Jacques Pilartz

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Jakob (Jacques) Pilartz (born August 22, 1836 in Cologne , † September 16, 1910 in Bad Kissingen ) was a German photographer , court photographer and purveyor to several German rulers.

Life

Official Bismarck photo taken by Jacques Pilartz on August 31, 1890
Revers with images of the medals and decorations awarded
Pilartz family grave ( chapel cemetery , Bad Kissingen)

He was the son of the technician Johann Joseph Pilartz and Sibylla Odenthal . Nothing is known about his school and apprenticeship years. Pilartz must have lived in Elberfeld near Wuppertal for some time , because from there he came back to Cologne on December 9, 1857.

In Cologne he ran a “photographic institution” and took individual and group photos “both on glass and paper as well as on wax linen” . In 1862 he had a passport issued to Emmerich am Rhein ( Kleve district ) and moved from there to Amsterdam .

In Amsterdam he had some success with his work in his own photo studio, which is evidenced by the award of a silver medal (1868), a diploma from the “Amsterdam Photographical Association” (1875) and honorable mentions in the press. He had a particular success on September 9, 1874 with his recordings of the start of Eugène Godard's balloon flight .

Like most photographers of his time, Pilartz engaged in various experiments. So he developed an enamel process with which it was possible to give photos an enamelled appearance. This process, for which he used sandarak , shellac , alcohol and turpentine , he published in 1873 with precise instructions for use.

With his second wife Marie Mickler (?? - 1884) he also sold a hair coloring tincture he had developed and also ran a flower and international real estate business. He took on Dutch citizenship , which was easily possible even for “foreigners” after a stay of more than six years. It is not known why he left the Netherlands again after ten years.

Perhaps it was the growing popularity of the Bavarian spa town of Kissingen and its high-ranking guests from the international aristocracy that prompted him to leave Amsterdam in 1875 and to open a photo studio on the Kissingen Salinenpromenade in May of that year in order to benefit from the growing success of the world-famous spa town to participate. He must have been wealthy at the time to be able to afford a “first-rate studio” on this promenade . The furnishings and fittings had to meet the high demands of its selected customers. These included Crown Prince Friedrich (later Emperor Friedrich III.), Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia with her sons, Germany's last Empress Auguste Viktoria with her sons, Duke Christian of Schleswig-Holstein , Duke Ernst of Saxony-Altenburg , and Joseph Victor von Scheffel , Adolph von Menzel , Heinrich Schliemann , Prince Regent Albrecht von Braunschweig , Prof. Max von Pettenkofer or Queen Mary of Hanover , whose personal judgment of Pilartz's studio was quoted in a newspaper note from 1883: “The lady was from the tastefully furnished establishment Surprised in the most pleasant way, he inspected the excellent works of art with keen interest, and graciously expressed her full appreciation for the artistic execution of them. Her Majesty asked for several photographs to be taken ... "

Due to his business success, his fame and his elite clientele, Pilartz was appointed royal Prussian court photographer, royal Bavarian , imperial and grand princely Russian , grand ducal of Baden and grand ducal and ducal Brunswick-Lüneburg court photographer in the course of his professional life . In addition, he was awarded the title of the Secret Commission Council, which is otherwise unusual in Germany, from Sachsen-Altenburg .

Pilartz was even called to Berlin to photograph the dead Kaiser Wilhelm I and the 90-year-old Field Marshal Hellmuth Graf von Moltke . Such photos were great business and were sold all over Germany. The same was true for his Bismarck photos. Pilartz was Bismarck's favorite photographer and Bismarck was Pilartz's favorite customer. He repeatedly photographed Bismarck with his plate camera during his 14 spa visits in Bad Kissingen, each lasting several weeks. The series of portraits created in the summer of 1890 , which Bismarck liked to use for his own stylization as an “elder statesman”, was particularly popular in Germany. His photos probably also served as a template for Franz von Lenbach's Bismarck portraits, as he liked to work from photo templates; in any case, Lenbach thanks Pilartz for such photos. Pilartz photos also served as a template for the Bismarck bust of the Munich Art Academy professor Erwin Kurz (1857–1931), created in 1908 and destined for the Walhalla near Regensburg .

