Johann Baptist soul

Johann Baptist Seele: Self-Portrait (around 1800)

Johann Baptist Seele , from 1811 also von Seele , (born June 27, 1774 in Meßkirch , † August 27, 1814 in Stuttgart ) was a German painter and graphic artist .

Life

The life of Johann Baptist Seele was marked by social advancement. He came from a humble background. His father Franz Xaver Seele served first as a simple soldier and from 1776 in Hüfingen as a non-commissioned officer in the Fürstenberg district contingent . Johann Baptist Seele, on the other hand, rose to the position of court painter to a King of Württemberg. Looking back on his autobiography, Seele wrote that he had been able to work his way up through diligence on his own. According to the art historian Hermann Mildenberger, it was precisely the Napoleonic "upheaval" that gave a few "careerists" like Seele opportunities for advancement. At the same time, however, Seele profited above all from the close network of relationships between the royal courts, who recommended him as an artist. Seele was born on June 27, 1774 in Meßkirch. In 1776 his father moved to Hüfingen with his wife Marie Anna and children .

Seele experienced part of his childhood in Hüfingen and began at a young age with his first attempts at drawing and painting, so he painted Agatha labels for sale. When he was seven years old, his father was transferred to Wolfach in late 1781 , where Seele further refined his painting skills and, as a nine-year-old, dared to paint with oil colors. In 1788, at the age of 14, he painted the painting Christ in the Grave , which is kept in the Wolfach Palace Chapel, but can only be seen during Holy Week - the picture is a faithful copy of the depiction of Jesus in a painting by Guido Reni (1575–1642). Prince von Fürstenberg's attention was drawn to Seele through his talent and sent him to the High Charles School in 1789 , where he studied until 1792.

The soldiery nature of the High Charles School based on orders and obedience was rejected by Seele. His stance was reinforced by the ideas emanating from the French Revolution . Together with his fellow students Joseph Anton Koch and Karl Gottlieb Schweikart , he finally planned to flee the Duchy of Württemberg. However, the project was caught and Seele was arrested. When it became known that he was still in correspondence with the successfully fled cook, his chances of an early release from prison worsened. He was in danger of being classified as a Jacobin by the Württemberg authorities if he openly confessed to Koch, who in his farewell letter had spoken out in favor of democracy and the dismissal of aristocrats. In response to corresponding allegations against himself, Seele asserted during interrogation that he had not planned any secret departure from Württemberg. He only intended to convince the Princess von Fürstenberg through his intermediary parents that she would soon be recalled from the Charles School. He only wanted to take this step in order to become self-employed as a painter. The Württemberg Duke Karl Eugen was not at first put in a mild tone. He was planning to force Seele into an infantry regiment at Hohenasperg fortress for several years against his will . The Duke could not enforce this, however, as Seele was a "subject" of the Prince of Fürstenberg. The princess stood up for Seele, so that he was finally extradited to Donaueschingen , the royal residence city, after six weeks in prison .

In Donaueschingen he initially received orders from the royal court. After a trip to Switzerland, he then went to Stuttgart with interruptions. There he created a number of commissioned works, as a result of which Duke Friedrich II of Württemberg, who later became King Friedrich I , discovered him and made him his court painter and gallery director in 1804 . As a court painter, Seele created portraits of members of the royal family and the rest of the high aristocracy and painted military genre pictures , the numerous motifs of which he found in the Napoleonic Wars . In addition, he made history pictures as well as religious and mythological representations. In 1811, Seele received the Order of Civil Merit from the King for his services to art . Apart from a few small trips, Seele never left Stuttgart. He died there unexpectedly in 1814 of a cerebral infarction .

The Haslach painter Carl Friedrich Sandhaas was possibly an illegitimate son of Seeles and Maria Margarete Sandhaas (1771-1830) from Haslach.

plant

Johann Baptist Seele was a pioneer of realism and thus far ahead of his colleagues in art history at the beginning of the 19th century, who almost exclusively still followed classicism . Nevertheless, Seele cannot be regarded as a pure realist, since his pictorial ideas, perspectives and modes of representation belong to realism, but the linear execution is still to be assigned to classicism. Seeles pictures are exhibited mainly in Baden-Württemberg , especially in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg , as well as in Vienna. Best known are his portraits of Friedrich I and Queen Katharina von Westphalen . His other paintings were also highly praised by his contemporaries and are mostly in museums.

