Johann Conrad Susemihl

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Johann Conrad Susemihl (* 1767 in Rainrod ; † October 28, 1846 in Darmstadt ) was a German draftsman and engraver .

Life

Susemihl was initially trained in tailoring and pursued this profession until he was eighteen. He secretly tried his hand at drawing, using objects or motifs from nature as models. He painted his drawings with brushes and paints he made himself. His father chastised him if he caught him doing this. His former teacher, a Rector Münch from Alsfeld, put in a good word for him with his father, so that he was allowed to give up the tailoring trade. So he started an apprenticeship at the court copper printer Johann Carl Müller in Kassel . But he was only able to give him experience in engraving and copperplate printing. Müller allowed him to learn to draw for two days a week at the academy. For his work there, he has been awarded two silver medals. When Johann Heinrich Merck came to Kassel to recruit young artists for his newly founded art institute, Susemihl was recommended to him by the director of the Academy Johann Heinrich Tischbein . So he came to Darmstadt in 1789 with his brother, the animal painter and draftsman Johann Theodor Susemihl (* 1772) . An engraving by Götz von Berlichingen was made here . After Merck's death in 1791, he had to get by on his own again.

In 1793, Landgravine Luise sent him to Dresden and Weimar for further training after he had made a portrait of her. After his return to Darmstadt in 1795 he was accepted by the Bekker brothers, who, together with Borckhausen, Lembecke and Lichthammer, published the work Teutsche Ornithologie, or natural history of all birds in Germany in lifelike illustrations and descriptions , in which he was involved. Grand Duke Ludwig I then appointed him court engraver. Because of his services to German ornithology, he was appointed a corresponding member in 1808 by the Wetterau Society for All Natural History.

Susemihl built up a publishing house in Darmstadt. He published reproduction graphics and works on architecture and natural history. The most important publication was the "Teutsche Ornithologie" (1800–1817), an engraved collection of German birds, most of the specimens of which he found in the landgrave or grand ducal bird room in Darmstadt. Most of the colored engraving templates came from Susemihl, his brother and Emerich Carl Seekatz .

After Susemihl's death, his son Erwin Edward Susemihl (1806 or 1807 - August 14, 1866) took over the publishing house. Susemihl also had a daughter Emilie, who together with him and her brother had made engravings for Georg Moller's monuments of German architecture .

  • View of Darmstadt (around 1800)

  • Drawing by Johann Conrad Susemihl, from "General Natural History for All Stands" by Lorenz Oken (1779–1851)

  • Owl, (Strix flammea = Asio flammeus), from "Teutsche Ornithologie oder Naturgeschichte"

  • Red Grouse male, (Tetrao rufus = Alectoris rufa)

  • Bearded Alpine Geyer Eagle (= Bearded Vulture), (Gypaetus barbatus) from "Teutsche Ornithologie or Natural History of All Birds in Germany"

  • Falcon, (Falco nisus = Accipiter nisus), from "Teutsche Ornithologie oder Naturgeschichte"

  • Falcon, (Falco nisus = Accipiter nisus), from "Teutsche Ornithologie oder Naturgeschichte"

  • Falcon, (Falco nisus = Accipiter nisus), from "Teutsche Ornithologie oder Naturgeschichte"

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Conrad Susemihl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Kaspar Nagler: Susemihl, Johann Conrad . In: New General Artist Lexicon ... Volume 18 : Surugue, PL-Torre, G . EA Fleischmann, Munich 1848, p. 2–4 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  2. ↑ Stadtlexikon Darmstadt. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 2006, p. 906 ( darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Susemihl, Johann Conrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German draftsman and engraver
DATE OF BIRTH 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH Rainrod near Alsfeld
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1846
Place of death Darmstadt