Heinrich Pfenninger

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Heinrich Pfenninger (* 1749 in Zurich , † 1815 in Zurich) was a Swiss draftsman, copperplate engraver and portrait painter.

Life

Heinrich Pfenninger was born as the son of the pastor at Fraumünster Johann Caspar Pfenninger (1712–1775) in Zurich. Like his older brother Johann Konrad Pfenninger (1742–1797), he worked as a painter and engraver. His talent for drawing was recognized early by Lavater , who referred him to Johann Balthasar Bullinger , director of the Zurich drawing school, for three years for his artistic training . This was followed by a two-year apprenticeship with Johann Caspar Füssli . Heinrich Pfenninger then continued his training at the Dresden Academy from 1770 to 1773 under Anton Graff and Adrian Zinggaway. When he returned to Zurich, he worked as a draftsman and engraver for Lavater's Physiognomic Fragments .

In 1775 he married Elisabeth Schulthess. His famous portrait of Reinhold Lenz was created during this time . Heinrich Pfenninger drew and engraved portraits of Swiss and German poets for Leonhard Meister in the 1780s, including Klopstock and Goethe, which were published between 1787 and 1789. Heinrich Pfenninger portrayed and copied old masters in oil. He tried less successfully as an idyllic landscape painter in the 1770s. From 1782 he published the series of views Reformed Churches around Zurich in copper with Johann Jakob Meyer, who was the same age . In 1795 Heinrich Pfenninger stayed in Paris. His portrait of Jean Pauls , which was created in 1798 for Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim's "Friendship Gallery " in the Gleimhaus , is important. Pfenninger also worked for the friendship gallery of the publisher Philipp Erasmus Reich , which today is kept with 32 pictures in the custody / art collection of the University of Leipzig . After another stay abroad in Hungary until 1808, Heinrich Pfenninger returned to Zurich, where he died in 1815.

One of his students was his niece Elisabeth Pfenninger (1772–1847), also a painter. She worked in Geneva, Zurich and Paris, where she received a gold medal.

Works (selection)

  • Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz , 1777, pencil drawing
  • Johann Wolfgang Goethe , 1779, pencil drawing, Zurich Central Library
  • Jean Paul , 1798, Gleimhaus, Halberstadt

Self-published writings and editions of works

  • Helvetia's famous men depicted in portraits : by Heinrich Pfenninger, Mahler; together with brief biographical news from Leonhard Meister, Zurich and Winterthur: In Commission by JC Füssli and Heinrich Steiner and Compagnie, 1782 (volume 1) / 1784 (volume 2).
  • Caractères des poëtes les plus distingués de l'Allemagne: avec leurs portraits , Zuric: En commission chez les libraires Fussli, et Steiner de Winterhour, 1789. (French edition expanded to include a portrait of Goethe and an essay by Lavater).
  • Trying to answer the question who is to blame for our unfortunate situation? And then the even more important question, how must we behave in order to get out of this sad situation as soon as possible? Zurich 1799.

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Pfenninger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Caspar Füssli: Heinrich Pfenninger. In: History of the best artists in Switzerland. Orell, Gessner, Zurich 1779, p. 174 ff. With a portrait of Pfenninger.
  2. ↑ Johann Georg Meusel: Miscellaneen artistic content , Volume 11, 1787, p. 286.
  3. ↑ The Graphic Collection and Photo Archive of the Central Library in Zurich holds several views from this publication ( example ).
  4. ↑ Gisold Lammed: Daydreams, Pictures in the Light of Enlightenment. Verlag der Kunst, Amsterdam, 1993, p. 52.
  5. ^ Georg Kaspar Nagler: New general artist lexicon or news of the life and works of painters, sculptors, builders, engravers, form cutters, lithographers, draftsmen, medalists, ivory workers, etc. Fleischmann, Munich 1841, Volume 11, p. 212 .
  6. ↑ Guido Magnaguagno: Heinrich Pfenninger. In: The face an obsession, Johann Caspar Lavater. Kunsthaus Zürich, 2001, p. 171.
  7. ↑ Verena Bodmer-Gessner: Die Zürcherinnen, Brief Kulturgeschichte der Zürcher Frauen. Report house publishing house, Zurich 1961, p. 167.
personal data
SURNAME Pfenninger, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfenninger, Johann Heinrich; Pfeninger, Heinrich; Pfenninger, Henri; Pfenninguer, Henri; Pfenninguer, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss portrait painter and engraver
DATE OF BIRTH 1749
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH 1815
Place of death Zurich