Gisbert Flüggen

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Gisbert Flüggen , steel engraving by August Weger

Gisbert Flüggen , full name Gisbert Hipolit August Flüggen , (born February 9, 1811 in Cologne , † September 3, 1859 in Munich ) was a German genre painter who was one of the most famous artists of his time. During his lifetime he was nicknamed a "German Wilkie ".

family

Flüggen was born as the son of Petrus Johannes Flüggen, born on October 18, 1778 in Breyell . His mother, Sophia Julia Josepha, née Capron, was born on May 22nd, 1777 in the northern French community of Comines . Initially the couple lived in Lille in Flanders and moved to Cologne in 1811.

Life

Gisbert Flüggen , photo by Franz Hanfstaengl

Gisbert Flüggen was born on February 9, 1811 in the cathedral city as the oldest of four children. As the “ Illustrirte Zeitung ” from Leipzig reported in its 684 issue of August 9, 1856, the family initially lived in “otherwise so happy circumstances” before they became impoverished due to “severe loss of assets”. So the young Flüggen was forced to earn his own living. He worked for three years in an “important” haberdashery factory in Cologne, where he painted a wide variety of objects.

Outside of work, Flüggen pursued his artistic inclinations and visited the Wallrafianum to paint and draw according to antiquity. While his family, especially on his mother's side, vehemently opposed an artistic career, he found great support from the Cologne painter Joseph Weber , who was both a friend and a teacher. The neighboring art academy in Düsseldorf , where he spent a large part of his studies, also had a major influence on his artistic development . As the “Illustrirte Zeitung” wrote, Flüggen was “enabled to pursue his studies with greater vigor through an inheritance, and in order to serve art with all his soul, he did not shy away from any sacrifice that appeared to him worthy of it.”

After Flüggen had lived in Ghent in Flanders for a short time , he chose Munich as his permanent place of residence in 1832, according to the "Illustrirten Zeitung". On October 24, 1833, he enrolled there at the Academy of Fine Arts , which at that time enjoyed a leading reputation worldwide. At the same time, however, he was also in Cologne, where on November 5, 1834, he married the hairdresser Catharina Hölzgen. At the time of the marriage, Gisbert was 23 years old and Catharina was 19 years old. The couple had six children.

In the meantime, Flüggen had already risen to become one of Munich's most famous artists. His pictures were widely recognized. He took part in the preparations for famous artist festivals, such as the Albrecht Dürer Festival in 1840. He became a member of the “ Art Association Munich , which is under the Most High Protectorate of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria ” and the association “to support through no fault of its own in Noth Coming artist and their relics ”.

His studios became the destination of Munich travel guides. Flüggen also taught his students here, for example the autodidactic painter Carl Spitzweg , the Augsburg painter Helisena Girl and the painter Anton Seitz from Roth . Gisbert's son Joseph , who later also became very well known as a genre and history painter of realism, began his training with his father. In November 1852 he was accepted as an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts under its director Wilhelm von Kaulbach .

tomb

Grave of Gisbert Flüggen on the old southern cemetery in Munich location

Completely surprisingly died Gisbert Flüggen on September 3, 1859. The tomb of Gisbert Flüggen is on the old southern cemetery in Munich (burial ground 18 - number 13 - number 32) location . Gisbert Flüggen's son Joseph Flüggen is also in the grave.

Honors

In the Munich district of Neuhausen-Nymphenburg , Flüggenstraße is named after Gisbert Flüggen.

plant

There is no complete catalog raisonné on Gisbert Flüggen's work. In various publications, works have been and are repeatedly named and listed with titles. Over the years, however, different titles have crept into the same picture.

The “Flüggen Album” can serve as the basis for a catalog raisonné, which “photographs a sequence of all of his works by the king. Bayer. Court photographer J. Albert based on the original paintings and under the direction of the artist ”and is described in Rudolph Weigel's art warehouse catalog from 1859. Eight sheets of the "Flüggen album" signed by the artist are in the State Collection of Books and Engravings in the Summer Palace in Greiz , other sheets and photographs from the album are in family ownership.

The information in Rudolph Weigel's art warehouse catalog largely coincides with a list of the “oil paintings by Gisbert Flüggen”, which his son August made in December 1910 and which only differs in that the order from number 21 is not identical. In addition to these main works, there are a large number of other works such as paintings, portraits and sketches, although in most cases these are not specified.

Major works

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A prince's antechamber , 1859
The inheritance sneaks , 1855
The trial decision , around 1850

Nothing is known about the pictures The Old Bride , The Happy Womner and The Monk , especially the whereabouts of the originals. If there are no images, at least some information can be found on the images The Sunday Celebration , The Expectation , The Bird's Nest and The Testament .

