Carl Adolf Senff
Carl Adolf Senff (born March 17, 1785 in Halle (Saale) ; † March 21, 1863 in Ostrau ) was a German painter of the Biedermeier period and was the 13th and youngest child of Carl Friedrich Senff , consistorial councilor at the Moritzkirche in Halle (Saale ) and Rosina Dorothea Litzmann. Senff lived in Rome for 32 years from 1816 to 1848 in the vicinity of the Nazarenes .
Live and act
Adolf Senff initially followed the wishes of his father: He attended the Francke Foundations in Halle and studied, as already two of his brothers theology . Only after completing his studies and holding a trial sermon did Senff turn entirely to art and painting in 1809 at the age of 24.
After completing his studies, Adolf Senff (approx. 1808) worked for a short time as a teacher at the Leipzig Citizens' School , where he met Johann Wilhelm Leis (1768–1808) and the Senator of the City of Leipzig Johann Wilhelm Volkmann (1772–1856). At that time, Leis and Volkmann recognized Senff's artistic talent and sent some of his works to Gerhard von Kügelgen in Dresden . Leis had already met Kügelgen as an educator at the Stoffregen budget council in Saint Petersburg and brokered the Kügelgens apartment in Dresden when they moved there from Rhense am Rhein in May 1805. Leis and the Kügelgens then lived together for about three years in Döpmannschen Haus , Halbe Gasse 412 in Seetorvorstadt. Gerhard von Kügelgen brought Adolf Senff to Dresden in June 1809 and taught him painting. Kügelgen had already moved to a better living situation in the Gottessegen house on Hauptstrasse in Dresden's Neustadt district in 1808 . At the same time, Adolf Senff was appointed tutor for the sons Wilhelm von Kügelgen and Gerhard von Kügelgen jun. engaged, and at the same time he also taught the children of the Leipzig senator, who had also come to Dresden. Senff's pupil Wilhelm von Kügelgen later wrote a few chapters about his beloved, but sometimes feared teacher in his “Memories of the Younger Old Man” and also, on the occasion of a trip to Halle (Saale) in 1811 , Senff's family environment (parents and some his siblings).
Several of Senff's pictures of his students, the Kügelgenschen and Volkmannschen children and members of the families mentioned, recall his time as a private tutor and early on showed his talent as a portraitist, which word got around quickly.
Through Gerhard von Kügelgen, Senff came into contact with the classicism that was running out at this time . Through his connection to the Johann Wilhelm Volkmann family, Senff came into contact with romantic artists .
In the years 1813 and 1814 Adolf Senff worked as a freelance portrait painter in Leipzig and received his first commissions from leading circles in Leipzig society.
The return of Napoleon from Elba in 1815 led Senff as a volunteer to the Makran hunters, with whom he went on the campaign against France , but did not take part in any battle.
After the end of the war, Adolf Senff went to Rome in 1816. A small inheritance enabled him to travel to Rome via Prague , Vienna , the Brenner Pass and Florence . He was very fortunate to have found accommodation in the artists' quarter of the "Casa Buti", where Wilhelm von Humboldt and his wife Caroline previously lived until 1801 and were among their residents. a. also the famous sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen belonged. Senff painted a picture of Thorvaldsen as a young man in 1817 and a portrait of his age in the 1830s. Both pictures are still preserved today. Through his connection to Thorvaldsen, Senff quickly got to know other artists, such as the painter Franz Ludwig Catel and the sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch . His stay in Rome turned into 32 years, which was interrupted by two visits to relatives in his native Germany in 1833 and 1845 .
Adolf Senff first made copies of Raphael and other Italian Renaissance artists and made his living primarily through them. Since he frequently copied works by Raphael, the Romans also called him “Editore di Raffaeli”. Friends from home also enabled him to make a living by buying his pictures. Commissioned by Naumburg canon Immanuel Christian Leberecht von Ampach , the painting Christ and the Cananaian Woman for the Christ Cycle in Naumburg Cathedral was created from 1820 onwards .
In 1821 Senff was accepted into the artist academy in Perugia . However, on the advice of his friend Bertel Thorvaldsen, he had not accepted the director's position.
From around 1825 Senff was engaged in painting flowers and fruits, which he perfected to such an extent that he was given his Roman nickname "Raffaele di fiori" ("Flower raffael") in Italy . Senff's flower pictures have been preserved in numerous museums and in some cases still in private ownership by the descendants of his numerous relatives. Popular motifs of the artist were life-size portraits of Italian women in various costumes and surrounded by a variety of flowers and fruits. Adolf Senff did not create pure landscape pictures, but painted landscapes, cityscapes and Roman architecture as a background for his portraits. The two home visits in 1833 and 1845, combined with the reunion of his numerous relatives, always motivated Senff to create further portraits.
Among the buyers of Senff's paintings were u. a. King Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Prussia , from whom he copied five works by Raphael, and the Russian tsarist house.
In 1848 Adolf Senff finally returned to Germany. After a short stay in Berlin, he settled in Ostrau am Petersberg near Halle, where his eldest brother Carl Wilhelm Senff (1767-1850) was active as a pastor. After his death and after his wife's death, Adolf Senff married their adoptive daughter Auguste Charlotte Franziska Senff, born on May 27, 1852 at the age of 67 . Hero (1811 1898 ).
Up until his death on March 21, 1863, a large number of magnificent portraits, flower pictures and still lifes were created among his family and friends.
Adolf Senff is buried in Ostrau. According to the wishes of the deceased, a linden tree was planted on his grave, which today is a large tree and is called the "professor's linden tree".
literature
- Georg von Knorre: Adolf Senff. In: Journal of the German Association for Art History (special edition), Volume XXIV, Issue ¼, Berlin, 1970.
- Georg von Knorre: On the history of the Senff family. Halle city archive: Senff family archive, manuscript, 1963.
- Bärbel Kovalevski: Adolf Senff. 1785-1863. Publishing house Dr. Bärbel Kovalevski, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-9812252-5-9
- Wilhelm von Kügelgen: memories of an old man's youth / 1802–1820, compiled by Johannes Werner. Part 2, chap. 2: Whether Mr. Senff was a saint , part 2, chap. 3: Another pleasure trip (here also with a description of the artist's family environment), Verlag von KF Köhler, Leipzig, 1924.
- Werner Meinhof: Adolf Senff - A painter of the Biedermeier period , in: The Red Tower, Volume 6: Collection of small writings on the art and cultural history of Halle, edited by Kurt Gerstenberg, Gebauer - Schwetschke, undated (approx. 1930).
- Peter Romanus, Hans Georg Sehrt, Karin Volland, Axel Wendelberger: Adolf Senff - painting and drawings. Exhibition on the occasion of his 200th birthday from March 17, 1985 to January 5, 1986 jointly organized by the Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg Halle and the Council of the Saalkreis.
- Thieme-Becker : General Lexicon of Fine Artists , Volume 30, Leipzig 1936, pp. 496/497
Exhibitions
- 2009/10: adolf senff. Flowers and splendid colors , Moritzburg Art Museum Halle (Salle)
Web links
- Literature by and about Carl Adolf Senff in the catalog of the German National Library
- Painting catalog for the Multimedia VR Design course in Halle
- Moritzburg Art Museum Halle (Saale)
- Works by Carl Adolf Senff on museum-digital.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Senff, Carl Adolf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Senff, Adolf; Senff, Adolph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter of the Biedermeier period |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 17, 1785 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Halle (Saale) |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 21, 1863 |
| Place of death | Ostrau |