Antoine Pesne

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Portrait of the painter with his daughters , Gemäldegalerie Berlin

Antoine Pesne [ pɛ: n ] (born May 23, 1683 in Paris , † August 5, 1757 in Berlin ) had been court painter in Prussia since 1711 and director of the Berlin Art Academy since 1722 .

Life

The future Prussian court painter Pesne received his training from his father Jean, a portrait painter, and from his great-uncle Charles de La Fosse , the court painter to Louis XIV and director of the Académie Royale . A scholarship from the Académie enabled him to study in Venice, Naples and Rome from 1705 to 1710. In Rome he was able to win the painter Andrea Cellesti as a teacher for a few years.

The Prussian King Friedrich I appointed the young Frenchman to Berlin as court painter in 1710. While still in Rome, Pesne married Ursule-Anne Dubuisson, a daughter of the flower painter Jean Baptiste Gayot Dubuisson , and moved with his wife and their family to Berlin, where he was officially appointed court painter as the successor to Augustin Terwesten, who died on May 6, 1711 has been. He kept this office even after Friedrich Wilhelm I took office (1713), but the thrifty soldier king Pesne's salary was halved.

In 1715 the painter traveled to Dessau to study and in 1718 for the first time to Dresden, where he painted a depiction of Simson and Delila as an application for his admission to the Paris Académie Royale - which took place in 1720 . In 1722 he was appointed director of the Berlin Art Academy and in this capacity visited Paris and London in 1723 and 1724.

From 1736 to 1740 Antoine Pesne lived at the Rheinsberg court of the culturally Francophile Crown Prince Friedrich , who was an avid collector of pictures by the French painter Antoine Watteau (1683–1721). He sponsored the French Pesne in the hope that he would paint him pictures in the Watteau style. At Friedrich's round tables, Pesne was a welcome guest. He painted numerous portraits in Rheinsberg and between 1738 and 1740 created some ceiling frescoes on allegorical and mythological themes. This is where his productive collaboration with the architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff began , who had been trained by him at the Berlin Art Academy in the early 1730s and with whom he worked in the 1740s on the design of the palaces Rheinsberg, Charlottenburg , Sanssouci and the Potsdam City Palace cooperated on behalf of the Prussian King.

Knobelsdorff and Pesne grave

In 1746, Antoine Pesne received the property at Oberwallstrasse 3 in Berlin from Friedrich II as a gift, including the materials for building a house; the painter lived there until the end of his life. On behalf of Count Gustav Adolph von Gotter, he was still involved in the design of Molsdorf Castle around 1747 , after which his artistic work was largely over. It was only in 1754 that Pesne picked up a brush again when he created the famous self-portrait with his two daughters shown at the top. With this family portrait, depicting an intimate situation that was typical of the Rococo style , Pesne broke away from the traditions of the Baroque.

Pesne, who had served as court painter to three Prussian kings, died on August 5, 1757 and was buried the following day in the crypt of the German Cathedral on the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin next to Knobelsdorff. Because of renovation work in the cathedral, Pesnes and Knobelsdorff's bones were reburied in 1881 in Cemetery I of the Jerusalem and New Church Congregation at Hallescher Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg . The original grave complex with marble tablet and putto was either destroyed during a bombing raid in World War II or was lost during construction work to relocate Blücherstrasse. Today only an unadorned tombstone on a grave of the city of Berlin near the cemetery entrance to Zossener Straße reminds of the artist. The grave was dedicated to the city of Berlin as an honorary grave until 2014 .

meaning

The painter Antoine Pesne, along with the master builder Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, the ornamenter Johann August Nahl and the copper engraver Georg Friedrich Schmidt, is one of the most important artists of the Frederician Rococo . Besides Antoine Watteau, Nicolas Lancret (1690–1743) and François Boucher (1703–1770) he is considered one of the most important painters of the French Rococo.

