreak of the revolution he moved on via Madrid to Cádiz in 1791 and finally embarked for America in 1794 on a Swedish brig . He settled in Philadelphia, where he painted a number of portraits, including several of George Washington. In 1796 he returned to Paris to manage his personal and financial affairs. In 1797 he went on a business trip to Stockholm and lost all his savings in the bankruptcy of a brother-in-law, N. Paulis. He made a few portraits and turned down a professorship at the Royal Academy because he wanted to return to North America. In 1800 he came back to Philadelphia and brought a collection of his work with him. Wertmüller married Elisabet (Betsey) Henderson, a granddaughter of the Swedish painter Gustav Hesselius, and became an American citizen in 1802. He became a farmer in Delaware because his eyesight had deteriorated and he could no longer paint. He spent his final years there on the farm. Here he also published the Journal de la Terre situé à Naaman's Creek ( Wertmüller's Diary of Naaman's Creek , 1803-1811), in which he reported in detail on rural life. He exhibited his paintings in the rooms of the farm and partially charged admission, as for the painting Danaë. This picture later shocked many viewers when it was put on public display.

Works (selection)

Wertmüller's style is characterized by sober presentation and represents the transition from Rococo to Classicism. His female figures (such as Ariadne and Danae) are carefully modeled, and his portraits are expressive. He also made miniature pictures. Parts of his estate, such as letters and diaries, are in the Royal Library and Museum in Stockholm. Further works by Wertmüller can be found in various museums, including the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, or in the United States in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

literature

  • Vilhelm Fredrik Palmblad (ed.): Biographiskt Lexicon öfver namnkunnige svenska men . tape 20 : Wallq Wing . Palmblad, Sebell, Upsala 1852, pp. 192–193 ( reader.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  • Georg Nordensvan: Adolf Ulrik W [ertmüller] . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 32 : Werth – Väderkvarn . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1921, Sp. 4-6 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  • Georg Nordensvan : Adolf Wertmüller . In: Svensk konst och svenska konstnärer i nittonde århundradet . Ny, Grundligt omarbetad upplaga - New, thoroughly revised edition. tape 1 : I. Från Gustav III till Karl XV . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1925, p. 87-89 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  • Michel Benisovich: Le Portrait des deux Demoiselles Imbert par Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller . In: Bulletin . tape 2 . Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1953, ISSN  0027-3856 , OCLC 888303328 , p. 125-128 .
  • Franklin Daniel Scott: Wertmüller, artist and immigrant farmer . Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, Chicago 1963, OCLC 741479362 (biography).
  • John Caldwell, Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, Dale T. Johnson: Adolph Ulrich Wertmüllerv 1751-1811 . In: American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Volume 1 : A Catalog of Works by Artists Born by 1815 . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1994, ISBN 0-87099-244-9 , pp. 152 ( books.google.de ).
  • Amy Beth Werbel: Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-century Philadelphia . Yale University Press, New Haven 2007, ISBN 0-300-11655-1 , pp. 16-17 ( books.google.de - picture “Danaë och guldregnet”).

Web links

Commons : Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Georg Nordensvan: Adolf Ulrik W [ertmüller] . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 32 : Werth – Väderkvarn . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1921, Sp. 4-6 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  2. ^ National Museum - Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller. In: zetcom.ch. Retrieved March 4, 2018 .
  3. ^ Franklin Daniel Scott: Wertmüller, artist and immigrant farmer . Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, Chicago 1963, OCLC 741479362 , p. 33-173 (biography).
  4. ^ Wertmüller, Adolf Ulrik - Colección. Museo Nacional del Prado, accessed March 4, 2018 .
  5. ^ "Portret van de twee juffrouwen Imbert" - Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller. Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België, accessed on March 4, 2018 (Dutch).
  6. ↑ Artist Info. National Gallery of Art, accessed March 5, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Adolph Ulrich Wertmuller - George Washington. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i. e. The Met Museum, accessed March 5, 2018 .
  8. ^ Jean-Jacques Caffieri - 1784 Adolf Ulric Wertmüller. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accessed March 5, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Wertmüller, Adolf Ulrik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wertmüller, Adolf Ulric; Wertmüller, Adolph-Ulrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1751
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 1811
Place of death Wilmington