Hermann Knackfuß

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Professor Hermann Knackfuß, photo by Haeckel brothers

Hermann Joseph Wilhelm Knackfuß (born August 11, 1848 in Wissen an der Sieg ; † May 17, 1915 in Kassel ) was an academy teacher, art writer , illustrator and painter of histories and portraits.

origin

His grandfather was the Prussian major general Friedrich Ludwig Karl Knackfuß (1772–1842). His parents were the rent manager of Burg Eltz Eduard Knackfuß (1823-1893) and his wife Bernhardine von Martial (1823-1883). His brothers were the building researcher Hubert Knackfuß and the Catholic. Theologian and painter Eduard Heinrich Knackfuss .

Life

The capture of Frederick the Fair in the Battle of Mühldorf
Peoples of Europe, keep your most sacred goods

Hermann Knackfuß studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1869 to 1874 and became a member of the Malkasten artists' association . He was a student of Eduard Bendemann , Julius Roeting and Eduard von Gebhardt . As a volunteer he took part in the Franco-German War in 1870 . Illustrations on the course of the war appeared in the journal Die Gartenlaube from 1870 onwards . He then worked for many other magazines. In 1874 he received the Grand State Prize for two history pictures (a Byzantine embassy presented Attila's wife with gifts, Odysseus and the Sirens) along with a grant for a stay in Rome from 1875 to 1878. In 1880 he was appointed to the Kassel Academy . At first he was a teacher of anatomy, from 1890 also of art history.

Knackfuß created numerous historical paintings and designs for ceiling paintings of public buildings, which in particular dealt with events in the history of Prussia. For example, he made frescoes in the entrance hall of the Strasbourg train station. Initially, his paintings were characterized by a sometimes pedantic-looking realism , especially in the historical details of the costume. From around 1890 onwards, he increasingly used the technical achievements of Impressionism for his history paintings . He was also a sought-after portraitist of the Prussian nobility.

In 1895 Emperor Wilhelm II entrusted him with the elaboration of his allegorical drawings of the peoples of Europe, preserve your most sacred goods and for the sake of no one, to harm no one . He traveled extensively to Greece, Spain, Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt, and accompanied Emperor Wilhelm II to Palestine with many others in 1898. As a guard he died of the typhus epidemic in the Niederzwehren POW camp in Kassel.

As a representative of academic history painting and an illustrator of Prussian history, his work was largely forgotten after 1945, especially since many of his paintings were destroyed during the war or afterwards. Often he is only known as the author of numerous artist biographies. For example, he published artist monographs on Michelangelo, Raffael, Tizian, Velasquez, Murillo, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Holbein the Elder, Holbein the Younger and Albrecht Dürer as well as a general and a German art history at Verlag Velhagen and Klasing .

Works in museums

  • City Museum Kassel

Fonts (selection)

  • General history of art. Velhagen and Klasing, 3 volumes, from 1897, volume 1 ( archive.org ).
  • German art history. Velhagen and Klasing, 2 volumes, 1888, volume 1 ( archive.org ), volume 2 ( archive.org ).

literature

Web links

Commons : Hermann Knackfuß  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Hermann Knackfuß  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Knackfuß, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knackfuß, Hermann Joseph Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Knowledge of victory
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1915
Place of death kassel