Christian Friedrich Prange

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Christian Friedrich Prange (born April 20, 1752 in Halle / Saale ; † October 12, 1836 there ) was a German philosopher, lawyer and academic in the field of the visual arts.

Life

Christian Friedrich Prange first studied law at the Friedrichs University in Halle , where he obtained his master's degree. In 1778 he moved to the Philosophical Faculty and published a three-part draft of an Academy of Fine Arts with Renger in Halle as 'evidence of his knowledge and ability'. This theoretically, practically and art-historically oriented work offers a comprehensive, clearly formulated curriculum 'for a drawing school [...] whose intention is not actually to educate great artists, but primarily aims to improve taste and those works and works that are im common life '. So far there has been no textbook in which the visual arts are viewed as a whole, and as an autodidact in the arts, Prange knew from his own experience 'how much effort it takes to do something without a teacher and without written instruction'.

From 1787 to 1836 Prange worked in Halle as an associate professor of world wisdom (philosophy) and the drawing arts. For many years the professor held lectures at the Fridericiana on architecture and the fine arts from antiquity to modern times, as well as practical drawing exercises. Prange became known among contemporaries as the founder and head of a Königl built in 1791 in Halle. Provincial Art School. From 1786 he was an honorary member of the Prussian Academy of the Arts, Berlin (section for the fine arts). After the death of Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786) he made a design for a seated statue of the deceased as Jupiter. From 1806 to 1813 the people of Halle suffered under French rule when the city was incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Westphalia . When the university was completely abolished by Napoleon (1813), Prange was temporarily forced into retirement.

Prange's activity as a writer is also noteworthy, especially in the 1780s. Several extensive works in the field of art flowed from his pen. This work gives a good insight into his diverse interests and, above all, his goals and methods as a teacher. He was also active as a translator from French and Italian, namely as a translator and editor of the posthumous opera (Parma 1780) by the German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779).

Prange's color lexicon (1782) was an ambitious attempt to create as comprehensive a 'color sample chart' as possible on a solid material basis and at the same time to set up a standardized reference system in which all practically recognizable natural colors were identified with individual numbers and names. In the first volume, Prange describes numerous pigments, their application in painting and the exact reproduction of naturally occurring colors. Volume 2 contains 48 color plates, each with 96 hand-painted color samples. For each of these 4,608 color nuances you will find a catalog number, a German name and the proportions of the recommended pigments in the first volume (pp. 473–572).

The expensive work was published in 1782 at a subscription price of 12 Reichstalers. Author and publisher set their hopes for good sales, not only from art connoisseurs and painters, but also from natural scientists, manufacturers and other craftsmen. The 25 subscribers (including some in technical trades) undertook to purchase a total of 33 copies ( Farbenlexikon , p. XXXII). Today the work is available (worldwide) in hardly more than 10 public libraries.

In the same year Prange published a small outline of his color catalog under the title Schule der Mahlerey . The book appeared in a cheap format, and he named students, beginners in painting, teachers and 'many other lovers of color' as the addressees. In it he restricted himself to 213 color mixtures, two tables with corresponding color samples and an 'explanation of the attached color tables according to their proportions and components' (pp. 76-87).

Although Prange was well versed in the relevant literature, as a color theorist he stands far behind significant predecessors such as Louis Bertrand Castel (1688–1757), Tobias Mayer (1723–1762), Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777) and Ignaz Schiffermüller (1727–1809 ). Prange pursued more practical goals and counted on a simple basic color system (brown, red, blue, yellow, black, white) ( color dictionary , p. 5). Groundbreaking in his monumental color catalog were the previously unachievable (and to this day never surpassed in color atlases and similar publications) number of shades treated, the precise specification of the pigment mixtures and the systematic (sometimes mechanical) implementation of his naming principles (p. 375f.). Lexicological studies have shown that many of these word formations were well known at the time (e.g. Colombin color, Incarnate color, Mordore brown, Celadon green, Tombak brown, Zimmbrown ), while others are extremely rare or can only be used with Prange (e.g. Ant-colored, Atlas red, Privet green, deep yellow, pompon red, bug brown ). Prange's information on his pigment combinations is also relevant as a historical source of documentation for the semantic interpretation of certain color words (e.g. brown, lavender, purple, scarlet, turquoise, violet ).

