H. Litfas

This article describes the German lithographer and draftsman. For the print shop owner and publisher see Ernst Litfaß .

Image 1: City view of the city of Mainz from the southern bank of the Rhine (H. Litfas, around 1838/1840), porcelain picture plate, verso signed in black plumb bob “H. Litfas "

Photo 2: Monument to Friedrich Wilhelm III. in the southern zoo with staffage figures, signed “Litfas” in the depiction. Porcelain picture plate KPM; Pressed mark Zepter over KPM, pressed letter H. Signed and dated in black solder on verso 'H. Litfas, 1852 ”. 25.5 x 31.8 cm.

Image 3: Horse ride in Glienicke : Prince Carl's white horse and liveried court employee, painting (H. Litfas, around 1860)

Image 4: H. Litfa's signature in black solder

Hugo Litfas (* ca. 1815/20 in Mainz / Kurhessian space; † around 1900 in the Mark Brandenburg ) was a German lithographer and draftsman of the Biedermeier , but also as a painter of porcelain image plates and oil paintings he did produce it.

Life

Probably from the Electorate of Hesse, he lived and worked mainly in Mainz for the first third of his career. At the industrial exhibition for Hessian tradespeople, which took place in Mainz on the occasion of the “fourth jubilee of the invention of the art of printing” in 1840, he exhibited his painted picture plates and cups.

His artistic training is also in the dark, but due to his diverse activities as a porcelain painter, draftsman for lithographs, lithographer and painter of oil paintings, at least one apprenticeship training can be accepted. His hand drawings often served other lithographers as a template. He often provided templates as a draftsman for the publisher and lithographer J. Leonhardt.

From around 1845 Hugo Litfas, around 30 years old, moved his center of life and sphere of activity to the vicinity of Berlin and presumably lived in the Mark Brandenburg . Horse portraits were now a main focus in his work. His somewhat better-known artist colleague Franz Krüger (1797–1857) also works there in the same genre, who has very successfully made numerous horse portraits. In the period around 1840/1890 these horse representations were in great demand and popular with the public. The aristocracy also wanted to have their “favorites” immortalized, so that Hugo Litfas u. a. also for the Crown Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia , the King of Hanover, Count Gustav Adolf v. Götzen, as well as early v. Maltzahn carried out commissioned work.

In Berlin Litfas also painted on KPM picture plates ("Monument Friedrich Wilhelm III. ", Picture plate 1852), so that some consider him to be the porcelain painter of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (KPM). However, he always signed his porcelain works with the full name, which was unusual in porcelain workshops. Therefore, a permanent, professional independence is to be assumed for him. Since his last, well-known work, the oil painting “Portrait of an Officer on Horseback”, is dated 1895, it can be assumed that Hugo Litfas died around 1896/1900 in eastern Germany.

The great enthusiasm and interest for horses continued in the Litfas family. His son, the practical veterinarian and senior veterinarian Georg Litfas (1864–1940) worked for a long time as a horse doctor in the Prussian military.

Work topic

Initially, his artistic themes were city and landscape views (numerous Mainz views, Gracht Castle in Erftstadt - Liblar ). But as early as 1846 his preference for horse pictures became clear (picture plate / porcelain "Galloping white horse that has thrown his rider"), which is later also increasingly manifested in the reproduction of numerous horse portraits of real thoroughbred horses.

Complete works

Reproduction graphics by other artists after H. Litfas

• The Gutenberg Festival in Mainz on Aug. 14, 1837, lithograph by J. Leonhardt
• Wasserschloss Gracht in Erftstadt-Liblar, at Lithogr. Henry & Cohen Institute, Bonn 1850

drawings

• The Gutenberg Festival in Mainz on Aug. 14, 1837
• Book illustration: Franz Ortalli: The bowels of the cranial, thoracic and abdominal cavities of the human body in a normal position. For use by doctors and state examination aspirants. With IX colored panels, depicting the objects in life size. Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1838/1839.
• Moated Canal in Erftstadt-Liblar. 1850

Lithographs

• Views of Mainz, several lithographs, around 1840
• Maja, dark muscat mold v. Ficus, 1850
• A mold in the stable door, according to Krüger, 1851
• Creß with the pack 1853
• Hunting with the pack, 1854
• The favorite, 1854
• Incognito, horse portrait, 1855/58
• Sea-Horse, horse portrait, 1855/58
• Anatomy of the horse, horse portrait, 1855/60 - 2 sheets 34 × 53.5 cm
• Jesuit, Steeplechase Horse from Dr. Faustus in the possession of Count Gustav von Götzen, 1858/60
• The horse rider E. Renz with Arabeska and Mac-Donald, 1870
• Negus, horse portrait, ca.1870
• Intus, horse portrait, ca.1870
• Emir, horse portrait, ca.1870
• Mathilde Monet, well-known rider. 1860/1870
• Louise Loisset, well-known circus riding artist at one of her glamorous acts. 1860/1870

