Paul Stankiewicz

Johann Paul August Stankiewicz (born April 19, 1834 in Guhrau , † April 28, 1897 in Berlin ) was a German painter.

Life

Paul Stankiewicz was baptized in the Catholic Church in Guhrau in Silesia (now Góra (Poland)). His father was the master locksmith Paul Stankiewicz. His mother Renate Stankiewicz, née Hellmann, was also born in Guhrau in 1799. Johann Paul August Stankiewicz grew up in financially modest circumstances. His talent for painting showed up early on.

In 1846 he was presented to the auxiliary bishop Daniel Latussek , in whose presence he made a tableau . On the Calvary of Guhrau there are two chapels, one is the Corpus Christi chapel with its Holy Stairs annex and the other is a cemetery chapel (funeral chapel). The sanctuary in the Holy Staircase and the cemetery chapel were completely painted by Stankiewicz, probably in 1859 during the restoration of the Corpus Christi Way of the Cross.

Funding for a degree after leaving school could not be raised due to various deaths. After an apprenticeship as a room painter and subsequent years as a journeyman, he moved to Berlin in 1856 with the few savings he had to study there. In 1860 he was able to continue his studies in Rome with financial support from Prince Bishop Heinrich Förster . In 1862 he returned to Berlin and in the same year was allowed to exhibit at the Academy of the Arts . This was repeated in 1868 and 1874.

In 1866 he was commissioned to paint the St. Nicholas Church in German Crown . Orders for five more oil paintings for this church followed. In 1870 he was commissioned to paint the apses in the St. Peter and Paul Church in Potsdam. In 1872, Emperor Wilhelm I commissioned him to create an altarpiece for the newly built Elisabethkirche (today's Christ and Garrison Church) in Wilhelmshaven.

This was followed by many portraits from the imperial family and from public figures. For example, he portrayed Lieutenant General and geodesist Johann Jacob Baeyer . In 1878 the artist was commissioned to paint the researcher and chemist Philipp Carl Sprengel (1787–1859) posthumously.

Oil portrait of Johann Jacob Baeyer, in the GeoForschungszentrum Potsdam

In 1868/69 Stankiewicz set up a printing company that was continued about three years later by a manager he had appointed. From then on, Stankiewicz only wanted to paint. In 1874 the painter Paul Stankiewicz was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Italian Crown .

The artist died on April 28, 1897 in Berlin and was buried on May 2, 1897 in the old Schöneberg cemetery . He left behind his wife Alwine Luise Wilhelmine Stankiewicz, née Krämer.

literature

• Brigitte Bulla:  Stankiewicz, Johann Paul August. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 , Sp. 1474-1477.
• Brigitte Bulla: In the footsteps of Paul Stankiewicz (1834–1897). The rediscovery of a Silesian church and history painter and publisher
  • Vol. 1: Laumann-Verlag, Dülmen 2010, ISBN 978-3-89960-336-1 .
  • Vol. 2: Laumann-Verlag, Dülmen 2013, ISBN 978-3-89960-399-6 .
• Joachim Köhler : Between dogma and history. The message of the Silesian church painter Paul Stankiewicz (1834–1897) . In: Archive for Silesian Church History , vol. (2014), pp. 159–185.