Christian von Martens

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Self-portrait before the march from Heilbronn for the Russian campaign (1812)
In 1819 Martens painted Markt-Gröningen
Residenzschloss and city of Ludwigsburg from the north (1820)
View over Stuttgart from Degerloch (1850)

Christian Septimus von Martens (born  August 19, 1793 on Gut Miravecchia near Dolo (Veneto) ; †  May 31, 1882 in Stuttgart ) was an officer in the royal Württemberg service who documented his campaigns and private trips. He left behind an extensive pool of historically valuable diary entries and watercolors of cities, landscapes and uniforms, most of which are now owned by the Stuttgart State Archives .

Origin and career

Martens was born in 1793 as the seventh son (hence the middle name "Septimus") of Wilhelm Conrad von Martens (1748-1828), the royal Danish consul general in Venice , and his second wife Margarete von Scheler (1765-1832) on their estate in Miravecchia in born near Venice. In 1811 Martens, like his brother Karl before, followed the example of his uncle, General Georg von Scheler , and went into royal Württemberg military service . Another brother was the zoologist Georg von Martens .

Shortly before Napoleon's march in Russia , Martens was promoted to lieutenant on February 7, 1812 . After surviving the Russian campaign and the Saxony campaign of 1813, he took part as a first lieutenant in the wars of liberation of 1814/15. In 1819 he was promoted to lieutenant quartermaster, in 1820 to brigade adjutant and in 1822 to captain . On October 1, 1832, he married Pauline Louise Dorothee Lotter, the daughter of the secret archivist Christoph Ludwig Friedrich von Lotter, with whom he had three daughters and two sons. After receiving the position of major in 1844 , he switched to the service of Schleswig-Holstein , was Lieutenant Colonel in 1848 and was in Baden service until 1849 . After his retirement in 1853, Martens was a member of the Royal Württemberg Honorary Invalid Corps and traveled extensively in Stuttgart during his long evenings.

Documentation of campaigns and trips

Martens documented the campaigns in which he took part and his numerous journeys in the form of travel diaries, which he often illustrated with watercolors. Martens also created picture albums for some trips. In addition to everyday life as a soldier, uniforms and battles, Martens recorded landscapes, cityscapes, castles, churches, ruins, ships and streets in his illustrations. The diaries of his Napoleonic campaigns of 1812 and 1813 were published while he was still alive. In the Württemberg area he painted several cityscapes in larger format, for example of Heilbronn , Markgröningen , Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart .

estate

According to the Stuttgart State Archives, Martens' estate has "high documentary value". The almost complete estate portfolio includes:

  • General diaries, 3 volumes.
  • Diary of the Russian campaign in 1812, 2 volumes.
  • Diary from the trip to Italy and the Rhine in 1832, 1 volume.
  • 20 uniform drawings, 1 volume.
  • Six picture albums with predominantly location and landscape views, mostly watercolors in a realistic manner, and some watercolors by members of the Martens family.
  • Some stitches bought for coloring.
  • Large-format family tree of the Lotter family
  • Two large-format oil paintings, two watercolors and three portrait photographs.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HStA Stgt. Inventory J56 biography of Christian von Martens .
  2. ^ Carl Lotter: Family tree of the Lotter family in Swabia . Stuttgart 1879
  3. ↑ HStA Stgt. Holdings J56 Christian von Martens estate directory .

Web links

Commons : Christian von Martens  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Martens, Christian von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Officer and painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Dolo (Veneto)
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 1882
Place of death Stuttgart