Ferdinand Pettrich

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Ferdinand Pettrich, drawn by Herman Wilhelm Bissen , Rome 1834

Friedrich August Ferdinand Pettrich (born December 3, 1798 in Dresden , † February 14, 1872 in Rome ) was a German draftsman and sculptor .

President Washington, 1841, currently in the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Life

Ferdinand Pettrich was born as the son of the Dresden court sculptor and professor of the Dresden Royal Saxon Art Academy Franz Pettrich , on December 3rd or 5th, 1798 in Dresden. Already in his youth he worked in his father's workshop and acquired the basics for his further artistic career. After school, he began studying sculpture and drawing at the Dresden Art Academy. He then went on a study trip to Italy and studied with the Danish sculptor and teacher Bertel Thorvaldsen . In his workshop, the two reliefs The Day and The Night , as well as a graceful, delicate female seated figure with a fishing rod , collaborated on the Walhalla frieze in the studio of Martin von Wagner . In 1820 he made the marble statuette of a sleeping boy in Rome for the Maria Magdalenen Church in Schönlinde , signed "Ferdinand Pettrich f. Romae 1820".

In 1827 he married Anna Michelina Baldassari in Rome.

Bust of William Norris in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, ca. 1838–1842

Life in america

In 1835 he traveled to America with his wife and three sons and lived initially in Philadelphia and later in Washington's neighboring city of Georgetown . He worked independently in his own workshop and made several busts of well-known personalities, including American politicians, for example the statue of George Washington . In Washington he met numerous representatives of the Indians of North America (Native Americans) on the occasion of negotiations with the US government, to which he felt very drawn. He made many sketches and drawings and modeled a large number of busts, reliefs and sculptures of these people, what was later called the "Indian Museum". These works clearly showed the pride and special dignity of the people. The National Academy of Design elected Pettrich in 1837 in New York an honorary member ( Honorary NA ). In 1842 he was stabbed and seriously injured in his Washington studio. His doctors advised him to move to a warmer area to recover.

So he moved to Brazil with his family . There he arrived in Rio de Janeiro in April 1844 and continued his artistic work. He was appointed court sculptor of the Brazilian Emperor Peter II (Dom Pedro II) and in turn made a large number of busts and some statues, primarily of personalities at the imperial court, for his "Indian Museum".

In August 1857 Pettrich returned to Europe, where he saw the exhibition in his "Indian Museum" in London.

Living in Italy

The dying Tecumseh from the "Indian Museum" collection

In May 1858 he returned to his second home in Rome. Pope Pius IX acquired the extensive works for an annuity . His “Indian Museum” comprises a total of 33 works in late classical style, there are bas-reliefs , large real-life sculptures , over 16 busts and nine bozzetti (scaled-down designs, samples) made of plaster , painted in terracotta color. This unique collection of Native Americans was first exhibited in the Museum of St. John Lateran (Vatican), later in the Missionary Ethnological Museum as part of the Vatican Museums . In addition to his large statues, he created a large number of busts, small sculptures and medallions. His drawings are just as extensive. He died on February 14, 1872 in Rome and was buried in the German Cemetery in the Vatican .

literature

  • GK Nagler: New general artist lexicon , 11th volume, 1841, p. 195 f. ( Digitized version )
  • Hans Geller: Franz and Ferdinand Pettrich. Two Saxon sculptors from the classicism period . Jess, Dresden 1955 (research on Saxon art history; 5)
  • Andreas Raub (2018): Ferdinand Pettrich (1798–1872): Late Classicist drawings on Genesis. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history (113 / 1–2), pp. 21–48.

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand Pettrich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tecumseh-Keokuk-Black Hawk: Indian portraits in times of contracts and expulsion, booklet for the special exhibition of the Dresden State Art Collections, October 1, 2013 - March 2, 2014, Dresden, 2013, 24 pp.
  2. ↑ Archive of the Dresden University of Fine Arts
  3. ↑ nationalacademy.org: Past Academicians "P" / Pettrich, Ferdinand Friedrich August Honorary 1837 ( Memento from January 26, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) (accessed on July 11, 2015)
  4. ↑ Tecumseh, Keokuk, Black Hawk: Indian portraits in times of contracts and expulsion. (No longer available online.) Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, archived from the original on April 7, 2014 ; Retrieved April 3, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Pettrich, Ferdinand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pettrich, Friedrich August Ferdinand (full name); Pettrich, Frederick Augustus Ferdinand (anglicized)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1798
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1872
Place of death Rome