Other works

Other works include:

Appreciations

During his lifetime

A first mention of Gisbert Flüggen's talent can be found in No. 4 of the “Gemeinnützigen und enthaltenden Rheinische Provinzial-Blätter” published in Cologne from 1837. There it says in an article entitled “Miscellen from the Province - Wallrafianum in Cologne”: “Since our last report, Cologne’s young painters have joined Rented a communal studio to be able to do their studies together. Friendship advice, exchange of views and ideas about what is currently being created, always promotes, and so here too, because the striving of one cheers and encourages the other when he sees his own lying next to dignified work. We saw a few pictures in this studio, which we reserve the right to talk more about when they are completely finished ... A very dearest, soulful composition is a genre picture by G. Flüggen from Cologne, an old farmer who reads something to his family, performing. If this object has already been reproached by painters several times, we must not fail to succeed in this composition with regard to the liveliness of the whole and the individual understanding of the individual characters of the predicate. It is a lovely little picture and it shows that the painter will still achieve excellent results in this sphere, that he has made extraordinary progress since his stay in Munich, where he will be returning. What finished in the picture, e.g. B. the head of the old man is extremely alive and true. "

The Polish count and Prussian diplomat Atanazy Raczyński writes in his self-published book “History of Modern German Art” in 1840 about Gisbert Flüggen: “This artist disdains not good examples and good advice; above all he likes to consult Kaulbach. A painting that I saw of him in 1835 showed the effect of the influence Flüggen was looking for, and that his talent is striving to improve. "

For the Cologne collector Johann Jakob Merlo , Gisbert Flüggen is "an artist gifted with Hogarth's spirit and in the brave progression", as he put it in his book "Art and Artists in Cologne", published in 1850.

In 1852 Wilhelm von Kaulbach, director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich since 1849, wrote about Gisbert Flüggen's imminent admission to the Academy in a family-owned handwritten document

“The Royal Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich takes the opportunity presented to it with pleasure to give the painter Gisbert Fluggen from Coeln a certificate of his artistic achievements and endeavors, which he deserves to such a high degree. However, the Academy is all the more pleased to hand over the organ for this testimony and sees it as a duty that is all the more pleasant for it as it has the honor of counting Mr. Fluggen among the most outstanding honorary members. Mr. Fluggen is a genre painter not in the ordinary sense of the word, but one of the few who understands representations with the folk and moral life of the present or the recent past in a way that ensures them the value and meaning of historical images. But he prefers to choose objects for his representations which give him the opportunity to show people in situations that are capable of illustrating the victory of good over evil, virtue over vice, noble deed over crime. This includes, among other things, his unfortunate player, the interrupted marriage contract, the opening of a will and the like. in several repetitions, partly changed, the legacy sneaks. But he also succeeds excellently in cheerful, cozy and idyllic scenes from the lives of happy mothers and grandmothers. Everywhere, however, it is not just about the vital truth with which he characterizes the acting persons. Knowing how to grasp and reproduce situations, this also happens with the fullest understanding of the conditions of a self-contained, organically rounded composition, it happens no less also in the masterful painterly, characterized in the same way by rare power, harmonious overall attitude and truth in detail Execution and not enough to acknowledge that, however much his earlier pictures excelled in these respects, yet his later works here also indicate progress towards further perfection. Thus, as a characteristic genre painter, Herr Fluggen occupies one of the first, if not the first, among the living German artists in this field, and one can undoubtedly give him the honorable nickname of a German Wilkie. In such circumstances, how much to be excused is the wish expressed here, finally, that Herr Fluggen would like to shape the situation, to carry out and complete several larger works, some of which he has just sketched out, some of which he has already begun, regardless of order, mood and leisure can.

Munich, November 9, 1852, Direct. Kaulb. Secr.Präfect Markgraff "

The article in the “Illustrirten Zeitung” published in Leipzig on August 9, 1856, in which Flüggen's entire oeuvre was honored by then, ends with the statement: “Gisbert Flüggen relates to the external advantages of his pictures, group building, weighing light and shadow , harmonious, beneficial coloring through all the nuances, especially in the chiaroscuro, impeccable, noble taste in all accessories, in short, in relation to all artistic demands on the technique and arrangement, competing with the first masters in Germany, France and the Netherlands. His pictures will forever be regarded as the most exquisite pearls of painting in general and especially of historical genre painting. "

After his death

A first appreciation of Gisbert Flüggen can be found shortly after his death in the multi-volume work “The artists of all times and peoples”, in which Friedrich Müller describes the painter in 1860 as “one of the most distinguished German genre painters”.

