Johann Franz Ermels

Johann Franz Ermels (also Ermel, Ermelein, Johann Franciscus Ermels; * 1641 in Reilkirchen , † December 3, 1693 in Nuremberg ) was a German portrait , history and landscape painter .

Life

Johann Franz Ermels was born in Reilkirchen in 1641 as the son of a winemaker. His training as a history and portrait painter took place in Cologne with a successor to Johann Hulsman , then in Utrecht and from 1660 in Nuremberg. In 1661 he presented an altarpiece there as a test piece, became a citizen of the imperial city and a licensed master. In 1662 he joined the painter Willem van Bemmel , who came from Utrecht and Italy, and who initiated his switch to landscape painting. Ermels painted pastoral landscapes, decorated figures for Bemmel and copied animals after Johann Heinrich Roos . In the drawings he was also very close to Bemmel until 1673, whereby in his painting he concentrated more on the representation of rock formations in quarries.

As a versatile and apparently highly respected painter between portrait and landscape, he had several students such as Johann Bartholomäus Eichler , Georg Thomas Gutthäter , Felix Meyer and Georg Blendinger . These probably also learned from his friend Willem van Bemmel, who was not licensed as a master. In 1673 he was visited by Oswald Harms , who later became a successful theater painter and had just arrived from Italy . Thereupon Ermels reoriented himself, he now painted and drew ruined landscapes with temples and classical column arrangements. He was able to decorate these with figures. His personal manner stood between the classicism of the second half of the 17th century and the Utrecht Italianisanten, whereby Ermels did not follow the great manner of Bemmels, but paid homage to the fine painting of his Dutch colleagues.

Ermels married twice and had six children, including his son Georg Paul, who also became a painter. Since 1674 he suffered from gout , which slowed down his work. Only small works are known from the later period. He died after a long illness on December 3, 1693 in Nuremberg. Only the landscapes are known of his quite rare pictures.

literature

• Joachim von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie , Nuremberg 1675, 1683
• Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, News from Nuremberg Mathematics and Artists , 1730
• Rudolf Bergau:  Ermels, Johann Franz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 231.
• Wolf Eiermann, Carefree Worlds - Johann Franz Ermels (1641-1693), a painter from Reilkirchen? , in: District yearbook Bernkastel-Wittlich 2009, p. 338 f.