After the death of his second wife Marie Mickler († 1884), Pilartz married Marie Metzger (born September 10, 1860 in Würzburg ; † April 17, 1937 in Bad Kissingen) in 1886 , with whom he had six sons.

In 1887 a Kissinger rifleman hit him in a hunting accident in the right eye, which despite an immediate operation could no longer be saved and Pilartz now had to wear a glass eye. In subsequent trials, he was awarded 1,500 marks for pain and suffering, 1,092 marks for health resort costs and 700 marks for an annual pension for life.

In 1901 he was granted Bavarian citizenship and membership of the German Reich for himself and his family after the Cologne District President announced that no Prussian citizenship could be determined and that he would have lost it anyway after spending ten years in Holland.

Two days after his death on September 16, Pilartz was buried on September 18 in his family grave in the chapel cemetery in Bad Kissingen. He had “achieved the highest that could be achieved in his field,” said Pastor Roth about him, “but he was also a person full of character who, even if he had some nooks and crannies on the outside, always had a gentle hand. ... have had."

Awards

List of awards
  • Large silver medal at an exhibition in Amsterdam (1868)
  • Diploma of the "Amsterdam Photography Association" (1875)
  • Gold medal 2nd class for art and science on the blue ribbon of the “Associazione di benemeriti Italiani” in 1885
  • Cross of Merit of the Ducal Saxon-Ernestine House Order
  • Saxony-Altenburg Medal for Art and Science in silver with crown by Duke Ernst of Saxony-Altenburg in 1890
  • Saxony-Coburg-Gotha Medal for Art and Science on a green and silver ribbon in 1895
  • Medal for science and art by the Duke of Anhalt in 1896
  • Commission Council
"Herzoglich Sachsen-Altenburgischer Commissionrat" by Duke Ernst von Sachsen-Altenburg in 1895
  • Court photographer
"Großherzoglich Badischer Hof-Photographer" by the Grand Duke of Baden in 1888
"Kgl. bayer. Hofphotograph ”by the Prince Regent in 1892
“Court photographer and purveyor to the court, Sr. Königigl. Highness Prince and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein ”by decree of April 5, 1898
"Ducal Brunswick-Lüneburgischer Hofphotograph" by Sr. Koengl. Highness Prince Albrecht of Prussia , Regent of Braunschweig in 1899

literature

  • Wolfgang Brückner: Historical Photography in Lower Franconia , Echter Verlag GmbH, Würzburg 1989, ISBN 3429012686 and ISBN 978-3429012687 .
  • Gerhard Wulz: Particularly beautiful and effective. From the life of the court photographer Jacques Pilartz . In: "Saale-Zeitung" from 3. u. December 20, 2003 as well as in "Frankenland" (2005), p. 49 f.
  • Gerhard Wulz: The chapel cemetery in Bad Kissingen. A guide with short biographies , Bad Kissingen 2001, ISBN 3-934912-04-4 .

Web links

Commons : Jacques Pilartz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This studio existed for about 100 years and was continued after his death by his wife, later by his son Otto († 1958) and continued until 1967.
  2. ↑ Pilartz's plate camera can be seen today in the “Bismarck Museum” in Bad Kissingen.
  3. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , 22nd year, 1885, p. 200.
  4. ^ Thuringian State Archives Gotha, State Ministry Dep. I Loc. 11 No. 5 Vol. 57 p. 114. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 6, 2017 ; Retrieved April 5, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatsarchiv-gotha.findbuch.net
  5. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Vol. 27, 1890, pp. 344–345.
  6. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Volume 32, 1895, p. 141.
  7. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Volume 33, 1896, pp. 341–342.
  8. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Volume 32, 1895, p. 204.
  9. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Volume 25, 1888, p. 220.
  10. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , vol. 29, 1892, pp. 268, 311.
  11. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Volume 35, 1898, p. 325.
  12. ↑ Photographische Correspondenz , Volume 36, 1899, p. 152.
personal data
SURNAME Pilartz, Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pilartz, Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 1910
Place of death Bad Kissingen , Lower Franconia