Pesne achieved lasting recognition on the one hand for his multiple portraits of the royal Prussian family and members of their court - he accompanied three Prussian kings as a picture chronicler for almost half a century - and on the other hand for his pictures of dancers, actresses or simple girls from the people. Many of his paintings are exhibited in Berlin museums and in Charlottenburg Palace, including several portraits of “Old Fritz” , his brother Heinrich , Sophie Marie von Voss and “Old Dessauer” . His frescoes, wall and ceiling paintings, which he created for the palaces of Rheinsberg, Charlottenburg, Sanssouci or the Potsdam City Palace, are, as far as they are still preserved, part of Prussia's enduring cultural heritage.

Voices of contemporaries

The Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich wrote a euphoric poem in French on November 14, 1737, addressed to Mr. Antoine Pesne . The first lines are in German translation:

What a wonderful spectacle it is that shines before me!
To the height of the gods, Pesne, your brush rises you -
How breathing, laughing, and lust lie in the painting!
The wisdom of your art even defeats nature.

Matthias Oesterreich, a connoisseur of contemporary painting at the time, wrote the following (excerpts) homage to the painter in 1761:

“His death was a real loss for the art of painting and its lovers, because in him both lost the most skilful master of this century. But it was also for his friends who saw in him the most agreeable, most honest friend stolen. He was it in general for all those who had known him, because he had made himself admirable to them through his affable, engaging nature and through his intelligent intercourse. If Pesne had nothing more in front of him than that a king like Friedrich valued him exceptionally not because of his art but also because of his moral character, that the house of this king and his court respected him for precisely the reasons , so this alone would give the most valid assurance for his work. "
"For artists and lovers of art, his works are the most valuable legacy."

Works (selection)

Portraits and paintings

  • Girl in the Window , 1706, canvas, 107.5 cm × 84.5 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • King Friedrich I on the throne , around 1710, canvas, 252 cm × 201 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Gypsy fortune-telling , around 1710, oil on canvas, Wrocław , Muzeum Narodowe
  • Family portrait of the Baron von Erlach , 1711, St. Petersburg, Hermitage
  • Gisela Agnes , Princess of Anhalt-Koethen , 1713, Koethen (Anhalt) , St. Agnus Church
  • Girls and fortune tellers , around 1715, canvas, 114 cm × 92.5 cm, Dresden, Galerie Alte Meister
  • Moor with flowers and ornate vessels , around 1715, canvas, 289 cm × 240 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Simson and Delila , around 1718, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
  • Portrait of the six-year-old Crown Prince Friedrich , 1718
  • Wilhelmine with her brother Friedrich , around 1720
  • Jacob Heinrich von Flemming , portrait, around 1720, Dresden, Historical Museum
  • Johann Melchior Dinglinger , portrait, 1721, oil on canvas, 149 cm × 110 cm
  • August the Strong in court dress , painting, 1722
  • Jean Mariette (1660–1742) , portrait, around 1724 (?), Oil on canvas, Paris, Musee Carnavalet
  • Self-portrait , around 1728, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie
  • Reception of August the Strong in the Berlin Palace , 1728, Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace
  • Friedrich Wilhelm I , two portraits, around 1729 and around 1733
  • Portrait of a Salzburg Girl , 1732
  • Portrait of the Prussian Minister of War Georg Dietloff von Arnim (1679–1753) , around 1735
  • The composer Carl Heinrich Graun with his wife , around 1735, canvas, 140 cm × 110 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Portrait of the nine-year-old Prince Heinrich , 1735
  • Jean-Philippe Baratier in the presence of Minerva , 1735, oil on canvas, Saint-Quentin, Musee Antoine Lecuyer
  • Portrait of Crown Prince Friedrich , 1736, oil on canvas, 113 cm × 143 cm
  • Queen Sophie Dorothea , portrait, 1737
  • Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff , portrait, 1738, Stichting Huis Doorn (Netherlands)
  • Crown Princess Elisabeth Christine , portrait, before 1740
  • Duchess Philippine Charlotte von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , portrait, around 1744, Bayreuth State Gallery, New Palace
  • Portrait of Luise Ulrike , Queen of Sweden , 1744
  • The Kiez in Freienwalde , 1745, oil sketch, paper on canvas, 45 cm × 70 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Dietrich Freiherr von Keyserlingk , portrait, around 1745, canvas, 146 cm × 113 cm, Stichting Huis Doorn (Netherlands)
  • Eleonore Freifrau von Keyserlingk , portrait, around 1745, canvas, 143.5 cm × 107 cm, Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace
  • The actress Babette Cochois , around 1745, canvas, 128 cm × 99 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • The dancer Barberina , around 1745, Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace
  • Ladies and a cavalier in a park landscape , around 1745, red chalk and ink brush, 18.1 cm × 24.8 cm, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichkabinett
  • Portrait of Frederick the Great , 1746, Landesmuseum Hannover
  • Landscape with Bathing Girls , 1746, canvas, 247 cm × 130 cm, Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace
  • Unsigned portrait of JS Bach by Antoine Pesne , 1747
  • Margravine Wilhelmine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in pilgrim costume , portrait, around 1750, 145 cm × 111 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Gustav Adolph Graf von Gotter and his niece Friederike von Wangenheim in pilgrim costume , around 1750, canvas, 107 cm × 87 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Self-portrait of the artist with family , 1754, canvas, 274 cm × 233 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci
  • Friederike Margravine von Ansbach , 1756, Leipzig, Museum of Fine Arts
  • Portrait of Countess Juliane Wilhelmine von Bose , private collection

