Johann Konrad Zeller

Johann Konrad Zeller , also Johann Conrad Zeller (born May 2, 1807 in Hirslanden-Balgrist near Zurich , † March 1, 1856 ibid) was a Swiss landscape , history , genre and portrait painter .

Life

Childhood and youth

Johann Konrad Zeller was the son of the hose and silk manufacturer Heinrich Zeller and his wife Maria (née Füssli). His brother was Heinrich Zeller (1810-1897), businessman and painter, married to Anna in 1838, daughter of the astronomer and mathematician Johann Kaspar Horner .

Already in his childhood he discovered his inclination for painting; the oldest pen drawing came from the age of ten and represented his parents' house.

His inclination was also encouraged by his parents because his father had lived in Naples for four years as a young merchant and got to know art there. In addition, his grandfather, the painter Johann Heinrich Füssli, woke up his artistic talents and trained them further.

The drawing teacher and copper engraver Georg Christoph Friedrich Oberkogler (1774–1856) gave him his first lessons in drawing . He later studied oil painting with the landscape painter Konrad Gessner (1774–1826), the son of the landscape painter Salomon Gessner .

In 1824 he went on a trip to Italy with friends and visited Milan , Rome , Naples , Florence and Venice . Letters to his grandfather showed how receptive his eye was to painting even then and how well he was able to grasp and judge the paintings of different masters.

training as a businessman

However, his dream of becoming a painter came true late, because his father wanted him to receive a commercial training and take over the office in his own house , he should only do painting in his free time. He complied with his father's wishes and received a commercial training.

In 1825 he traveled to Turin , stayed there for two years in a trading house and was trained as a silk trader, but also continued to train himself in painting. After his return, his father handed him the job of accountant in the hope that he would continue to be a businessman. In his spare time he made frequent foot trips and visited Swiss valleys and passes and always returned with a portfolio of landscape studies and mountain views. In 1832 he asked his father to be allowed to give up the job of a merchant so that he could devote himself fully to painting; his father agreed and his grandfather advised him to go to Rome for further education.

Activities as a painter

His most important work began in 1829 while he was visiting the Leukerbad for health reasons . From there he climbed the Majinghorn and from this point of view drew a complete panorama of the Valais mountains surrounding him . It was there that the plan arose to explore the southern Valais valleys more closely; He carried out the project a few years later, on his second trip to Italy. The drawings were created with the view from the Col de Bréona in the Eringer Valley , the view of the mountains and glaciers in the background of the Eifisch Valley , a panoramic view from the Zehntenhorn near St. Niklaus and a panorama of La Chenalette on the Great St. Bernhard .

Zeller was probably the first to not only draw these views, but also to paint them. In doing so, he contributed to the topographical understanding of these areas and also drew tourist attention to them.

In Rome he was taken in 1832 by his compatriot, the sculptor Heinrich Keller , who died in the same year; this introduced him to Bertel Thorvaldsen , Friedrich Overbeck , Johann Christian Reinhart , Joseph Anton Koch and other artists.

He met Horace Vernet , the director of the Académie de France in Rome, among others through his friend, the painter Johann Jakob Wolfensberger ; he invited him to his weekly soirees , which were also attended by artists, musicians, statesmen and other famous men. In 1835 Vernet tried to persuade Zeller to accompany him to Paris and study the painting exhibition there. During this time he also offered him a place to work in his own studio, but Zeller did not dare to accept the offer because he feared he would lose his artistic freedom.

After leaving Vernet, he had only a few contacts with the other artists in Rome, including Salomon Corrodi and Jakob Suter (1805–1874).

In 1838, through his father, he was asked by the Zurich antist, Johann Jakob Füssli , to paint paintings on the occasion of the construction of the Neumünster , which depict the most important church festivals and which should be used to decorate the Neumünster. It was difficult for him to accept the commission because he had not painted any religious pictures before. At the request of his father to accept the order to leave a memorial to the home community, he decided to start the work anyway. He began his preliminary studies in the Vatican ; He developed a great interest in Raphael's transfiguration . He believed he was allowed to deviate from the traditional way in which the old masters used to paint on several points, both in the position of the main characters and in the color of the robes of the apostles. During a visit by the painter Wilhelm von Kaulbach , who wanted to see his works with some students, including two Swiss, he found it offensive that Christ is not placed in the middle . The painter Marie Ellenrieder , who also visited him on the same day, encouraged him, however. Before completing the picture, he had to send it to Zurich for the dedication of the church, and the picture was considered to be the most worthy decoration of the new temple . However, he did not paint a second picture.

