Louise Seidler

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Louise Seidler in Rome 1820, portrayed by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein , viewed as a self-portrait by Sylke Kaufmann
Louise Seidler as " The Embroiderer " on a painting by Georg Friedrich Kersting (2nd version 1817)

Caroline Louise Seidler (born May 15, 1786 in Jena ; † October 7, 1866 in Weimar ) was a painter at the court of the Grand Duke of Weimar and confidante of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe .

Life

Childhood and youth in Jena

Louise Seidler was born in Jena on May 15, 1786 as the daughter of the university master stables August Gottfried Ludwig Seidler. She first spent her youth with her grandmother, learned drawing and making music as a child, and after her grandmother's death came to the boarding school Sophie Ludolfine Stielers in Gotha , which she attended from 1800 to 1803. In the boarding school she met her lifelong friends Pauline Gotter and Franziska "Fanny" Caspers . Her love for art developed through drawing lessons from the sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Eugen Döll . Together with Caroline Bardua, she was a student of Gerhard von Kügelgen from 1808 to 1811 .

Back in Jena, she lived in her father's house, which was next to the official residence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Jena Castle, whom she had known from childhood. In Jena she was friends with Silvie von Ziegesar and Pauline Gotter , who later became the wife of Jena professor Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling . Louise Seidler had full access to high intellectual circles of Jena, which at that time were Friedrich Schiller , Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt , the brothers Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel , Friedrich Tieck , Clemens Brentano , Johann Heinrich Voss , Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus , Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer , Zacharias Werner and others. She met Goethe mainly in the house of the Jena publisher Carl Friedrich Ernst Frommann , who began to be interested in her.

Failed wedding

On October 14, 1806, the French won the battle of Jena and occupied Jena in 1806 and 1807, the inhabitants of which were subjected to violent attacks, billeting and looting. During this time Seidler fell in love with the chief physician Geoffroy, who had come with the French corps of the French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte , and became his bride. However, Geoffroy was posted to Spain before their wedding, where he soon died of a fever in the hospital.

Seidler later wrote: “The life of life was closed for me; my existence at that time was just a dull brooding. ”The parents then sent Seidler to Dresden to distract them from their grief and to disperse them in their gloomy thoughts.

Beginnings as a painter

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1811 ( pastel drawing by Louise Seidler)

During visits to the Dresden art gallery , which had also impressed Goethe, she decided to become a painter. She made rapid progress in this subject, especially since she became a student of the painter and professor Christian Leberecht Vogel , who gave her free lessons. Goethe, who stayed in Dresden for ten days on his return journey from Karlsbad in 1810 , liked her copy of St. Cäcilie by Carlo Dolci so much that he invited her to Weimar to paint a portrait of him. Goethe was satisfied with the portrait made in Weimar.

Until her mother's death, she spent the winter months in Weimar and Jena, while in the summer months she continued her education in Dresden with the painter Gerhard von Kügelgen . In the winter of 1811 she stayed in Gotha at the invitation of Duke August von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg to paint him and his wife, Duchess Karoline Amalie , and the princess from the Duke's first marriage. Further work followed with alternating stays. The death of her mother on September 23, 1814 marked a turning point in Seidler's life, as she moved to her father's house in Jena in order to run his household from now on. Nevertheless, she managed to do artistic work alongside.

Altarpiece for the Rochus Chapel in Bingen

Louise Seidler, altar painting in the St. Rochus Chapel in Bingen, around 1816 (donated by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

At the beginning of 1816, Goethe commissioned Louise Seidler for an altarpiece of Saint Rochus , which was to be made according to the design by Johann Heinrich Meyer based on a sketch by Goethe and which he donated to the Rochus Chapel in Bingen , which he brought to life in Am Rhein, Main and Neckar in 1814 had described. On August 16, 1814 - the Rochus Festival - Goethe took part in the inauguration ceremony of the chapel that was rebuilt from ruins. In connection with this altarpiece, there was a lively correspondence between Seidler and Goethe, in which he expressed his satisfaction with their work.

“A picture of St. Roch, which is not at all bad, but at most is of the kind that it can do miracles, will hopefully reach Bingen to edify the believers on the great day. It came about in a strange way. The sketch is from me, the carton from Hofr. Meyer and a tender, dear artist did it. You will hardly steal it from the Rochusberg in your collection. But it is effective in its place and so it is right and good. "

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Letter to Sulpiz Boisserée dated June 24, 1816

Time in Munich (1817-1818)

At Goethe's instigation, she received a scholarship of 400 thalers from Grand Duke Carl August so that she could study painting in Munich for a year . On July 4, 1817, Seidler traveled to Munich and was accepted into the house of the philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi with letters of recommendation from Goethe . In Munich she saw her friend Pauline Gotter again, who had married the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling in 1812 , and met the Swedish poet Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom in her home . In her painting, Seidler became more independent under the influence of the academy director Langer, who led her away from copying paintings to studying nature, which she had neglected. Nevertheless, on behalf of Grand Duke Carl August, she copied the portrait of Raphael exhibited in Munich and a drawing of the frieze of the Temple of Apollo for Goethe. From Munich she asked Grand Duke Carl August for a further scholarship for a stay in Italy, which he granted her with 400 thalers.

