Johann Caspar Rahn

Johann Caspar Rahn (born January 1, 1769 in Zurich ; † October 29, 1840 in Warsaw ) was a Swiss painter and drawing teacher.

Johann Caspar Rahn

Life

family

Johann Caspar Rahn was the son of the dye works owner Heinrich Rahn (born November 19, 1726 in Zurich; † August 5, 1801 in Aarau ) and his wife Susanna (born August 13, 1737 in Zurich; † August 26, 1789 ibid), born. Hess. Through the first wife of his father, Anna (born November 11, 1729 in Winterthur ; † December 31, 1764), b. Hegner, he had several half-siblings:

• Anna Barbara Rahn (born November 4, 1755 in Zurich; † May 11, 1839 in Auggen ), married to Ferdinand Zandt (born November 2, 1755; † February 27, 1831), pastor in Lörrach , Zeiningen and Mundingen near Emmendingen ;
• Johann Heinrich Rahn (born February 5, 1757 in Zurich; † unknown);
• Hans Ulrich Rahn (born March 14, 1758 in Zurich; † July 26, 1795), married to Anna Magdalena Cambefort from Castelnaudary ;
• Hans Jakob Rahn (born June 2, 1759 in Zurich; † 1779);
• Maria Magdalena Rahn (born December 25, 1760 in Zurich; † unknown);
• Anna Dorothea Rahn (born March 6, 1762 in Zurich, † 1827 in Mundingen);
• Judith Rahn (born December 19, 1764 in Zurich; † December 23, 1764 there).

From his father's second marriage, he had the following siblings:

• Mathias Rahn (born December 3, 1766 in Zurich; † April 3, 1767 there);
• Caspar Rahn (born December 13, 1767 in Zurich; † December 23, 1767 there);
• Ludwig Rahn (born February 14, 1770 in Zurich; † March 3, 1836) married to Catharina Gehret (born January 5, 1774; † October 4, 1834);
• Susanna Rahn (born May 9, 1771; † September 25, 1835 in Töss ); married to Rudolf Corrodi (born November 9, 1760 in Zurich; † January 25, 1833), from 1785 to 1792 private tutor in Aarau , 1792 pastor at Wollishofen , also teacher at the art school and community school, he was appointed pastor at the Pfrundhaus St. Jacob;
• Johanna Jakobea Rahn (January 8, 1773 - May 8, 1831), married to Hans Caspar Hafner (January 3, 1769 - April 10, 1847), teacher;
• Anna Rahn (born May 22, 1774; † July 15, 1776);
• Johann Heinrich Rahn (* December 24, 1777; † August 1, 1836), wallpaper manufacturer, married to Salomea Spörlin (* March 23, 1783; † 1861).

His uncle Hartmann Rahn (born November 5, 1721 in Zurich; † September 29, 1795) was married to Johanna Viktoria Klopstock (born July 17, 1730 in Quedlinburg ; † April 18, 1780 in Zurich) and thus Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's brother-in-law and the father-in-law of Johann Gottlieb Fichte .

On October 13, 1811 he married Johanna (* 1781; † unknown), born in Tegerfelden. Rothpletz.

Career

His father and his brother Johann Jacob Rahn (1728–1802) had taken over the father's silk dyeing and printing company. In the 1760s they founded a second company with a few partners, which was initially successful, but went bankrupt in 1771. The Rahn brothers then had to leave the Zurich area for evading business capital and moved to Tegerfelden in the canton of Aargau, where they founded an educational institute. This is where Johann Caspar Rahn grew up in his childhood and attended the local school of his uncle Johann Jakob Rahn.

At the age of twenty-five he decided to embark on an artistic career and, after studying drawing in Zurich, went to Rome without further support and studied there for several years. Among other things, he learned to copy the great masters, so that some connoisseurs did not notice the deception. In 1795 he made the ink drawings in Rome

• St. Lazarus Arch ;
• Baths of Titus ;
• Temple du Soleil a Rome ;
• Temple of Minerva Medica in Rome .

In 1802 he returned to Aarau, where he was the first art teacher at the newly founded cantonal school. From summer 1806 to spring 1809 he stayed in Zurich and stayed with Dr. Heinrich Rudolf Schinz on the frog pit . When the Goldau landslide occurred in September 1806 , he traveled there straight away and took in the area in a picturesque manner. During his stay in Zurich he painted several views of the Alps, such as those of Glärnisch and the Jungfrau . A view of the Lungernsee with the Wetterhorn in the background was entered into the raffle at an art exhibition and was awarded by Dr. Schinz won. In his hand there were also two views of Schützenplatz in Zurich. In addition, he painted the landscapes on Lake Zug in the morning and evening light, the fall of the Fätschbach in the canton of Glarus and the fall of the Aar in the municipality of Guttannen .

Until 1809 he lived only from his art, but in the course of time the sales of his pictures decreased, so that he accepted and accepted the offer of his brother Heinrich and his brother-in-law, Michael Spörlin , who built the first wallpaper factory in Vienna in 1808 Painted landscapes and animals for the factory.

The war years and the Austrian financial policy impaired the factory's income, so that Johann Caspar Rahn traveled to Aargau to renew a youth acquaintance. In 1811 he married her and returned to Vienna with a wealthy wife. Shortly thereafter, he associated with his brother's company.

In 1812 he went to Prague and built a wallpaper factory for his brother, which he now ran. Due to his health, he was no longer able to work in 1822, in addition to which he had meanwhile been divorced from his wife and she demanded the capital she had brought in. He then returned to Zurich and established a drawing school there, which he had to close again after a while due to a lack of pupils.

In 1836 he accepted an invitation from his brother Heinrich, who had meanwhile moved from Vienna to Warsaw and lived there until his death in 1840.

During the Helvetic reign he held the office of public prosecutor in Aarau as a painter.

Works (selection)

• Peasant couple on the lake shore;
• Mediterranean port with sailing ships and fishermen in the evening light ;
• Pfefersbaad ;
• Weth- or Staubibach in the Muotathal Canton Schwitz;
• Landscape near Fahr Monastery, 1798;
• On the way to the gorge , 1802;
• Habsburg , 1804;
• Bridge over a ravine , 1806;
• Lauerz and Lauerzersee, from the southeast, before the landslide , 1806
• Lauerz and Lauerzersee, from the northwest, after the landslide; View towards the Mythen, in the foreground the large blocks from the rock fall , 1806;
• Mountain Lake , 1820;
• View of Bad Pfafers with a view towards the Tamina valley , 1826
• Tamina valley with Bad Pfäfers , 1826.

Fonts (selection)

• Johann Heinrich Fisch; Franz Hegi; Johann Caspar Rahn: Vindonissa, or, Helvetia under the Romans . Bruges District Society for Patriotic Culture, 1821.
• Eugen Ziegler: Johann Caspar Rahn. A picture of life. In: Schweizer Illustrierte , Vol. 16, 1912, pp. 457–460.

literature

• Johann Caspar Rahn in the New Year's sheet of the artist society in Zurich for 1846, order VI .

Web links

Commons : Johann Caspar Rahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Johann Caspar Rahn on artnet .
• Johann Caspar Rahn in Hans Muggli: Art Width.