Works (selection)

plant	description
Portrait of King Frederick I of Württemberg in coronation regalia and armor Johann Baptist Soul , 1806 Oil on canvas, 237 × 135.5 cm (without frame) 259 × 157.5 cm (with frame) Landesmuseum Württemberg , inventory number: NN74, Stuttgart.	The portrait of King Frederick I of Württemberg in coronation regalia and armor (see illustration on the right) was created in connection with a significant historical turning point in the country's history: As a reward for his military alliance with France , Napoleon advocated an increase in the rank of Duke Frederick II of Württemberg . In January 1806 he accepted the royal dignity of Württemberg as Friedrich I. The new rank is reflected in the portrait . Royal insignia such as the crown on the right of the table or the back of the throne chair in the background are depicted. Friedrich reaches for the crown. He stands in a self-confident pose on the highest step in front of the throne and wears a splendid armor , with which he takes up the pictorial tradition of his ancestor Eberhard I. Eberhard I succeeded in advancing from count to duke in 1495. With this allusion in the painting, the historical significance of Friedrich's upgrading of rank should be emphasized. At the same time, the armor and the "helmet with plume" on the right edge of the picture emphasize military strength. The portrait of the king was probably based, especially in color, on the works of the French court painter François Gérard . He had produced a number of paintings depicting Napoleon in coronation regalia. An artistic exchange could have taken place due to the wedding between Friedrich's daughter Katharina and Napoleon's youngest brother Jerome . With the diplomatic intercourse between the courts that was necessary for this, paintings by Gérard and Girodet were probably brought to Stuttgart so that Seele could “study” them. The Landesmuseum Württemberg is exhibiting the portrait in the Legendary Masterworks exhibition area together with the royal crown and the royal scepter. For the ancestral gallery in Ludwigsburg Palace, a room with the portraits of the Württemberg sovereigns, Friedrich commissioned a replica of the painting just mentioned. The portrait of King Frederick I in coronation regalia and armor is the last portrait of the ruler that is still originally exhibited in the ancestral gallery today. As with the model, the king wears the order of the Golden Eagle on his chest. He had donated this on the occasion of his reign. The king largely let the artist, who is known for his realistic representations, do it. The portrait does not conceal the ruler's corpulence.
Bride portrait of Katharina, who later became Queen of Westphalia, Johann Baptist Soul , 1807 Oil on canvas ? ×? cm The queen's toilet room in the Ludwigsburg residential palace.	The bride portrait of Katharina owed its creation to a clever marriage policy of the Württemberg king. On the one hand Frederick I was dynastically connected to Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. The king did not want to alienate these states by having too close ties to France. On the other hand, he could not offend Napoleon, who was at the height of his power. The marriage of Friedrich's only daughter Katharina to Jerome Bonaparte offered the opportunity to secure the goodwill of Napoleon for Württemberg. At the same time, the political effects remained limited, as Katharina was not entitled to the throne as a woman, which was beneficial to the courts in Berlin, St. Petersburg and London. In the painting Katharina wears a wedding dress made of white silk with gold embroidery. She is sitting on a precious armchair covered with blue velvet in the style of the Empire. She supports her right arm on the windowsill. This is also where the royal cloak unfolds. In the background you can see the English landscape garden of Ludwigsburg Palace, especially the Emichsburg . The medieval-looking Emichsburg should refer to the age and elegant origins of the House of Württemberg. The name of the castle, which was only built in 1798, goes back to the Counts of the Emichonen who held court near Ludwigsburg in the 12th century. This staging in the painting was intended to hide the fact that the Württemberg dynasty was still relatively "young" compared to other princely families. The portrait shows Katharina shortly before her departure from Stuttgart.
The storming of the Pfennigberg near Linz by the Württemberg hunting regiment Prince Louis Johann Baptist Soul , 1810 Oil on canvas 162.5 × 243 cm Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg, inventory number: KRGT 1156.	The painting The Storming of the Pfenningberg near Linz by the Württemberg Hunter Regiment Prince Louis was created one year after the Fifth Coalition War . As a member state of the Rhine Confederation , Württemberg was obliged to provide Napoleonic France with troops for the campaign against Austria . Part of the Württemberg army was under the 8th French Army Corps, which was led by Marshal Bernadotte and General Vandamme . On May 17, 1809 soldiers from Württemberg of the Jägerregiment stormed the Pfenningberg near Linz and captured six artillery pieces from the Austrian army. The previous battle scene is shown in the painting: The troops ride up the hill in an arch. The forest behind in the background is partly covered by gun smoke and “morning fog”. Unusually, instead of a general, the 30 fighting soldiers themselves stand in the compositional center. Her "probation" in battle and no evocation of heroic deeds are the subject of the painting. It was created without an order from the King of Württemberg, but was bought by him after Seele had offered it to him by letter.
Festinjagen near Bebenhausen Johann Baptist Seele , 1813/14 Oil on canvas 231 × 331 cm Anteroom of the king in the residential palace Ludwigsburg, inventory number .: KRGT 1499.	The painting Das Festinjagen bei Bebenhausen (see illustration below) had a court event as its background: On November 9, 1812, a few days after his 58th birthday, Frederick I celebrated a hunting festival at Bebenhausen Castle . On this occasion, the king and his entourage kill 823 wild animals that had been chased by drivers and 350 dogs. The so-called Dianenfest was one of the last great court hunts. Soul participated as a spectator. In the foreground of his painting are the shot stags, wild boars and foxes. On the left, an attacking wild boar is stabbed. More game rushes down a slope from the right, from where it has to pass the hunting stalls and reach the “arena”. The courtly society is watched in the background by spectators who are kept at a distance by a wall.