Fonts

  • Christian Friedr. Prangens, Magisters der Weltweisheit und der Freyen Künste Design for an Academy of Fine Arts , Renger, Halle 1778. Online: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek digital
  • Using the means to ease the heavy construction costs by making correct construction plans , Johann Christian Hendel , Halle 1780.
  • The school of Mahlerey ... In addition to an appendix About the art of becoming a Mahler in three hours and setting the works of the most famous masters in colors without having learned the art of drawing , 2nd edition, Johann Christian Hendel, Halle 1782. (Appendix Translated from French; Original title: L'art de devenir peintre en trois heures , 1750.) Online: Klassik Stiftung Weimar
  • Treatise on objects of art , Halle 1782.
  • Christian Friedrich Prangens of world wisdom and freyen arts Magister color lexicon, which contains the most possible colors of nature not only according to their properties, names, proportions and compositions, but also through the actual grinding. For use by naturalists, painters, manufacturers, artists and other craftsmen who deal with colors. With 48 illuminated panels and a large landscape , 2 volumes, Johann Christian Hendel, Halle 1782. Online: SLUB Dresden
  • Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Theory of Gods, Fables and Allegories for School Teachers and Artists in Alphabetical Order , Johann Christian Hendel, Halle 1783.
  • Magazine of antiquities, or images of the finest cut stones, busts, statues, group pens, raised and recessed works, paintings, vases and other utensils ..., 4 volumes, Johann Christian Hendel, Hall 1783-4.
  • Systematic index of all those writings which concern natural history; from the oldest to the most recent times , Johann Christian Hendel, Halle 1784.
  • Treatises on various objects of art, which were initiated by his drawing school established in Halle with each exhibition of the paintings , 5th piece: About the Flor of Arts in our current age with some remarks about the writings of Anton Raffael Mengs , Johann Christian Hendel, Hall 1785.
  • (Transl.): The assessment of the beautiful in the drawing arts according to the principles of Sulzer and Mengs , Johann Christian Hendel, Halle 1785. (Orig. By Francesco Milizia: Dell'arte di vedere nelle belle arti del disegno , 1781.)
  • (Transl. And ed.): The knight's Anton Raphael Mengs Hinterlaßne works , 3 volumes, Johann Christian Hendel Halle 1786.
  • (Transl.): Complete instructions on oil grinding for artists and art lovers, along with an appendix, about the mysterious art of restoring old paintings , Hemmerle and the like. Schwetschke, Halle 1828; 2nd edition: Schwetschke, Halle 1838. (Orig. By Pierre Louis Bouvier: Manuel des jeunes artistes et amateurs en peinture .)

literature

  • Steffi Roettgen: 'Christian Friedrich Prange. A German Art Pedagogue of the Late Enlightenment '. In: Transactions of the Ninth International Congress on the Enlightenment (Münster 1995) , ed. by Anthony Strugnell, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 1996, ISBN 978-0-7294-0534-8 , pp. 825-828.
  • Astrid Grieger: 'Art and the Public in the Second Half of the 18th Century'. In: Hans-Wolf Jäger (ed.): 'Public' in the 18th Century , Wallstein, Göttingen 1997, ISBN 3-89244-274-6 , pp. 117-135.
  • Heinrich Dilly: 'What on earth has Christian Friedrich Prange done?' In: Reinhard Wegner (ed.), Art as Science. Carl Ludwig Fernow - a founder of art history , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-525-47501-2 , pp. 185–194.
  • Oliver Kase: Learning to see with words. Description of images in the 18th century , Imhof, Petersberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86568-489-9 (pp. 237–238: Christian Friedrich Prange, source compilation for popularizing methodical image viewing ).
  • William Jervis Jones: German Color Terms. A study in their historical evolution from earliest times to the present (Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 119), John Benjamin, Amsterdam, Philadelphia 2013, ISBN 978-90-272-4610-3 , pp. 223-232.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dilly, Prange , p. 187.
  2. ^ Draft , preface; see also Grieger, Kunst , p. 128ff.
  3. ↑ Günter Schenk u. Regina Meÿer (ed.): Philosophical Thinking in Halle: People and Texts , Volume 10: The Philosophical Faculty of the Fridericiana from its foundation in 1694 to its closure in 1806: an overview , Schenk, Halle (Saale), 2011, ISBN 978-3- 936228-57-1 , p. 202.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Schrader, History of the Friedrichs-Universität zu Halle , 2 volumes, Dümmler, Berlin, 1894, Volume I, p. 412, Volume II, pp. 83, 289 and 563.
  5. ↑ Under Prange's direction they gave “lessons in free hand drawing, modeling and Poussiren”, cf. Johann Rudolf Fuessli et al .: General Artists' Lexicon […], Orell, Füßli and Comp., Zurich 1810–1820, Part 2, p. 1160 a. 6023. See also Johann Dominicus Fiorillo: History of the drawing arts in Germany and the united Netherlands , Hahn, Hannover 1820, Volume IV, p. 221.
  6. ^ Academy of the Arts, Berlin.
  7. ↑ Lost Art, Magdeburg coordination office, database ID 315963. Pen drawing, washed (1791), with inscription: 'Sicut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe supremo / Vicit Olympia, nunc senio confectu quiescit' (Ennius, Annalen ).
  8. ^ Schrader, History Volume II, p. 43.
  9. ↑ For example, on panel X (p. 496) under the heading 'Vibrant red colors':
    65. Dark scarlet red. 2 th. Cinnabar, 1 th. Carmine.
    […]
    72. Scarlet. 2 th. Cinnabar, 1 th. Carmine, 10 th. White.
    73. Bright scarlet. 2 Th. Cinnabar, 1 Th. Carmine, 14 Th. W.
    74. Light scarlet. 2 th. Cinnabar, 1 th. Carmine, 20 th. W.
    […]
    80. Highest scarlet red. 2 th. Cinnabar, 1 th. Carmine, 56 th. W.
  10. ↑ Der Teutsche Merkur , ed. by CM Wieland, Weimar 1781, 1st quarter, pp. 279–283. See also: Message from Mr. MCT Prange Farbenlexikon , in: Miscellaneen artistic content (edited by Johann Georg Meusel), Keyser, Erfurt, 1781, pp. 142–147 (partly critical of the company; but see Birgit Rehfus-Duchêne: Farbengebung and color theory in German painting around 1800 , Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-422-00742-3 , p. 15f.).
  11. ^ William Jervis Jones: Historical Lexicon of German Color Designations (5 volumes), Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005953-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Prange, Christian Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher, lawyer and academic in the field of fine arts
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle / Saale
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1836
Place of death Halle / Saale