Wilhelm Riefstahl

Wilhelm Riefstahl (born August 15, 1827 in Neustrelitz , † October 11, 1888 in Munich ; full name: Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Riefstahl ) was a German landscape painter and director of the Karlsruhe Art School .

life and work

Wilhelm Riefstahl was born the son of a lace body maker. In 1843 he moved to Berlin to study with the lithographer Gropius and at the same time to take lessons at the Academy of Arts .

The impressions of his first study trip to Rügen had a lasting effect on him and determined him to cultivate the mood in landscape painting. He later toured Westphalia , the Rhine , Upper Bavaria and Switzerland . Since then, Riefstahl has mainly painted motifs from the high mountains .

Riefstahl moved to the Berlin Academy in 1843 , where he joined Wilhelm Schirmer and in 1848 drew the architectural illustrations for the history of art by Franz Theodor Kugler .

In 1869 he went to Rome and was then appointed professor at the art school in Karlsruhe; but he resigned this office in 1873. However, after spending some time in Rome, he took the position of director at the same institution in 1875, which he gave up again in 1877 in order to move to Munich later .

Wilhelm Riefstahl was married to the pianist Christiane Riefstahl, a daughter of the Neustrelitz teacher at the Höhere Töchterschule, choirmaster and composer Heinrich Riefstahl (1814–1850).

Works (selection)

Elberfeld around 1855, lithograph

Barmen around 1856 (vom Hohenstein), lithograph

Refectory of a Swabian monastery , 1873

His artistic peculiarity lies primarily in the combination of landscape with figures or of architectural backgrounds and interiors with figures. Of his pictures are to be highlighted:

• Capuchin procession
• Bridal procession in the Passeierthal
• Field devotion from Passeir Shepherds , 1864 ( Berlin , Alte Nationalgalerie )
• All Souls Day in Bregenz , 1869
• Return from the Taiise
• Funeral from Meglisalp , 1873
• Refectory of a Swabian monastery , 1873
• Funeral meeting in front of a chapel in the Appenzell Mountains , 1873
• Funeral procession in front of the Panthéon ( Dresden )
• Roman Forum , 1879
• Blessing of the Alps , 1881
• The Anatomical Theater of Bologna , 1883
• Messengers of faith in the Rhaetian Alps , 1884

Illustrations (selection)

• In: Album of German Art and Poetry. With woodcuts based on the artist's original drawings, made by R. Brend'amour. Ed .: Friedrich Bodenstedt. Grote, Berlin 1867 ( digitized version of the University and State Library Düsseldorf )

honors and awards

He owned the Great Golden Medal of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition and was a member of the Berlin Academy.

A street in Karlsruhe is named after him.

literature

• Hyacinth Holland :  Riefstahl, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, pp. 539-541.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ She may have been his grandcousin.

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Riefstahl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature about Wilhelm Riefstahl in the state bibliography MV