Frescoes, ceiling paintings, wall panels, designs and studies

  • some frescoes in Rheinsberg Castle, 1738 to 1740
  • Draft for the theater curtain of the Berlin Opera House, 1742, oil sketch, canvas, 56 cm × 81 cm, Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace
  • Ceiling painting in the new wing of Charlottenburg Palace, 1742/43
  • Ceiling painting in the stairwell of the Potsdam City Palace, 1746
  • Ceiling painting in the audience room of the Sanssouci Palace, 1747
  • five murals in the concert room of the Sanssouci Palace, 1747
  • Wall panel in the concert room of Sanssouci Palace with Pygmalion and Galatea and Vetumnus and Pomona , 1747, canvas, each 300 cm × 120 cm
  • Design of the Molsdorf Castle on behalf of Count Gustav Adolph von Gotter, around 1747
  • The robbery of Helena , study for the painting completed by Christian Bernhard Rode (1725–1797) in the Marble Hall of the New Palace, around 1755, oil sketch, canvas, 79 cm × 114 cm, Potsdam, Sanssouci

literature

  • Helmut Börsch-Supan :  Pesne, Antoine. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 212 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • L. Dimier (Ed.): Les peintres français du XVIIIe siècle. Paris 1930.
  • Götz Eckardt: Antoine Pesne , VEB Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1985.
  • G. Poensgen (Ed.): Antoine Pesne. 1958.
  • P. Seidel: Frederick the Great and the fine arts. 1924.
  • Weinitz .:  Pesne, Antoine . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 430-432.
  • Norbert Willy: Antoine Pesne - The painter and friend of Frederick the Great (Velhagen and Klasings monthly books, XXVII year, anthology 1912/1913, vol. I., pp. 609-625).
  • Lexicon of Painting , Unipart, Ramseck near Stuttgart 1993, p. 561.

Web links

Commons : Antoine Pesne  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ from: Lexicon of Painting , approved special edition for UNIPART VERLAG GMBH, Ramseck near Stuttgart, 1993, p. 561.
  2. ↑ http://www.helmutcaspar.de/aktuelles/blnpdm/pesne.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.helmutcaspar.de/aktuelles/blnpdm/pesne .
  4. ↑ see Götz Eckardt: Antoine Pesne , VEB Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1985, p. 27 - Translation from the French by Hans Hofmann.
  5. ↑ see Götz Eckardt: Antoine Pesne , VEB Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1985, p. 29 f. - Further reading on Matthias Oesterreich: Description of the collection of different original paintings by Italian, Dutch, French and German masters that make up the cabinet of Mr. Münz director Johann Georg Eimken. - Berlin 1761 .
personal data
SURNAME Pesne, Antoine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French painter, court painter in Prussia
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1683
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 1757
Place of death Berlin