Laurenz Schäfer

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Laurenz Schäfer, Nordfriedhof Düsseldorf (2019)

Laurenz Schäfer (born July 5, 1840 in Lüftelberg near Meckenheim (Rhineland) , † October 14, 1904 in Düsseldorf ) was a portrait painter of the Düsseldorf School .

origin

Laurenz Schäfer's parents were roof tile Johann Schäfer from Nöthen (now the city of Bad Münstereifel , district of Euskirchen ) and his wife Christina Schäfer, née Schmitz, from Lüftelberg. They gave their son the first name Lorenz - Laurenz he called himself since he attended the Düsseldorf Art Academy . Laurenz had three siblings. The Schäfer family lived in Lüftelberg on today's Südstraße, in the immediate vicinity of the Bertram and Klais roof tile factories.

Schäfer spent his early youth in Lüftelberg, where he was tutored from 1850 to 1855 by the teacher Franz Michael Schüller, who was known for promoting the artistic talents of his students with great dedication. He made friends with the children of the Klais family, who also had special artistic talents, for example in plastic design and music.

As an adult he felt - like some other Lüftelbergers who later became famous (including Anton Becker , Adolf Deuster , Johannes Klais ) - closely connected to his hometown, which was expressed in frequent visits to his family and his childhood friends. On one such occasion he created u. a. the pencil drawing “Josef Klais 19 years old” by his childhood friend Peter Josef Klais (1840–1902).

Life

Schäfer studied from the 1st quarter of 1856 to 1867 at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . When he left her at the age of 26, he had attended a total of 25 classes. His teachers were the painters Christian Köhler , Karl Müller , Rudolf Wiegmann , Heinrich Mücke , Andreas Müller , Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Eduard Bendemann . The training they received was broadly based. The focus was on portrait painting. His teachers rated him as exceptionally talented and particularly hardworking.

A few years earlier, other students from the Düsseldorf Art Academy who lived in Lüftelberg were the sons Andreas and Joseph of the Grass family. Since the Grass and Schäfer families knew each other, it can be assumed with certainty that the Schäfer family sought advice from the Grass family before their son started studying; after all, attending the art academy was not free of charge.

Schäfer's most important teachers were the portrait painters Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Eduard Bendemann. He portrayed a number of people from the royal family Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , who resided in the Jägerhof Palace in Düsseldorf in the 1850s, including Prince Karl Anton and his son Anton , who later fell in the battle of Königgrätz . Even Adolf I. Georg von Schaumburg-Lippe could be painted by him. Her portraits were publicly exhibited at the Düsseldorf trade and art exhibition in 1880 , and Schäfer secured further orders.

In addition, he created portraits of citizens and aristocrats - partly based on photographic templates - for the design of public buildings, for example for the town hall in Eupen . For this he painted the three German emperors Wilhelm I , Friedrich III. and Wilhelm II. To design the town hall hall in Mönchengladbach, he created a portrait of Louise Gueury (1854–1900), the founder of the lung sanatorium in Mönchengladbach.

Schäfer belonged to the artists' association Malkasten from 1871 until his death and was a member of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine .

Even before he was thirty, his works were widely recognized. The press in his hometown of Lüftelberg as well as in his adopted home Düsseldorf praised "... the fine color, drawing and technology" and praised him as a "talented artist" who is promised a "beautiful future". In the contemporary specialist press, his portraits of Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern and his son Prince Anton in particular were recognized as “excellent”. His works were awarded at the world exhibition in Melbourne in 1880.

In Düsseldorf, Schäfer was officially registered for the first time in an apartment on Marienstraße in 1870. He later lived on Immermannstrasse and Schadowstrasse until he moved into his own house at Kurfürstenstrasse 12 in 1880, where he lived until his death. In 1904 Schäfer was buried in the North Cemetery in Düsseldorf .

literature

Schäfer, Laurenz . In: Hermann Alexander Müller : Biographical Artist Lexicon . Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1882, p. 460 ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Archives of the city of Meckenheim, civil status data .
  2. ↑ Walter Dick and Anne Fassbender: Tone and Tone from Lüftelberg . In: Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Der Landrat (Hrsg.): Yearbook of the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis 2018 . S. 18-23 .
  3. ↑ Alexander Klais: Family Chronicle Klais . (unpublished manuscript). 1951.
  4. ^ Museum Kunstpalast : Artists of the Düsseldorf School of Painting (selection, as of November 2016), PDF
  5. ↑ List of students at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, accessed on February 14, 2019.
  6. ↑ Laurenz Schäfer . In: Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf in the courtyard of honor and Galerie Paffrath (ed.): Lexicon of the Düsseldorf School of Painting: 1819–1918 . Vol. 3, Munich 1998, p. 185.
  7. ↑ General-Anzeiger for Düsseldorf and the surrounding area . Issued October 16, 1904.
  8. ^ "Laurenz Schäfer" in: Lexicon of the Düsseldorf School of Painting: 1819–1918, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf in the Ehrenhof and Galerie Paffrath (ed.), Vol. 3, 1998, p. 185.
  9. ↑ Düsseldorfer Anzeiger v. March 4, 1870 and Rheinbacher Kreisblatt v. March 26, 1870.
  10. ^ "Laurenz Schäfer" in: Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, Volume 3, Carl von Lützow (Hrsg.), Leipzig 1868, p. 129 as well as Die Kunst für alle, Volume 17, 1902, p. 525.
  11. ↑ General-Anzeiger for Düsseldorf and the surrounding area v. October 16, 1904.
  12. ↑ Historical population registers of the city of Düsseldorf, several years.
personal data
SURNAME Schäfer, Laurenz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German portrait painter of the Düsseldorf School
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Lüftelberg near Meckenheim (Rhineland)
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1904
Place of death Dusseldorf