Barbara Krafft

Barbara Krafft's portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Portrait of General Clemens von Raglovich

Barbara Krafft , née Steiner (born April 1, 1764 in Iglau ; † September 28, 1825 in Bamberg ) was an Austrian painter .

Life

Barbara Krafft was born as the daughter of the Austrian kk court painter Johann Nepomuk Steiner in Iglau , where her father came from and worked. Barbara received painting lessons from her father and moved with him to Vienna , where she exhibited her first picture in 1786, found general approval as a portrait painter and became a member of the Vienna Art Academy .

After marrying the pharmacist Josef Krafft, their son Johann August Krafft was born in 1792 , who later worked as a lithographer in Munich . After a few years in Vienna, she first moved to Salzburg and then via Iglau to Prague , where she stayed until 1803. In Prague she also carried out numerous portraits . From 1803 to 1821 she lived in Salzburg. She spent her last years in Bamberg until her death at the age of 61.

power

Barbara Krafft belonged to sensibility and classicism in terms of style . The artist was one of the most sought-after and busy portrait painters of her time. In the last four years in Bamberg alone, she created 145 portraits. Due to the large number of her pictures, the careful execution is not entirely given in all of them, but according to art connoisseurs it is wrongly largely forgotten today.

The best known today is her portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , which she made in 1819, 28 years after Mozart's death, on behalf of Joseph Sonnleithner according to information from Mozart's sister Nannerl and clearly based on a painting by Johann Nepomuk della Croce . Today it is one of the most frequently reproduced portraits of Mozart.

Barbara Krafft not only created portraits, but also altarpieces and genre representations that show the influence of the Dutchman Gerrit van Honthorst . According to art experts, their color treatment deserves special attention.

Works (selection)

• The Anton von Marx family (Vienna, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere ), 1803, oil on canvas
• The Bavarian Lieutenant General Clemens Freiherr von Raglovich (Vienna, Austrian Gallery, inv. No. 1642), around 1813, oil on canvas
• Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Vienna, Society of Friends of Music ), 1819

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Krafft, Barbara . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 13th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1865, pp. 101–103 ( digitized version ).
• Barbara Krafft (1764-1825), Michael Wutky (1738-1822) . Exhibition catalog. Vienna: Austrian Gallery, 1960.
• Wacha:  strengthens Barbara (Maria). In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1969, p. 187 f. (Direct links on p. 187 , p. 188 ).
• Barbara Krafft nata Steiner. Iglau 1764-1825 Bamberg. Paintings and study sheets . Bamberg: Kunstverein Bamberg, 1976.

Web links

Commons : Barbara Krafft  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Barbara Krafft in the catalog of the German National Library