He lived in Rome for 15 years and was able to study painting in a free and independent position. During this time he painted genre pictures, landscapes and portraits, which he presented at the art exhibitions in Rome. From Rome he also sent many pictures to art exhibitions in Switzerland and various cities in Germany. His buyers included the silk goods dealer Adolf Heinrich Schletter from Leipzig , the silk goods dealer Alberto Keller (1800–1874) from Milan and the cartographer and railway pioneer Jakob Melchior Ziegler (1801–1883) from Winterthur .

His goal was that art lovers and buyers of paintings would go to his studio without being asked, so that he would not be compelled to apply for their favor.

When he returned to Zurich in 1847, he continued his artistic activity and created a large number of portraits. To this end, he painted mostly landscape pictures, some Italian based on earlier sketches, some Swiss ones, which he took during his hikes.

On the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of Zurich's accession to the Swiss Confederation in 1851, Johann Konrad Zeller, along with Ludwig Vogel , David Eduard Steiner and Hans Jakob Oeri, was commissioned to decorate the Zurich festival hut. The artists created a large-format historical picture of the return of the victorious people of Zurich from the battle of Tattwil .

In 1855 he stayed for the last time to relax in Engelbergertal and died of heart disease on his return; he remained unmarried throughout his life.

With a portrait of the secret finance councilor Heinrich Wilhelm Campe (1771–1862), which was in the possession of the zoologist Ernst Ehlers from Göttingen , he participated in the 1906 exhibition of German art in Berlin .

Works and reception

Johann Konrad Zeller made many landscape studies with the mountains and valleys of Switzerland as well as Savoy and Italy . The sketches from Rome, Capri and Naples are particularly numerous . There are also genre pictures as well as some sketches for historical compositions, in addition he drew and painted many costume studies of the costumes, partly of the population from Rome, Nettuno , Procida , Sora , Subiaco , Capri and partly of the mountain dwellers of Switzerland. He created portraits, a large number of chalk drawings based on antiquities, as well as over 100 academic and anatomical studies.

Most of his sketches are light pencil drawings, some with pen, but many in watercolor and oil. In his paintings he skilfully treated light and shadow as well as perspective.

Memberships

• In 1830 Johann Konrad Zeller became a member of the Zurich Art Society and made several works for their painter's books.

Works (selection)

• Sketches for the Borghesian fencer :

• 
• 
• 

• Anatomy representations:

• 
• 

Other paintings:

• The Roman dance in Tivoli .
• The Oktoberfest in front of Porta Angelika in Rome .
• The feast of St. Annunziata near Rome (1846).
• The praying Roman woman .
• Two shepherd boys with a sheepdog in the Campagna di Roma .
• Two girls bathing .
• The blind beggar and his child at St. Peter's in Rome .
• The rock stairs on Capri .
• On Capri . 3 figures.
• The tambourine player .
• The wife of the robber of Subiaeo .
• The Roman woman in the Sunday cleaning with a fan .
• A shepherd's scene, thunderstorm in the Roman Campagna .
• Portrait of Susanne Kienast (1850).

literature

• Carl Brun:  Zeller, Konrad . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, p. 417 f.
• Johann Konrad Zeller . In: New Year's Journal of the Artists' Society in Zurich for 1857 , Volume 17.

Web links

• Thomas Freivogel: Johann Conrad Zeller. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Johann Konrad Zeller . In: Artnet .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zeller-Horner, Heinrich. Retrieved April 29, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Suter, Jakob. Retrieved April 29, 2020 . 
3. ^ Ziegler, Jakob Melchior. Retrieved April 29, 2020 . 
4. ^ German biography: Campe, Heinrich Wilhelm - German biography. Accessed April 30, 2020 . 
5. ^ Helvetica - Drawings and Graphic. In: Exhibition catalog August Laube - Buch- und Kunstantiquariat, successor since 1922 Brigitta Laube Oppliger. 2013, accessed April 30, 2020 .