Carl Timoleon von Neff
Carl Timoleon von Neff , also Timofej Andreevic Neff ( Russian Тимофей Андреевич Нефф ; * 2 October July / 14 October 1804 greg. At the Püssi manor , today Ida-Viru County , Estonia ; † December 24, 1876 July / 5 . January 1877 greg. in Saint Petersburg , Russia ) was a Baltic German imperial Russian court painter, curator and art collector .
life and work
Neff was born out of wedlock to the teacher Felicite Neff on the Püssi farm (German Neu-Isenhof ) in the Estonian governorate . From 1824 he studied painting at the Dresden Art Academy . From 1826 he worked in Saint Petersburg, where he quickly rose to the position of court painter to Tsar Nicholas I thanks to his talent . He continued his education in Italy . From 1839 Neff was a lecturer at the Petersburg Art Academy . In 1846 he became an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
In the summer of 1838 he married Luise von Kaulbars. The couple had two children.
In 1849 he was awarded the academic title of professor in Saint Petersburg . In 1850 Neff acquired the Piera (now Piira) manor near Wesenberg (now Rakvere , rural municipality Vinni ), in which he set up his own studio . Most of his pictures were taken there. From 1854 Neff was conservator at the Hermitage and artistic overseer of the tsarist palaces. He frequented the salons and the highest aristocratic circles in Russia .
Neff had made an incomparable career at the Tsar's court. His detailed, realistic portraits were valued by the nobility and are now scattered all over the world, owned by descendants of former emigrants.
He became known as a painter of portraits , biblical and mythological scenes and genre pictures (bathers, nymphs and idealized peasant life). Neff owed his success primarily to icon painting , the style of which he considerably modernized through Western European influences. It resembles the church painting of the Nazarenes and brought him important commissions abroad.
He received numerous commissions from the Orthodox Church . Paintings in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg , in the chapel of the Winter Palace there , in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow , in the Uspensky Cathedral in Helsingfors and in the Russian Orthodox Church in Wiesbaden come from him, among others.
Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral was built in the western world e.g. B. is very well known because it was blown up in 1931 on the orders of Stalin to make way for the planned palace of the Soviets . The iconostasis of the earlier church came from Neff's hand . A certain impression of the character and the former splendor of the iconostasis give Neff's draft sketches, which have been preserved in the estate of Marianne von Werefkin . Werefkin kept these drawings depicting the Lord's Supper and the four evangelists in a foreign country. They were a special souvenir of her mother, who received them as gifts from her teacher Neff.
In his manor on Gut Münkenhof near Ladikfer (today Muuga von Laekvere , Estonia ) - the Münkenhof and Piera estates both belonged to him from 1861 - Neff built a large art collection, most of which is now in the Estonian Art Museum in Tallinn . He had the new manor built between 1866 and 1872 in the neo-renaissance style. The marble interior staircase was a personal gift from the Russian Tsar Alexander II.
Neff is buried today in the cemetery of Simuna (German Sankt-Simonis ).
It is not known when Neff was raised to the Russian hereditary nobility . What is certain is that only his son Heinrich von Neff, landlord of Münkenhof, was enrolled in the Estonian knighthood on January 15, 1881 .
literature
- Heino Ross: Carl Timoleon Neff 200 . Tallinn 2006
- Tiina Abel (Ed.): Carl Timoleon von Neff. Kunstnik yes tema kodu. CT by Neffi kunstikogu Piira ja Muuga mõisast. Tallinn 2005
Web links
- CT von Neff and his Art Collections at Piira and Muuga Manor Houses (Estonian Art (1/2004))
- Genealogical manual of the Estonian knighthood , Görlitz 1930
- Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Carl Timoleon von Neff. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
Individual evidence
- ^ Source: Mormon Archives Internet File, Utah
- ↑ Laekvere Nachrichten of October 2004 ( Memento of June 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ In addition, some of his works can be found in the magazines of Russian museums. Only rarely does one of his paintings appear on the art market. Cf .: 715. Math. Lempertz'sche art auction, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne May 20, 1995, no. 1389
- ^ Erik Thomson: Karl Timoleon von Neff and the Russian Church on the Neroberg in Wiesbaden. In: Hessian homeland. 14th year, issue 3, 1964, p. 23
- ↑ Konstantin Akinscha and Grigori Koslow: Beutekunst , On the treasure hunt in Russian secret depots. Munich 1995, p. 41
- ↑ Konstantin Akinscha and Grigori Koslow: Beutekunst , On the treasure hunt in Russian secret depots. Munich 1995, pp. 40 ff. Neff's iconostases can still be seen today in the Russian chapel of the Duchess of Edinburgh in London, as well as in the Russian chapels in Nice and Wiesbaden.
- ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin. Munich 2001, p. 16, Fig. 14
- ↑ Eesti Elulood. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 320.
- ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume IX, Page 351, Volume 116 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1998, ISBN 3-7980-0816-7
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Neff, Carl Timoleon von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Neff, Karl Timoleon from |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Baltic painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 14, 1804 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Püssi Manor , today Ida-Virumaa County , Estonia |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 5, 1877 |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |