Gottfried August Thilo

Self portrait

Sigismund Leberecht Schlegel (1750–1812)

Gottfried August Thilo (born March 7, 1766 in Leuven in Silesia, † March 1, 1855 in Breslau ) was a German engraver, miniature, landscape and portrait painter .

Live and act

Thilo was born the son of a businessman in Leuven. He was noticed at an early age due to his autodidactic talent, so that around 1782 his parents sent him to the Breslau portrait and history painter Braband for training. The friendly relationship between the two ended when Braband died in January 1790. He attended the Berlin Academy for several years and then toured Italy. At the end of the 1780s he returned to Breslau. Thilo settled in Breslau and during the Napoleonic Wars soon became a sought-after portraitist for French and Prussian officers who made stops in the city.

On June 18, 1791, Thilo was made an extraordinary member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Mechanical Sciences in Berlin. In the following years he made some altarpieces for Silesian churches, including a copy of St. Hedwig (1797), a Last Supper (1800), Assumption of Mary (1803), the Baptism of Christ (1804) and other portraits. In addition to his own compositions, he also created copies of works by other masters, such as a communion scene that resembles an engraving by Thouvenin that he had made after an oil painting by Benjamin West . His repertoire also included mythological themes and landscapes. He also engraved portraits of well-known personalities such as Immanuel Kant (1799), Napoleon Bonaparte as consul (1800) or the Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1802) and many more. Thilo's real profession was portrait painting. For the inauguration of the university he made a portrait of the king in 1811 , which met with general approval. The portrait of the minister Count Hoym (from 1803) bears his signature. The mayors of the city also had them portrayed by him for the gallery of the council chamber. He mostly carried out his panel paintings as half or quarter life-size half-length pictures. One example is the painting he made in 1809 for the director of Commerce, Sigismund Leberecht Schlegel (1750–1812). His work also includes miniature paintings, of which the artist left detailed records with details of the person depicted and the price for the order for the period from November 12, 1795 to December 31, 1818.

In Breslau he was a member of the Freemason Lodge on the Golden Scepter .

literature

• Georg Kaspar Nagler: Thilo, Gottfried August . In: New general artist lexicon . Fleischmann, Munich 1848, p. 346 ( books.google.de ).
• Silesian miniature painter of the nineteenth century - Gottfried August Thilo . In: Schlesischer Altertumsverein, association for the Museum Schlesischer Alterthümer (ed.): Silesia's prehistoric times in pictures and writing . Grass, Barth & Co., Breslau 1869, p. 119–136 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive - detailed biography with catalog raisonné [pp. 121–133] and portraits on p. 135).
• Johann Rudolf Fuessli: Thilo or Thiele (Gottfried August) . In: General Artist Lexicon, or: Brief message about the life and works of painters, sculptors, builders, copper engravers, art foundries, steel cutters ... Orell, Füssli & Company, 1816, p. 1861 ( books.google.de ).
• Thilo, Gottfried August . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 33 : Theodotos vacation . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1939, p. 38-39 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thilo, Gottfried August . In: Benezit Dictionary of Artists . (English, oxfordartonline.com - only beginning of article).
2. ^ Silesian miniature painters of the nineteenth century - Gottfried August Thilo . In: Schlesischer Altertumsverein, association for the Museum Schlesischer Alterthümer (ed.): Silesia's prehistoric times in pictures and writing . Grass, Barth & Co., Breslau 1869, p. 119–136 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive - detailed biography with catalog raisonné [pp. 121–133] and portraits on p. 135).