Porcelain picture plates

• City view of the city of Mainz from the southern bank of the Rhine, around 1838/1840 (see Fig. 1 )
• Galloping white horse that has thrown its rider, 1846
• Monument to Friedrich Wilhelm III. in the southern Tiergarten in Berlin, 1852 (see picture 2 )
• Horses and carriages, two image plates for Friedrich Karl v. Prussia (estate of Baron Cerrini), 1861

painting

• The Pikör Cress in front of the Pinnow estate (near Duckow ), 1853; family owned by the barons v. Maltzahn
• Hunting with the pack, 1854
• Incognito, horse portrait, 1855/58
• Sea-Horse, horse portrait, 1855/58
• Jesuit, Steeplechase Horse from Dr. Faustus in the possession of Count Gustav von Götzen, 1858/60
• Horse ride in Glienicke, gray Prince Carls v. Prussia and liveried court employee, around 1860 (see picture 3 )
• Portrait of an Officer on Horseback, 1895

literature

• Franz II Baur, H. Malten, Johann Wetter a. a .: Commemorative book of the fourth jubilee of the invention of the art of printing, committed in Frankfurt am Main on June 24th and 25th, 1840. A celebratory offer, ed. from the book printers, type foundries and booksellers. Seifert'sche Buchdruckerei, Mainz 1840, OCLC 174386269 , p. 349 ( scan in Google book search); JD Sauerländer, Frankfurt a. M. 1841, OCLC 25261324 .
• Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus [Berlin] (ed.): Antiques from various possessions: including a large collection of miniatures and a collection of antique cabaret; Auction: Tuesday, May 14, Wednesday, May 15 and Thursday, May 16, 1918 (Catalog No. 1807). Berlin 1918, p. 13, No. 156, doi: 10.11588 / diglit.17891 # 0015 .
• Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): The art monuments of the Rhine province. 4th volume, IV .: The art monuments of the Euskirchen district. Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1900, p. 613 ( scan  in the  text archive - Internet Archive ).
• Auction catalog. Auction house Ketterer Kunst, 328th auction, “Valuable books”, 19./20. November 2007 in Hamburg, lot 717.
• Margarete Cohn: Franz Krüger, life and works. Inaugural dissertation to obtain the doctorate of the High Philosophical Faculty of the Kgl. University of Wroclaw. Verlag Schatzky, Breslau 1909, OCLC 84220933 - [ Section ] B. Genre Pictures , p. 113, no. 340, scan  in the  text archive - Internet Archive .
• State Library in Berlin , manuscript department: Coll. Darmstaedter; Signature: Collection Darmstaedter 2n 1853: Litfas, H., sheet 1, Berlin, March 19, 1853. - 1 letter, 1 sheet. - German; Letter; Handwriting.
• Catalog of the private library of His Majesty the King of Hanover. Schlütersche Hofbuchdruckerei, Hannover 1858, OCLC 26921222 , Appendix: Directory of the copper works contained in the library of His Majesty the King. [Dept.] X. Natural history works. P. 33 f., Here p. 34 ( scan in Google book search), and in the name and subject index of this appendix [!], P. 35–39, here p. 37 ( scan in Google book search ; the reference there to p. 24 is a prescription of the aforementioned p. 34 of the appendix; NB : the indication "[p.] 24" is also incorrectly linked to the main part of the book).
• Catalog Glienicke Castle. 1987.
• Inventory catalog. University of Amsterdam, Central Library , Amsterdam, 1012 WP Netherlands.
• Paul Graupe (Hrsg.): The old Berlin - oil paintings, watercolors, graphics. Auction on May 8, 1926 (Catalog No. 64). Berlin 1926, OCLC 889963470 , p. 24.
• Phillips, London, March 18, 1997, Lot 15-19th Century European Paintings & Watercolors (Sale No. 30273).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franz II Baur, H. Malten, Johann Wetter a. a .: Commemorative book of the fourth jubilee of the invention of the art of printing, committed in Frankfurt am Main on June 24th and 25th, 1840. A celebratory offer, ed. from the book printers, type foundries and booksellers. Seifert'sche Buchdruckerei, Mainz 1840, OCLC 174386269 , p. 349 ( scan in Google book search).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Friedrich Stuhr : Annual report of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Schwerin, July 1, 1912. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 77 (1912); P. 1–80, here P. 26, Appendix C .: Voss: Growth of the picture collection 1911/1912. No. 23 ("Creß with the pack. Gem. And lith. By H. Litfas. Printed by J. Hesse in Berlin. Ed. By G. Bernasconi in Neustrelitz. Color. Lith."); Scan. In: mvdok.lbmv.de, accessed on May 14, 2017.
3. ↑ An illustration can be found in the article Die Maltza (h) n 1194–1945. In: gutpinnow.de, accessed on May 15, 2017 (the signature on the lower right edge of the image is decisive; in the mouse-over legend, the image is erroneously attributed to Ernst Litfaß ).
4. ↑ Homepage. In: uba.uva.nl, accessed on May 15, 2017 (search for H. Litfas).