Peter Heinrich August Wolff

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Peter Heinrich August Wolff (born February 5, 1792 in Delmenhorst ; † May 26, 1865 in Bremen ) was a German watchmaker and photographer .

biography

Daguerreotype by Wolff from 1843: Obernstrasse with a view towards the cathedral (probably the oldest surviving photograph from Bremen).

Wolff, the son of an innkeeper in Delmenhorst, took part in two campaigns against Napoleon in the volunteer Bremen Jäger Corps under Captain Heinrich Böse in 1813/1814 . In 1823 he established himself as a watchmaker in Bremen at Obernstrasse 45.

Wolff was one of the first Bremen to deal with the daguerreotype , a 19th century photography process developed by the French painter Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre between 1835 and 1839 . Through his second wife, daughter of the lithographer Friedrich Adolph Dreyer , Wolff also had connections to lithography . Around 1845 he gave up professional photography and concentrated on his watchmaking business. Only a few daguerreotypes by his hand can be proven: In addition to the oldest datable photos from Bremen, views of Obernstrasse towards the Bremen market square (1843), a few portraits from his family environment can be assigned to him.

The Altona-based chronometer maker Heinrich Johann Kessels (1781–1849) was an agent for the sale of clocks made on the island of Bornholm. In 1831 Wolff asked for six clockworks to be sent. However, it remained with this single order. He also sold English ship chronometers. C. Felsing took over his watch business. His widow lived in the Kunsthalle Bremen . The Focke Museum's photo collection provides insights into the history of photography in Bremen.

proof

  1. ↑ Alfred Löhr: An incunable of the Bremen photo history. In: Bremisches Jahrbuch 63, 1985, pp. 11-14.
  2. ^ Günther Oestmann: Heinrich Johann Kessels (1781-1849): An important manufacturer of chronometers and precision pendulum clocks. Biographical sketch and catalog raisonné (=  Acta Historica Astronomiae . Volume 44 ). Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt / M. 2011, ISBN 978-3-8171-1884-7 , pp. 35 f .
  3. ^ Oestmann: Heinrich Johann Kessels . 2011, p. 174 .

literature

  • Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .
  • Harald Goergens, Alfred Löhr: Pictures for all, Bremen photography in the 19th century. Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History (Focke Museum), Bremen 1985.
personal data
SURNAME Wolff, Peter Heinrich August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH Delmenhorst
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1865
Place of death Bremen