Period in Italy (1818–1823)

On September 20, 1818, Seidler set off for Italy and arrived in Rome on October 30, 1818. At that time, she lived on Monte Pincio, which was customary for artistic circles, where Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and the brothers Johannes and Philipp Veit also lived. In the German artist colony of painters and sculptors, she quickly made friends and took an active part in social life and artistic exercises. The houses of Barthold Georg Niebuhr , the Prussian envoy to the Papal States , and Caroline von Humboldt were also open to her in Rome . In the spring of 1819 she spent several months in Naples and in the autumn of 1820 in Florence to copy the so-called Madonna del Gran Duca and Raphael's Madonna with the Goldfinch , which were exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery, for Duke Carl August . The painter Friedrich Preller was so impressed by her copy that he declared it "the best copy known to him". Another work, the Madonna Tempi , was bought by King Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1826 for the Pinakothek in Munich.

In late autumn 1821 Seidler returned to Rome from Florence. In April and May 1822 she copied the painting of the violin player , which later found its place in the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam . At the same time she began to paint her own painting titled Saint Elisabeth, giving alms . In her reports, she described the time in Italy as the happiest of her life. The time in Italy came to an abrupt end when she received the news in 1823 that her father was seriously ill.

Return to Weimar

Louise Seidler, Rest on the Flight into Egypt , oil painting (1823)
Louise Seidler, self-portrait, pencil drawing, 1844

Only after her return to Weimar did she find time to finish her work The Holy Elisabeth, handing out alms . On the recommendation of Goethe and Johann Heinrich Meyer , Duke Karl Friedrich commissioned them to teach drawing to his daughters Maria and Augusta . After the death of her father, she intended to return to Italy, but was prevented from doing so when Grand Duke Carl August entrusted her with the custody of the Grand Ducal art collection housed in the Great Jägerhaus in Weimar . With the exception of a few trips, Seidler stayed in Weimar and enjoyed the esteem in social circles. She conducted a lively correspondence with personalities of the time, including Philipp Veit and his wife Karoline and Dorothea Schlegel . It was mainly thanks to her that Johann Gottlob von Quandt founded the Saxon Art Association and that Goethe showed the association his keen interest. Until the end of his life in 1832, Seidler was most grateful to Goethe for his support. She was deeply saddened by the poet's death.

With a woman v. Bardeleben made a second trip to Italy in the fall of 1832, which lasted a little over a year. Above all, she cultivated relationships with the painter Friedrich Preller , who inspired her to paint pictures of saints and devotions, which continued after her Italian trip and led to numerous works until the increasing blindness at the end of her life made further artistic creation impossible. Before her death, she wrote her autobiography Memoirs from the Life of the Painter Louise Seidler , which Hermann Uhde published in 1873 and which, in terms of art history, is one of the most important sources of that time. Seidler died on October 7, 1866 in Weimar.

tomb

Louise Seidler was buried in the historical cemetery in Weimar ; her grave is found along the western wall of the cemetery.

In Dresden and in the Jena district of Kernberge each one L (o) uise-Seidler-Strasse commemorates them.

Works (selection)

  • Copy of Saint Cecilia by Carlo Dolce
  • Portrait of Grand Duke Carl August and family 1811
  • Portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1811
  • Altarpiece of Saint Roch 1816
  • Pastel painting Sylvie von Ziegesar
  • Oil painting Wilhelmine Herzlieb
  • Copy of the portrait of Raphael 1818
  • Drawing of the frieze of Appolotenmpel 1818
  • Portrait of Fanny Caspers 1818–1819
  • Copy of the Madonna del Gran Duca 1820
  • Copy of the Madonna with the Goldfinch 1820
  • Copy of the Madonna Tempi 1821
  • Copy of the violin player 1822
  • Saint Elizabeth giving alms 1823
  • Mary with the sleeping child, the Johannesknaben and three angels (Faith, Love, Hope) 1823 ( Schloss Friedenstein )

gallery

literature

Web links

Commons : Louise Seidler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oevreverzeichnis, pp 653 et seq.
  2. ↑ Uhde Memoirs 1922 p. 34f
  3. ↑ Uhde Memoirs 1922, p. 40
  4. ^ Rüdiger Schneider: Louise Seidler and the Rochus picture in Bingen
  5. ^ Letter to Sulpiz Boisserée dated June 24, 1816 in: Goethe's Works, IV. Department, Weimar 1887-1912, Vol. 27, p. 65
personal data
SURNAME Seidler, Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seidler, Caroline Louise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, confidante of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH Jena
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1866
Place of death Weimar