Otto Rethel

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Otto Rethel (born December 26, 1822 in Aachen , † April 7, 1892 in Düsseldorf ) was a German history , genre and portrait painter .

Live and act

Rethel, the younger brother of the well-known history painter Alfred Rethel , was initially intended for the merchant class. After his school days in Aachen, he studied painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1840 to 1842 with Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Wilhelm von Schadow . He then specialized in biblical motifs and larger altarpieces until the 1850s of the 19th century. He is counted to the artist group of the Düsseldorf School of Painting .

from the album Die Gartenlaube, 1880

When his brother Alfred became increasingly ill with a brain disease with associated dementia from 1852 onwards , Rethel supported him on his path of suffering and after his death in 1859 also took care of the young widow of his brother, Marie, daughter of the painter August Grahl , and who were only just six Year-old daughter Else , who later married the painter Karl Rudolf Sohn , son of his former teacher. These stressful experiences seem to be the trigger for his change from biblical motifs to the genre images that are now emerging, such as: "Reunion after surviving illness, at the stove, in the house of mourning, te childhood" and others. In addition, numerous impressive portraits followed . Art critics particularly appreciated the expressive representation of the personality and the color tones of the flesh in the portraits.

Rethel worked all his life in Düsseldorf and was an active member of the artists' association Malkasten , where, for example, he appeared in 1879 at the performance of Living Pictures based on the picture of his deceased brother Alfred "Hannibal crossed the Alps" for the best of the artist widow's box office. One of his private students was Margarete Hoenerbach .

Around 1850 Otto Rethel lived with his mother Johanna and his unmarried sister Emma at Kastanienallee 297. In September 1850 he married the musician Emma (1824–1882), née Haldensleben, in Aachen, moved to house number 27 at Jägerhofstrasse and around 1870 in house no. 1 on the second floor of the Hofgartenhaus . The painter Philipp Röth also lived there around 1870 . Around 1872 he bought a small house on Rosenstrasse 38, next to the art gardener Schlagwein. He lived there until his death in 1892. Rethel was buried in the northern part, his brother Alfred and his mother Johanna in the southern part of the historic Golzheim cemetery .

family

Otto and Emma Rethel had four children:

  • Carl Johann (* 1851), died early
  • Otto "Walter" Rethel (* 1852)
  • Emma Laura Rethel, called Lina, (* 1853)
  • “Paul” Hermann Rethel (1855–1933), Prussian major general ∞ Mally Finsterbusch, the parents of aircraft designer Walter Rethel (1892–1977), who was the grandfather of actress Simone Rethel .

Works (selection)

Portrait of a Young Girl, 1881
  • If you don't become like children ... ; no year
  • Torquato Tasso, 1843
  • The walk to Emmaus, 1845
  • Christ and Judas, 1846
  • Alkuin teaches Emperor Charlemagne to write, 1847
  • Boaz finds Ruth reading corn, 1855, (in the Leipzig Museum)
  • The deeply felt return of Tobias, Paulus and Silas, undated (altarpiece)
  • Christ on the Mount of Olives (Protestant Church in Opole), undated
  • Reunion after recovering from illness, no date
  • Male portrait of the cloth manufacturer Caspar Heinrich Pauli, oil on wood, 1863
  • Portrait of a gentleman by Eberhard Bergmann from Aachen, 1863
  • Portrait of a woman Emma Helene Willich, 1873
  • Portrait of a woman Clara Caron, 1889

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Müller von Königswinter : Alfred Rethel. Leaves of memory. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, p. 137.
  2. ↑ Inventory list of the artists' association Malkasten.
  3. ↑ Volker Frech: Living pictures and music using the example of Düsseldorf culture. Diplomica, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-8386-3062-9 , p. 77.
  4. ↑ Apartment gazette and address book of the mayor's office in Düsseldorf, letter R. ( digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de ).
  5. ^ Josef Ponten: Alfred Rethel; the master's works . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1911, p. 192 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  6. ^ Address book of the Obermeisterei Düsseldorf, 1870 , in the forum ahnenforschung-bildet.de, accessed on August 2, 2015.
  7. ^ Rosenstrasse 38 and 40 , in Düsseldorf address book 1873.
  8. ^ Otto Rethel, Rosenstrasse 38 , Düsseldorf address book 1889.
  9. ^ Paul Hermann Rethel, preuss. GM ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in the Lexicon of German Generals @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lexikon-deutschegenerale.de
  10. ^ The walk to Emmaus at the exhibition of the Art Association for the Rhineland and Westphalia, 1845
  11. ↑ Christ and Judas at the exhibition of the Kunstverein for the Rhineland and Westphalia, 1846
personal data
SURNAME Rethel, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German history, genre and portrait painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1892
Place of death Dusseldorf