August von Bonstetten

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Shepherd boy with goats before the myths

Abraham Sigmund August von Bonstetten (born February 16, 1796 in Bern , † May 15, 1879 in Vechigen ) was a Swiss officer and amateur painter .

Life

August von Bonstetten was the son of the Bernese Oberamtmann von Signau and painter amateur Johann Karl von Bonstetten (1761-1838). After 1800 he spent his childhood and youth in Sinneringen Castle in the Bernese municipality of Vechigen . In 1814 he began his career as an officer in the von Wattenwyl regiment . From 1815 to 1829 he was stationed in Holland and was promoted to captain. During a six-month vacation in Bern in 1822, he became a student of the painter Jacques-Henri Juillerat (1777-1860).

In 1826 von Bonstetten became a member of the Grand Council in Bern. In 1827 he showed his painting Interior of Antwerp Cathedral at an art exhibition in Brussels. He was made an honorary member of the Brussels Art Society. During an army leave from February to July 1828, he visited Italy, where he met Bertel Thorvaldsen and Léopold Robert in Rome .

After his discharge from the army, he settled in Sinneringen. Together with the landscape painter Edouard de Pourtalès-Pury (1802-1885) he went on a trip to Italy, where he stayed for 19 months. Because of the threatening political situation, he fled Rome to Florence in February 1831 and returned to Sinneringen in September. Because of his participation in the plot against the liberal Bernese government, he fled again to Italy, where he visited Venice, Naples and Capri. On his return to Bern, he was arrested on January 23, 1835 and imprisoned for three months in the dungeon of the Aarbergertores.

At home in Sinneringen Castle, he worked on his pictures and took care of the estate. Von Bonstetten painted a room on the first floor of the castle with scenes from the life of Don Quixote . He traveled through Switzerland and abroad. He sold only a few paintings and often tried to improve his older works. He remained a bachelor throughout his life.

August von Bonstetten was influenced by Alexandre Calame and Maximilien de Meuron . He is one of the most important Swiss amateur artists. The Jegenstorf Castle Foundation devoted an extensive factory exhibition to him in 2001.

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personal data
SURNAME Bonstetten, August of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonstetten, Abraham Sigmund August von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss officer and painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1879
Place of death Vechigen