Franz Schmitt (painter)
Franz Schmitt (born September 26, 1816 in Wolfstein , † July 7, 1891 in Frankenthal ) was a German painter and restorer of historical paintings , stylistically influenced by his very famous brother Georg Philipp Schmitt , who belonged to the Heidelberg Romantic Circle and the Nazarenes . Franz Schmitt comes from the Heidelberg painter dynasty Schmitt, which produced four important painters: in addition to Franz Schmitt, his brother Georg Philipp Schmitt and his sons Guido Philipp Schmitt and Nathanael Schmitt .
Life
Franz Schmitt was one of 14 children of the Miltenberg tax officer Simon Joseph Schmitt, a Franciscan father who left the monastery during the French Revolution and was married to Caroline Krieger from Wolfstein . Franz Schmitt was born on the family estate in Wolfstein and grew up there. In 1822 the family moved to Heidelberg . His older brother, the famous painter Georg Philipp Schmitt, who belonged to the Heidelberg Romantic Circle and the Nazarenes, took him into an apprenticeship and influenced his artistic work. Georg Philipp Schmitt himself had a. A. learned painting from Peter von Cornelius , Christian Xeller and Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld .
From 1841, Franz Schmitt attended the art academy in Munich , passed the exam as a drawing teacher in 1845 and also received a patent as a painting restorer. He then settled in Heidelberg, where he set up a studio near the castle . During this time he restored numerous paintings by name for the enthusiastic collector and then mayor Winter. In 1846 he married Anna Mündel from Heidelberg and in 1847 took up a position as professor for art at the Progymnasium and at the trade school in Frankenthal (Palatinate) . In 1890 he retired from school and died a year later.
Franz Schmitt was known as a painter in his homeland, as well as an excellent restorer of old paintings. Some of his works found their way into the royal collection of paintings in Munich . However, his personality has been overshadowed by that of the more famous brother.
Franz Schmitt also shared a tireless passion for collecting and preserving good, old works of art with his brother Georg Philipp. He offers are not limited to objects of visual art, he collected rather with the same zeal excavated objects of all kinds, coins, old records and documents, books, etc. One of his most valuable in this respect possessions was the Rembrandt -Painting "Christ at the Geisselungssäule" which came to the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt when Schmitt died. It is still there as one of the showpieces of the museum, but is now only attributed to Rembrandt's workshop and no longer personally.
A lasting experience for Franz Schmitt was his great trip to Italy, which he undertook in 1862 as the companion of the Speyer bishop Nikolaus von Weis . Even if they were of different denominations, both men were friends and they shared a great interest in history and art.
Franz Schmitt's nephew Guido Philipp Schmitt was the most famous and sought-after portrait painter of the English aristocracy in London during the Victorian era, while his other nephew Nathanael Schmitt was also a famous history and portrait painter in Rome, Saarbrücken and Karlsruhe. Both were sons of Franz Schmitt's older painter brother Georg Philipp.
In addition to qualitative pictures (e.g. landscapes and still lifes), there are also several self-portraits by Franz Schmitt. His tomb with a beautiful old relief portrait, designed according to the plans of his two painter monkeys, is in the main cemetery in Frankenthal (Palatinate) .
gallery
Franz Schmitt, self-portrait (drawing), around 1835
Franz Schmitt, self-portrait (drawing), ca.1845
Franz Schmitt age portrait from the tombstone
literature
- Robert Schmitt: Simon Joseph Gabriel Schmitt - life story, ancestors and descendants. Self-published, Koblenz 1966
- Anna Maus: The history of the city of Frankenthal and its suburbs. Self-published, Frankenthal 1969, p. 167
- Jakob Kapper: The Romantic Franz Schmitt . In: Frankenthaler Hefte, 3, 1985
- Viktor Carl: Lexicon of Palatinate personalities. Hennig Verlag, Edenkoben 1998, p. 621
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmitt, Franz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter of the late Romantic period |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 26, 1816 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wolfstein |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 7, 1891 |
| Place of death | Frankenthal (Palatinate) |