• The withdrawal of the French. around 1796, etching, colored.
• Avancier des Autrichiens - Austrian soldiers ready to march out , 1797. Oil on cardboard, 31 × 46 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum , Vienna.
• Portrait of Archduke Karl , 1800. Oil on canvas, 88 × 75 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
• Return of dragoons from food procurement (from foraging) . Original title: Retour du Fouragement des Autrichiens , um 1800. Oil on wood, 31 × 22 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.
• Family portrait Justizrat Johann Friedrich Zeller with his wife and three children. Oil painting, 1804.
• Austrian hussars on outposts , around 1805. Oil on panel, 28 × 40 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna
• Battle of the Danube near Aspern , 1809 , 1809; Oil on canvas, 200 × 170 cm , Rastatt Military History Museum , Rastatt
• Portrait Louis-Guillaume Otto, comte de Mosloy , 1809, Versailles Palace
• Altarpiece for the high altar of the town church in Hüfingen

literature

• Wintterlin:  Seele, Johann Baptist von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 33, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, pp. 576-578.
• Hermann Mildenberger: The painter Johann Baptist Seele. Ernst Wasmuth, Tübingen 1984, ISBN 3-8030-4012-4 .
• Gabriele Brugger, Armin Heim: Johann Baptist Seele (1774–1814) and his contemporaries . Hohenkarpfen Art Foundation, Hohenkarpfen 2001, ISBN 3-930569-22-1 .
• Gabriele Brugger: The painter Johann Baptist Seele and his work.
• Georg Kaspar Nagler : New general artist lexicon. Sixteenth volume. EA Fleischmann, Munich 1846.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele , Tübingen 1984, pp. 1 and 126.
2. ↑ ^{a b} August Vetter: Hüfingen . Ed .: City of Hüfingen. Hüfingen 1984, p. 614 ff . (Chronicle of the city of Hüfingen).
3. ^ Painting by Guido Reni
4. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele , Tübingen 1984, pp. 8-10.
5. ^ Manfred Hildenbrand: The painter Carl Sandhaas (1801-1859). There are many open questions in his life. In: The Ortenau. 70 (1990), 362 f.
6. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, p. 114.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Object in the online presentation of the Württemberg State Museum in the Old Castle in Stuttgart
8. ↑ Martin Furtwängler: Figure 23 In: 1806 - Sovereignty for Baden and Württemberg - Beginning of modernization? Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-17-019952-1 , pp. 106-107.
9. ↑ Fritz Fischer: The Kings and Their Self-Presentation In: The Kingdom of Württemberg 1806-1918, Monarchy and Modernity. (Great State Exhibition Baden-Württemberg) Stuttgart 2006, pp. 40–46, here; P. 40.
10. ↑ Georg Eckert: Zeitgeist in search of order: The establishment of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1797-1819 (series of publications by the Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences), Vandenhoeck, Göttingen 2016, p. 217.
11. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, p. 114.
12. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, pp. 159 and 243.
13. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, pp. 159 and 112.
14. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, pp. 114–115.
15. ↑ Paul Sauer: The Swabian Tsar. Friedrich - Württemberg's first king , DVA, Stuttgart 1984, pp. 294-295.
16. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, p. 264.
17. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, p. 264.
18. ↑ Readiness for War and Peace Order in Germany 1800-1814, Münster 1995, p. 128.
19. ↑ Michael Wenger: Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg: The interiors, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich 2011 p. 76.
20. ^ Hermann Mildenberger, The painter Johann Baptist Seele, Tübingen 1984, pp. 159 and 271.
21. ↑ black and white reproduced in Hermann Waldenmaier: With joy through! Albert Zeller the doctor and pastor. A picture of life. Stuttgart: Quell-Verlag 1927 (Höhenweg library), after p. 16.

Web links

Commons : Johann Baptist Seele  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Johann Baptist Seele in the catalog of the German National Library