Johann Christian Partzschefeldt

Johann Christian Partzschefeldt (born June 19, 1756 in Ronneburg , † March 1820 in Tübingen ) was a German draftsman and university drawing teacher in Tübingen.

Parthie von Tübingen: On the back of the Schlossberg , etching with watercolors, around 1800

Life

Partzschefeldt was the son of Christian Gottlieb Partzschefeldt, a Fourier in the Saxon regiment. He first did an apprenticeship as a kit maker in his hometown. At the age of 21 he came to Tübingen in 1777, where he stayed until his death. First he worked as a journeyman kit maker for eight years. He made friends with the Tübingen portraitist Jakob Friedrich Dörr and it was possible that he came to painting through him. However, nothing is known about the circumstances. On March 2, 1785, he applied for the post of typist at the University of Tübingen and asked for "academic citizenship". He was entrusted with the newly created position on March 19, and his enrollment fee was waived. His improved social position by being granted academic citizenship enabled him to start a family of his own. Just a month later, on April 24, 1785, he married the daughter of the Balingen city calculator , Catharina Elisabeth Rumpf (1753–1844). He had six children with her (born 1786–1796), five daughters and one son.

However, he did not receive a salary from the university, his main source of income was private drawing lessons, already since 1785. Apparently in 1786 he was additionally given the position of a master drawer at the university, still without payment. In addition to taking private drawing lessons, he made money by taking portraits and selling the vedute of Tübingen, most of which were published by Carl Ebner in Stuttgart . The position of a university drawing teacher was only created at the end of 1808 with the hiring of the “first drawing teacher” Christoph Friedrich Dörr , who was a former student of Partzschefeldt, while he himself has been the “second drawing teacher” since then. Partzschefeldt made an application for payment in November 1808, but at that time the application was not granted. Only when the drawing institute was renamed the drawing institute in 1816 did he receive a modest salary. He lived in modest circumstances and had no savings when he died relatively early - at 64 - so that his widow had to ask for help at the university. This request was by the University Senate against the King of Württemberg - I. Friedrich - supported. Partzschefeldt was represented there as a man who distinguished himself through “faithful fulfillment of his duties” and “was able to make himself useful to many for a long time through both writing and drawing lessons without any salary [...]”.

In November 1813, Partzschefeldt became the godfather of the carpenter's daughter Lotte Zimmer , who later became Friedrich Hölderlin's nurse , which can be seen as an indication that he settled in and found recognition in Tübingen.

Services

Partzschefeldt was one of the first Tübingen vedute painters to depict the city not only from its traditional face, but also from the other points of the compass. He wandered along its walls in his pictures, but never showed motifs within the city. There are always people in his pictures - citizens of the city on their walk in front of the gates. His figures are mostly from behind, which are intended to direct the viewer's gaze into the picture. In his four-part series, which shows Tübingen from the four cardinal points, the viewer virtually assumes the position of the staffage figures and admires the landscape and architecture with them. These dominate his pictures, the staffage only underlines their importance. In addition, he addressed a relatively young cultural and historical motif - the bourgeois stroll: "His pictures are not only intended as memories, but also as pictorial instructions for the aesthetic enjoyment of the walk: he should see and learn."

More famous works

All, unless otherwise stated, City Museum Tübingen

• before 1793 "Part of Tübingen at the long footbridge on the old Ammer" ( etching , 177 × 240 mm, published by Ebner; University Library of Tübingen)
• c. 1796 Tübingen from the midnight side (etching, 118 × 171 mm)
• c. 1796 Tübingen from the evening side (etching, 118 × 171 mm)
• approx. 1796 Tübingen from the morning side ( watercolor , 108 × 175 mm, template for the next)
• c. 1796 Tübingen from the morning side (watercolor etching, 108 × 175 mm)
• c. 1796 Tübingen from the midday side (etching, 108 × 173 mm)
• 1799 "View at the inn to the golden grapes, in front of the Lustnauer Thor in Tübingen" (watercolor etching, 206 × 295 mm)
• before 1800 Tübingen from the south-east [from the current Gartenstrasse] (watercolor)
• approx. 1800 part of Tübingen on the back of the Schlossberg (Indian ink, 175 × 246 mm, template for the next)
• approx. 1800 part of Tübingen on the back of the Schlossberg (watercolor etching, 174 × 240 mm, published by Ebner)
• approx. 1800 lot in front of the blacksmith's gate (watercolor, 180 × 246 mm, study on the next)
• approx. 1800 "Parthie vor dem Schmid Thor at the Schaafhaus" (etching, 178 × 246 mm, published by Ebner)
• before 1801 town and castle from Stöckle ( gouache , 475 × 370 mm)
• 1802 Evangelical monastery from the south (etching, 160 × 210 mm)
• approx. 1810 Tübingen from the Steinlacher Bridge (etching)
• approx. 1810 Tübingen from the southeast (colored lithograph, 98 × 145 mm)
• approx. 1830 City and castle from the west (gouache, 390 × 510 mm)

• 

  Tübingen from the morning side (watercolor etching, 1796)

• 

  Tübingen from the midnight side (etching, 1796)

• 

  Zum Goldenen Trauben (etching with watercolors, 1799)

• 

  Game in front of Schmiedtor (watercolor, ca.1800)

• 

  Evangelical monastery from the south (etching, 1802)

Notes and individual references

1. ^ Theresia Ludwig: Johann Christian Partzschefeldt , pp. 59/64
2. ↑ After completing his studies at the University of Tübingen, the son became a pastor.
3. ↑ Christina Melk: Tübingen Views and Painters in the 19th Century , p. 32
4. ↑ Theresia Ludwig: Johann Christian Partzschefeldt , p. 64 quotes a letter from the representative of the Schrader Senate to the King of May 26, 1820 (University Archives Tübingen 117/815).
5. ↑ Christina Melk: Tübingen Views and Painters in the 19th Century , p. 31
6. ↑ Christina Melk-Haen: Tübingen views by Johann Christian Partzschefeldt , p. 26

bibliography

• Theresia Ludwig: Johann Christian Partzschefeldt . In: Evamarie Blattner, Wiebke Ratzeburg, Ernst Seidl (ed.): Artists for students. Pictures of the university drawing teachers 1780–2012 , Stadtmuseum Tübingen 2012 (= Tübingen catalogs no. 94), ISBN 978-3-941818-13-2 , pp. 59–65
• Christina Melk-Haen: Tübingen views from Johann Christian Partzschefeldt . In: "Tübinger Blätter" 1986, pp. 25-26
• Christina Melk: Tübingen Views and Painters in the 19th Century , Tübingen 1986 (= Tübingen Catalogs No. 27)

Web links

Commons : Johann Christian Partzschefeldt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files