Friedrich Kallmeyer

Christian Friedrich Kallmeyer (born August 20, 1804 in Benneckenstein , † May 25, 1868 in Dresden ) was a German painter.

life and work

Youth and education

Kallmeyer was born in the Harz Mountains as the son of a miner and attended the Lyceum in Wernigerode from 1818 to 1821. From there he went to Breslau and worked in the studio of Johann Heinrich Christoph König . Here he exhibited an Ecce Homo at the 5th Art Exhibition of the Silesian Patriotic Society in 1822 .

In 1823 Kallmeyer went to Dresden , where he frequented circles of young artists such as Ernst Rietschel , Julius Thaeter , Heinrich Wilhelm Georg , Carl Julius Milde and Anton Wilhelm Schilde . In January 1824 he was accepted into the Dresden Academy . During this time he devoted himself to the academy's usual training program, which culminated in the production of copies based on classics from the Dresden Gemäldegalerie. Bernhard von Lindenau was one of his clients .

Work at the Dresden picture gallery

After completing his training, Kallmeyer worked as a painter and gallery writer at the Dresden Gemäldegalerie from September 1838 . In 1854 he was promoted to sub-inspector at the gallery mentioned. However, his career ended two years later. Financial irregularities - possibly to help a friend in need - led to Kallmeyer's dismissal without notice.

family

On November 9, 1842, Kallmeyer married the daughter of a master carpenter associated with the gallery, Emilie Rietzschel. The couple had five children, including their daughter Martha (born 1854), whose records from the 1930s are an essential basis for the biographical information that has survived to this day.

After being discharged from the service of the Dresden gallery, the family found a home with a brother of the wife in Aussig . Emilie died there on September 12, 1859. Kallmeyer went back to Dresden to live with his two children, Martha and Bruno, who were still alive. He died there on May 25, 1868.

plant

Among the well-known drawings and paintings by Kallmeyer, above all portraits are to be emphasized. An oil painting with the portrait of Pastor Möhle has been preserved in the chancel of St. Laurentius Church in Benneckenstein, his native town. The still incomplete catalog raisonné includes 8 drawings and 24 oil paintings by Kallmeyer.

literature

• Christian Friedrich Kesslin: News from writers and artists in the county of Wernigerode from 1074 to 1855 . Scientific Association of Wernigerode, p. 235.
• Stephan Seeliger: in Neue Wernigeröder Zeitung. No. 17/2014, August 20, 2014, pp. 19/20.