Karl Herrmann (painter)

Portrait of a Man (Self-Portrait?), 1846

Portrait of a Woman (Eleonore Herrmann?), 1846

Johann Karl Herrmann (* around 1813 in Koblenz , † 23 August 1881 in Mainz ) was a German painter and etcher who belonged to the Nazarenes .

life and work

Hermann began his training in 1836 at the Düsseldorf Academy under Schadow and Karl Ferdinand Sohn . In 1836 Herrmann made the altarpiece Maria on the throne, surrounded by angels, for the Catholic Church in Wald (Solingen) . During his student days, Veit took part in several exhibitions, such as the 1838 Academy Exhibition in Berlin with the paintings of Jacob's Dream and Study Head . In 1839 Herrmann exhibited the painting Des Singer's Curse at the Leipzig Art Association . In 1841 he went to Frankfurt to join the Philipp Veits school , the principles of which became authoritative for him from then on. In 1848 Herrmann followed his teacher to Mainz and executed frescoes in the local cathedral based on designs by Veit. Although his preoccupation with religious subjects never ceased, in his later years he increasingly turned to portrait and history painting. Etchings by him have also come down to us. To Robert Reinicks band songs of a painter with marginal drawings of his friends erased Herrmann the sheet Wanderers Night Songs .

reception

While Herrman was recognized as “the most outstanding master of his trade” during his lifetime, his reputation waned with the increasing criticism of the art of the Nazarenes in the second half of the 19th century. In an obituary from 1881 he was certified that he had "a talent worthy of respect and that he practiced church art with serious zeal, but without doing anything outstanding."

Works by Herrmann were exhibited posthumously:

• 1887: Exhibition of paintings from private ownership, Stadttheater Mainz
• 1892: Mainz exhibition for Christian art

Works

• Mary enthroned, surrounded by angels , 1836
• Jacob's Dream , 1838
• Study head , 1838
• The singer's curse , 1839
• Karl-Heinrich Wolf with his wife , 1840
• Half-length portrait of Karl Heinrich Wolf , 1841
• Saint Elizabeth , 1843
• Portrait of a Man (Self-Portrait?), 1846
• Portrait of a woman (Eleonore Herrmann?), 1846, counterpart to the aforementioned portrait of a man
• Portrait of the Princess von Wied , 1847
• Morning landscape , 1848
• Evening landscape , 1848
• A little couple , 1850
• In good hat , 1851
• From the groom , 1852
• Hessian peasant girl , 1852
• Participation in the frescoes in the Mainz Cathedral, 1856–1864
• Forest Castle , 1863
• Madonna in the pillared loggia , 1865
• Still life with a Goethe bust, books and Faust manuscript , 1871
• Madonna , 1872
• The Palatinate on the Rhine , 1878
• The Lorelei , undated

literature

• Friedrich von Boetticher : Painters Works of the Nineteenth Century: Contribution to Art History , Volume 1, second half of 1895.
• Heinrich Weizsäcker , Albert Dessoff: Art and artists in Frankfurt am Main in the nineteenth century. 1909, page 57.
• Art Chronicle: Weekly for arts and crafts , 16.1881, page 760.
• Müller / Singer: General artist lexicon. 1895-1906 Volume 2, Page 168.
• Nagler: Die Monogrammisten 1863, Volume 3, Number 752, Page 268.

Commons : Karl Herrmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files