Leffert Thelen Poppinga

Leffert Thelen Poppinga (also Leffertus Thelenius Poppinga ; born March 22, 1824 in Marienhafe ; † February 3, 1901 ibid) was a German painter and innkeeper . He is considered one of the most important East Frisian painters from the first half of the 19th century .

Life

family

Leffert Thelen Poppinga came from a Lutheran family of farmers and innkeepers from the East Frisian communities of Marienhafe and Upgant (today Upgant-Schott ).

He was born in Marienhafe as the sixth of seven children and the youngest of four sons of the married couple Ubbo Emmius Poppinga and Rixtine Maria Garrelts. Ubbo Emmius Poppinga owned smaller estates and the brewing rights in Marienhafe ; he also ran the post office .

education and study

Poppinga initially began a mechanic - teaching in a Bremen Locksmith , they broke it, just like a Müller teaching , prematurely. He was promoted in his talent for drawing and painting by a painter Langhans .

In 1841 he began an apprenticeship with the painter Evert Janssen Schipper in Norden .

In 1842, the then 17-year-old was issued a passport in which the designation as a painter was entered as a training. A study trip took him together with his teacher Schipper to Amsterdam , Düsseldorf and Munich . There he began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . This lasted until September 1847.

In 1844, while still a student, he received a prize from the East Frisian Landscape for a self-portrait . Today it is owned by the family.

During his studies in Munich, the young artist used the opportunities offered by his urban environment and attended operas, theaters and concerts. He tried to improve his general knowledge through intensive reading and also studied the basics of human anatomy .

Return to Marienhafe

Poppinga planned to travel to Rome after completing his studies to continue his studies there; he planned to learn to paint landscape painting and historical or religious motifs. He wanted to finance this trip by commissioning portraits in East Friesland. For this reason he traveled from Munich via Vienna, Prague, Dresden and Berlin back to Marienhafe.

There the father revealed to him that he was in financial difficulties, to which the financing of his son's art studies had also contributed. In addition, none of the older brothers could continue the business, so that the youngest son of the family found himself in the situation of having to accept the inheritance and responsibility for the business. Poppinga later commented on this with the words "I would rather have believed in my death than that I could one day become an innkeeper in Marienhafe."

Poppinga worked weekly in Emden , Aurich , Leer , Weener and Hage as a portrait painter. The fees flowed into the father's business, which was not transferred to the son until 1852 . After taking over the business, Poppinga initially tried to operate both areas of activity in parallel, but after a few years he stopped working as a painter.

The post office was given up and the inn, renamed the White House , received another hall. In 1863 Poppinga Trientje married Juliana von Essen; the marriage resulted in two children.

Poppinga died in Marienhafe in 1901.

reception

Along with Gerhard Heinrich Nanninga, Poppinga is regarded as the most important painter in East Friesland of his time, whose portraits are of a high quality and meet the taste of the time.

Works

• Portrait: Self-portrait 1844 (drawing), family property (reproduction of the East Frisian landscape)
• Portrait: Woman with Lute 1847, reproduction of the East Frisian Art Calendar 1980

Redevelopment controversy

Obelisk (2016, before restoration)

At the end of 2016, a controversy arose over the rehabilitation of the obelisk on Poppinga's grave. The Lutheran parish Marienhafe has asked its political communities Marienhafe (location of the cemetery) and Upgant-Schott for financial support. This was promised by Marienhafe, but rejected by Upgant-Schott on the grounds that Poppinga's son, an avowed National Socialist , was also buried in the family grave and the community did not want to indirectly upgrade his grave.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Leffertus Thelenius (Leffert Thelen) POPPINGA. (PDF) In: Ostfriesische Landschaft, BLO III, Aurich 2001. pp. 345–346 , accessed on December 24, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Thomas Dirks: Because of Nazi son: No money for gravestone . In: Ostfriesische Nachrichten . December 24, 2016, p. 10 .