A little later, Carl Albert Regnet devoted himself to Anton Seitz in his “Munich Artist Pictures ” and wrote about Gisbert Flüggen in this context in 1871: “When he arrived in Munich, he soon managed to orient himself there in order to be accepted as a student by Gisbert Flüggen. The Master's choice could hardly be a better one. Flüggen, who earned the name of the German Wilkie, loved to choose those scenes from domestic and social life that involved a significant psychological task. With the happy choice of his fabrics he combined a very skilful and tactful arrangement of the groups, which are pleasantly and clearly separated from each other and which are accompanied by an excellent character and individuality. The technical treatment keeps pace with these advantages of Flüggen. The development of the whole is uniform, free, broad and light everywhere, the mood almost always successful and the color effect harmonious. Under the direction of this excellent master, Anton Seitz followed the difficult path of art and did not lose courage when he had to admit to himself in the first few years that the ability fell short of the will. "

A classification of Gisbert Flüggen in the art history of the 19th century is more or less done by the illustrated entertainment paper “Über Land und Meer”, in which it says in 1874: “One of the most excellent performers of those characteristic social genre pictures like Hogarth or Wilkie in their time painted, was the painter Gisbert Flüggen, who died too early for art on September 3, 1959. In his paintings, which were so numerous through lithography and copperplate engraving, e. B. the interrupted marriage contract, the wine tasting, the opening of the will, the pledging, the inheritance stealers and. s. w. has delivered a series of the most lifelike, deeply felt and artistically perfect depictions from modern family and public life, such as had seldom been painted by a German artist before him; yes, one can say: he ennobled genre painting through the choice of his materials and raised it to the level of history painting through the way in which it was performed. "

In the “Guide to Art History” for higher education institutions and self-teaching from 1878, Wilhelm Buchner considers Gisbert Flüggen to be one of the artists who can be named “as excellent moral painters of the Munich school”.

In 1888 Hermann Becker wrote in the work “German Painters”: “Gisbert Flüggen, unfortunately died in his prime in 1860, is a well-known and long-established member of the Munich School among genre painters. Among the genre painters who deal with novelistic material, he is one of the earliest initiators of this direction in modern German art and has found many successors ... In his works there is consistently progress in the development of the technical, and the latest among them are with great freedom treated with ease. "

In “Meyers Konversations-Lexikon” from 1897 it says about Gisbert Flüggen: “His pictures are distinguished by their technical perfection, happy grouping and lively expression. In the choice of fabrics he is reminiscent of Hogarth and Wilkie, he loved the depiction of the contrasts and conflicts of social life. "

The “General Lexicon of Fine Artists” published in 1916 and edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker lists Gisbert Flüggen as a genre painter who “prefers scenes from rural and rural areas. social life "," dramatic touching pieces that brought him the name of an 'Iffland among the painters'. "

Science and media

The painting of the 19th century occupies science and media equally in the present. Gisbert Flüggen also plays a role in this. For example, in 1967 Ute Immel came to the conclusion in her dissertation “The German Genre Painting in the 19th Century” that Gisbert Flüggen created his own “type of social painting” with “socially critical representations”. In doing so, he deals “primarily with portrayals of society that are rich in conflict”, but which he shows without a “tendency towards social accusation”. Gisbert Flüggen also tried to upgrade the reputation of genre painting with the help of a "historicizing train", which found many imitators in the second half of the 19th century and developed into the form of expression of "historical genre paintings".

In her doctoral thesis “BEELDEN VAN HISTORISCH LEVEN historical genre in de negentiende-eeuwse schilderkunst van Midden-Europa” in 2006, the Dutchwoman Ruth Krul investigated the question of what influence Gisbert Flüggen had on other painters of his time. Regarding the relationship between Flüggen and the well-known Düsseldorf painter Johann Peter Hasenclever , she states: “It seems certain that both painters met each other during Flüggen's studies in Düsseldorf, and they will also have been interested in each other's work in Munich. "With reference to other sources, Krul also endorses the statement that" Flüggen's ironic depictions placed in a bourgeois milieu influenced Hasenclever and not the other way around. Flüggen's Munich work is also said to have been an example for Carl Spitzweg's pictures and his predominant choice for figures from urban and (small) bourgeois milieu. "

Another topic is the status of 19th century painting today. In 2011, “ Die Welt ” interviewed Florian Illies, the author of the bestseller “ Generation Golf ” and the new manager of the Berlin auction house Villa Grisebach for painting of the 19th century : “With a few exceptions, above all Caspar David Friedrich, the art of 19th century had a relatively bad reputation. How do you explain that? "He answers:" Bad reputation? That is over. ”The 19th century had a difficult time for a long time, that is true. Interestingly, it was forgotten shortly after it was over. On the one hand, this romantic art was overwhelmed by the technical revolution and then by the modern age, which created the feeling that new times needed a new art. But the biggest problem for 19th century art was that it was liked by the National Socialists in its supposed homeliness. That discredited this art for the next generation.

