Joseph Hickel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Emperor Joseph II
Portrait of Archduke Karl
Portrait of Emperor Franz II

Joseph Hickel (born March 19, 1736 in Böhmisch-Leipa , † March 28, 1807 in Vienna ) was an Austrian portrait painter .

life and work

Joseph Hickel was initially a pupil of his father, a painter from Bohemian-Leipa who remained unknown by his first name, but who is probably identical with the "Franz Hickels, painter from the Bohemian-Leipa" listed in the lists of the Vienna Academy in 1766 . At the age of 15, Joseph Hickel painted an altarpiece for the town church of Hirschberg in Bohemia .

In 1756 he moved to Vienna for further training and studied at the Vienna Academy, where he specialized in portrait painting . So he drew the attention of the Empress Maria Theresa , who sent him on study trips to Italy at her own expense , where he painted numerous portraits of high people in Milan , Parma and Florence on behalf of his patroness. At the same time, however, envious people managed to slander him, so that Hickel was banned from the Viennese court for several years . Hickel used these years to deepen himself further in the art of portrait painting and so in 1769 the Florentine Academy appointed him a member.

After his return to Vienna he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Emperor Joseph II . This task is likely to have brought the imperial client the greatest satisfaction, so Hickel was appointed imperial-royal chamber painter in 1771 . In 1778, however, he applied in vain for the post of director of the Vienna Academy. In continuation of his activity as court painter to Joseph II, he then shaped the portrait of this emperor with his style. He adopted the half-left head posture he had found, with strikingly modeled facial features and eyes resting on the viewer for all of his works, whether a full-length portrait or full-length figure with alternating leg and arm postures. This type of representation not only became Hickel's own trademark, but the position of the head alone became the cipher for the emperor's image of Joseph II.

Hickel was extraordinarily productive and left over 3,000 paintings for posterity , many of which were in turn reproduced in engravings . He portrayed Emperor Joseph II at least five times, one of which is now in the Army History Museum in Vienna. The contemporary art historian Gottfried Johannes Dlabacz judged Hickel: “His brush was powerful and energetic at an uncommon speed, his coloring lively and strong; his pictures all striking to the highest delusion; his portraits mostly express actions that are very specific to the people they represent. "

Most of Joseph Hickel's paintings are now privately owned, rather few in state institutions such as Vienna, Potsdam , Florence , Stockholm and Liechtenstein .

Works (excerpt)

literature

Web links

Commons : Joseph Hickel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Angelika Schmitt-Vorster: Pro Deo et Populo. The portraits of Joseph II (1765-1790). Investigations into the existence, iconography and distribution of the imperial portrait in the Age of Enlightenment . Dissertation, LMU Munich , 2005, pp. 42–46
  2. ↑ Ulrich Thieme (ed.), General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Leipzig, 1924, XVII, 45 f.
personal data
SURNAME Hickel, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian portrait painter
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1736
PLACE OF BIRTH Česká Lípa
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 1807
Place of death Vienna