Johann Jakob Meyer (painter, 1787)
Johann Jakob Meyer (born March 4, 1787 in Meilen , † December 3, 1858 in Zurich ) was a Swiss painter .
Life
Johann Jakob grew up as the second youngest of seven children near the Meilemer church. His father was the silk manufacturer and financial administrator Leonhard Meyer. After the early death of the father, the mother Anna Meyer geb. Wunderli continued the production started by her husband. Little, ailing Jakob helped with the modest agriculture and operation. He also observed nature and drew in his sketchbook.
His talent for drawing was noticeable and at the age of 14 Meyer began an apprenticeship with the landscape painter Heinrich Füssli in Zurich. He learned the etching and aquatint technique from Franz Hegi . At the age of 16 he took part in the annual exhibition of Zurich artists with a chalk drawing.
After completing his apprenticeship, Meyer traveled all over Switzerland, often on foot. He recorded his observations in drawings. After 1811 he spent a few years with the artist family Lory père & fils in Neuchâtel . His travels and hikes led to the Valais and the Bernese Oberland .
He later settled in Zurich, where he carried out various assignments. In 1816/17 he wandered through the canton of Graubünden for the first time . In 1817 he married Anna Nievergelt and settled with her, his mother and his sister Anna in Zurich's Hottingen district. With her help, he ran his own artist's studio. The women prepared and colored the stitches according to his instructions.
In 1820, Prussia's Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm wanted to see Meyer's pictures while passing through and ordered two pictures of the Eiger , Wetterhorn and Wellhorn .
In 1823 Meyer traveled to the canton of Graubünden again for two months and drew for his illustrated book Die neue Straßen durch die Kanton Graubünden . The travel writer Johann Gottfried Ebel wrote the text for it . In 1827 he spent two weeks on the Calanda near Chur in order to draw a large panorama on its summit. In 1829 he moved over the newly built street of the Stilfserjoch . In 1831 the book Mahlerische Reise appeared on the new artificial route over the Stilfserjoch with 36 aquatints .
In 1839 Meyer went on an extensive trip to Germany to sell pictures, take orders and draw. In Potsdam he received an audience with the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. who bought two pictures of him.
In 1842 Meyer traveled to Russia, where he stayed in Saint Petersburg until 1845 and met the Tsar Nicholas I and his wife. 22 panels of the tsar's palaces and gardens were created. Meyer returned to Zurich via Sweden and Denmark in 1846. After the death of his wife in 1849, he moved to Vienna for a year in 1851, later he traveled to Budapest, after which he returned to Zurich.
Private
In addition to his wife, Meyer also lost three of his four children to an early death. His only surviving son Jacques (* 1826) squandered money and pictures of his father in Meyer's absence. He has been missing in the USA since 1854. On December 3, 1858, Meyer died alone in his small apartment in Zurich.
Web links
- Meyer, Johann Jakob. In: Sikart
- Tapan Bhattacharya: Johann Jakob Meyer (painter, 1787). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Catalog of works by Johann Jakob Meyer
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hiking like a painting - Graubünden. Rotpunkt-Verlag, Zurich 2014.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meyer, Johann Jakob |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 4, 1787 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | miles |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 3, 1858 |
| Place of death | Zurich |