When asked, “Isn't it primarily the spirit of romanticism, the ideological superstructure, that makes it difficult for us today to get involved with this art?” Illies says: “No, I think it is precisely this spirit of romanticism that is fascinated us again today. ”That was a criticism of civilization before industrialization even started! And one can often only see from the time what extraordinary painting has been created, beyond the sometimes somewhat narrative world of motifs. "Take a look at the sometimes ridiculed Spitzweg", Illies continues. As soon as you go to the edges of the pictures and look at how he painted the grasses, the sky and the trees, you are with one of the greatest German landscape painters of the middle of the century.

“It sounds like you have to explain to young collectors: 'Think away the subjects, all the grottos, ruins and fishing boats,'” says the questioner and the answer is: “You will be surprised: But you don't have to do that much to explain. I have the feeling that the time has come for younger art lovers, too, to approach the 19th century without prejudice. ”What distinguishes this painting: It is about pure feeling for nature and pure soul feeling. "And when I read the current zeitgeist analyzes, it's pretty much exactly what people are looking for in their search for meaning in 2011."

literature

  • Joseph Albert: Flüggen album, a sequence of all of its pictures. Munich.
  • General Lexicon of Fine Artists. Leipzig 1916.
  • Heinrich Becker: shadow gallery - symposium on looted art. Aachen 2010.
  • Hermann Becker: German painter. Leipzig 1888.
  • Helmut Boersch-Supan. In: Die Zeit , Hamburg, September 15, 1995.
  • Flüggen, Gisbert. In: Friedrich von Boetticher: painter works of the 19th century. Contribution to art history. Volume 1/1, sheets 1–30: Aagaard – Heideck. Ms. v. Boetticher's Verlag, Dresden 1891, p. 314 ( archive.org ).
  • Wilhelm Buchner: Guide to art history. Essen 1978.
  • Non-profit and entertaining Rheinische Provinzial-Blätter, Cologne, No. 4, 1837
  • Hugo Helbing: Auction catalog. Munich 1935.
  • Hyacinth Holland : Flüggen, Gisbert . In: Ulrich Thieme (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 12 : Fiori-Fyt . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1916, p. 130 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  • Florian Illies. In: Die Welt , Berlin, September 12, 2011.
  • Illustrirte Zeitung, Leipzig, issue 684, August 9, 1856.
  • Ute Immel: The German genre painting in the 19th century. Heidelberg 1967.
  • Innsbrucker Nachrichten , Innsbruck, March 7, 1855.
  • Wilhelm von Kaulbach: written document, Munich, November 9, 1852
  • Ruth Krul: Beelden van historically leven. Historical genre in de negentiende-eeuwse schilderkunst van Midden-Europa. Leiden / NL 2006.
  • Lempertz, catalog no. 409, Cologne, 1940
  • Johann Jakob Merlo: Art and Artists in Cologne. Cologne 1850.
  • Fledged . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 6, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 401.
  • Friedrich Müller: The artists of all times and peoples. Stuttgart 1860.
  • Latest news from the field of politics, Munich, September 11, 1859.
  • Friedrich Pecht:  Flüggen, Gisbert . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 140.
  • Atanazy Raczyńsky: History of Modern German Art. Berlin 1840.
  • Carl Albert Regnet: Munich artist pictures . Leipzig 1871.
  • Over land and sea, Stuttgart, No. 26, 1874.
  • Rudolph Weigel's art warehouse catalog, Photographies, Leipzig 1859.
  • Adolf Weinmüller: Paintings and hand drawings of the 19th and 20th centuries. Munich 1936.

Web links

Commons : Gisbert Flüggen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical information online on a website maintained by descendants
  2. ↑ Claudia Denk, John Ziesemer: "Art and Memoria, The Old Southern Cemetery in Munich" (2014), Grabstätte 115, p. 390 f.
  3. ↑ The process decision. In: Gisbert Flüggen. Accessed February 12, 2019 (German).
  4. ↑ The process decision. In: Gisbert Flüggen. Accessed February 12, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Flüggen, Gisbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flüggen, Gisbert Hipolit August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1811
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1859
Place of death Munich