Gottfried Locher (painter)

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Gottfried Locher (* 13. January 1735 (date of baptism) in quantities ; † 28. July 1795 in Friborg ) was from Swabia originating Swiss draftsman, etcher, painter and fresco painter . Locher, who is sometimes ranked among the Swiss minor masters , is considered to be the most important artist in western Switzerland at the transition from Rococo to Classicism with his wide-ranging work .

Live and act

Gottfried Locher was born in Mengen in 1735 as the son of the local painter Wunibald Locher. The first artistic training came from his father, who had a modest reputation. Johann Georg Vollmar and Franz Anton Rebsamen can also be considered as trainers in Swabia. In 1755 Gottfried Locher fled to Freiburg i. Üe., Where he was able to establish himself permanently after his acceptance into the local citizenship in 1759.

Gottfried Locher, who initially worked in the studio of his compatriot Franz Josef Sautter , was accepted into the Freiburg Brotherhood of St. Luke in 1759 . Until his death he worked as a draftsman, etcher, portrait painter, altarpiece and church painter. He decorated churches, secular buildings and, as the court painter to his Excellencies, also the Freiburg government buildings with frescoes. In 1776 he painted the ceiling of the Freiburg Grand Council Chamber with the car of the Carriage of the Republic .

In collaboration with Christian von Mechel , he is considered to be the inventor and pioneer of the Swiss tacht representations. His watercolored etchings Les trois Graces and Les trois Bachus had great success in 1775 . For Mechel in 1774 he drew the templates for the copperplate engravings by the Swiss natural doctor Michael Schüppach , his wife Marie Flückinger and the Langnau hospital complex. The portrait of Michael Schüppach was taken over from Johann Kaspar Lavater in the physiognomic fragments. Despite his outstanding achievements in portrait painting, Locher did not get into the narrow circle of artists around Lavater.

Gottfried Locher died in Freiburg i. Üe. The marriage to Marie-Françoise Rotzer had 17 children. The sons François (1765–1799) and Jean-Emmanuel (1769–1840) also became painters after training and working in their father's studio.

Works

  • Ceiling frescoes in the salon of the Reyff de Cusy house, Freiburg i. Üe., 1760/1761.
  • Ceiling frescoes in the salon, Jetschwil Castle, 1765.
  • Saint Michael , main altar sheet of the Church of St. Michael in Freiburg i. Üe., With the participation of Sautter, 1768.
  • Christ on the cross at the ninth hour , main altarpiece of the Capuchin Church in Freiburg i. Üe., 1772.
  • Portraits of the naturopath Michael Schüppach and his wife , templates for the Christian von Mechels publishing house, 1774.
  • Les trois graces de Gouguisberg , template for the Christian von Mechels publishing house, 1775.
  • Les trois bachus de Morat , template for the Christian von Mechels publishing house, 1775.
  • Franciscus Petrus Delley , half-length portrait in oil, 1775.
  • The car of the republic , ceiling fresco in the Grossratssaal in Freiburg i. Üe., 1776–1777 and 1785.
  • Frescoes in the nave of the Liebfrauenkirche in Freiburg i. Üe., 1786.

literature

  • Hubert Perler: Gottfried Locher: Biography and catalog of sacred works. Freiburg i. Ue. 1975.
  • Catherine Schweizer: Gottfried Locher (1735–1795), peintre du maître-autel de l'église des Capucins à Friborg. Bulletin d'information de la ville de Friborg / Bulletin of the City of Freiburg i. Ue., 1994.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann Schöpfer, HLS zu Locher, Gottfried.
  2. ^ Franz Anton Maulbertsch and his Swabian circle. Thorbecke, 1996, p. 450.
  3. ^ Hanni Schab, Roland Ruffieux: History of the Canton of Freiburg. Volume 2, p. 701
  4. ↑ Thomas Maissen : The Birth of the Republic: Understanding of the State and Representation in the Early Modern Confederation. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006, p. 476.
  5. ^ Lukas Heinrich Wüthrich: Christian von Mechel . Inaugural dissertation, Basel 1956, p. 56.
  6. ↑ Marc-Henri Jordan: Article Gottfried Locher in Sikart

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Locher, Gottfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss minor master and fresco artist
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1735
PLACE OF BIRTH amounts
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1795
Place of death Freiburg in Üechtland