Robert Theer

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Portrait of the painter Robert Theer by Friedrich von Amerling (1845)

Robert Theer (born November 5, 1808 in Johannesberg , † July 15, 1863 in Vienna ) was an Austrian painter and lithographer .

Life

Robert Theer's parents were the embroiderer Thekla Theer and the gemstone cutter Joseph Theer. His two younger brothers, Adolf Theer and Albert Theer , also became painters. The family moved from Johannesberg in Silesia to Vienna in 1820 . Robert Theer showed an outstanding talent for drawing even as a child and was sent to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts . There he attended the engraving school from 1821 to 1824 , where Josef Klieber encouraged him particularly, and from 1823 to 1829 the school for history painting and history drawing.

He specialized in miniature portrait painting. Moritz Daffinger was his role model . Theer opened his own studio at the age of sixteen. He quickly won a large number of customers, especially from the upper classes, who let him portray them. In 1833 he married Josefa Katharina Berger. From 1828 to 1846 his works were represented in the exhibitions of the Academy of Fine Arts, of which he became a member in 1843. The painter Gustav Gaul was his pupil.

Robert Theer spent the high income from his studio on his private art collection and by acting as a patron of underemployed artist colleagues. For example, he commissioned the engraver Joseph Steinmüller with an engraving after Raphael's Madonna in the Green . The triumphant advance of the daguerreotype , with which his previous customers could now meet their needs for portraits, hit Theer financially hard. He tried to counter the competition with a change of style, by deliberately making unrealistic portraits from around 1850 onwards, but this did not stop his impoverishment.

Robert Theer died at the age of 54 and was buried in the Vienna Central Cemetery . His grave has been an honorary grave of the City of Vienna since 1914 . Theergasse in Vienna- Meidling was probably named after him and his brother Albert Theer in 1930.

plant

Miniature portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I by Robert Theer (1835)

Robert Theer is considered the most artistically important of the three painters Theer brothers. He created thousands of portraits, mostly as miniature portraits on enamel or ivory , and occasionally as life-size oil paintings . He emphasized the individuality of his models, but developed a certain manner over time . Emperor Ferdinand I and Empress Maria Anna sat for him in 1837. Theer then had the portrait of the emperor reproduced and distributed on almost 150 snuffboxes and trinkets . He also worked as a copyist and painted watercolors according to old masters .

Theer also worked as a lithographer, especially his lithographs based on paintings by other artists found recognition. These included The Walk of Mary over the Mountains by Joseph von Führich , as well as works by other contemporaries such as Karl Agricola , Johann Ender , Thomas Lawrence , Leopold Schulz and Edward von Steinle, as well as by old masters such as Andrea Andreani , Antonio da Correggio , Il Guercino and Heinrich Friedrich Füger and Peter Paul Rubens . Theer also created original lithographs, such as a portrait of Klosterneuburg abbot Wilhelm Sedlaczek .

literature

Web links

Commons : Robert Theer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ R. Keil:  Theer, Adolf. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 14, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2012–, ISBN 978-3-7001-7312-0 , p. 288.
  2. ^ Adolf Kettner: The Theer family of artists . In: Journal for the history and cultural history of Austrian Silesia . 6th year, no. 3/4 , 1911, p. 97 ( digitized version [PDF; accessed on March 16, 2020]).
  3. ↑ a b c d Constantin von Wurzbach : Theer, Robert . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 44th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1882, pp. 197–200 ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ a b c R. Keil:  Theer, Robert. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 14, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2012–, ISBN 978-3-7001-7312-0 , p. 289.
  5. ↑ a b c H. A. Lier :  Theer, Robert . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 669.
  6. ↑ Constantin von Wurzbach : Gaul, Franz . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 5th part. Typogr.-literar.-artist publishing house. Establishment (L. C. Zamarski & C. Dittmarsch.), Vienna 1859, p. 109 f. ( Digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Felix Czeike (Ed.): Theergasse. In:  Historisches Lexikon Wien . Volume 5, Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-218-00547-7 , pp. 441-442 ( digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Theer, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter and lithographer
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesberg
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1863
Place of death Vienna