Wilhelm von Kügelgen

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Wilhelm von Kügelgen

Wilhelm Georg Alexander von Kügelgen (born November 20, 1802 in Saint Petersburg , † May 25, 1867 in Ballenstedt ) was a German portrait and history painter, writer, court painter and chamberlain at the ducal court of Anhalt-Bernburg . He became very well known, however, above all for his posthumously published memories of an old man's youth , which give a vivid and vivid picture of the intellectual and civil life of the early romantic era. The work has seen numerous editions in at least 17 publishers to date.

Life

Julie Krummacher (1825/26), the artist's bride and later wife

The son of the portrait and history painter Gerhard von Kügelgen and his wife Helene Marie Zoege von Manteuffel (1773–1842) spent his early childhood in Dresden in what is now known as the Kügelgenhaus . He was confirmed in 1816 in the parish church of Lausa by pastor Samuel David Roller , who was friends with the von Kügelgen family and who later also confirmed Wilhelm's younger brother Gerhard (1806-1884). Wilhelm von Kügelgen then attended grammar school in Bernburg (Saale) and studied at the Dresden Art Academy . The murder of his father (1820) caused a deep crisis in life; he also suffered from increasing color blindness . In 1825/26 he stayed in Rome , where he made friends with Ludwig Richter .

Kügelgen was also friends with Caspar David Friedrich , Johan Christian Clausen Dahl and Carl Gottlieb Peschel . In his memories of his youth there are also important references and descriptions of the family's extensive circle of friends, which was at the center of early romanticism.

In 1827 he married Julie Krummacher (born October 25, 1804 in Duisburg; † May 22, 1909 in Dessau), daughter of the Anhalt-Bernburg superintendent Friedrich Adolf Krummacher , with whom he had lived as a high school student. The marriage had six children: Bertha (* April 14, 1828), Anna (* February 7, 1831), Gerhard (* May 27, 1833), Adolph (* May 9, 1835), Benno (* April 18, 1837 ) and Elisabeth (born September 22, 1839). A grandson (son of Benno v. K.), Lieutenant Colonel a. D. Wilhelm von Kügelgen, was from 1919 to 1925 as personal secretary adjutant to General Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg .

In 1833 he became court painter at the Anhalt-Bernburg summer residence in Ballenstedt, where he stayed until his death in 1867. In 1840 his mother's nephew, Otto Zoege von Manteuffel , started his apprenticeship there for some time.

Kügelgen was a passionate chess player. On January 9, 1837 he was a founding member of the Ballenstedt chess club . In the years 1837 to 1841 a Dr. Ziegler kept a log book, for the frontispiece of which Kügelgen contributed a hand drawing. The drawing shows a lady symbolizing the club, in whose lap Kügelgen and Ziegler sit across from each other on the chessboard. The log book was acquired in 1928 by the Ballenstedt Municipal Museum, reprinted and referred to as “a new ball relic”.

In 1853 he became the caretaker of the mentally ill Duke Alexander Carl von Anhalt-Bernburg . In the summer of 1858 he accompanied the Duchess on a bathing trip to Föhr. His childhood memories of an old man , published posthumously by the publisher Philipp von Nathusius in 1870, were one of the favorite books of the German bourgeoisie; they appeared in 1922 in their 230th edition. Due to the realistic descriptions, they still have cultural and historical value today. In the foreword to the edition published by KF Koehler, Leipzig, in 1924, the editor of the book, Johannes Werner, wrote:

"If the modest, reserved old man only knew what his personality means to the German people now, sixty years after he was weak and sick in the quiet Kügelgenhaus in Ballenstedt and worked hard on his 'youthful memories', and that the self-designation that he used quiet resignation and quiet irony shaped it, which has long since become a popular name of honor in all of Germany's Gau! "

And in the edition of Wilhelm Langewiesche-Brandt-Verlag, Ebenhausen near Munich, published in 1908, “Dedicated in reverence to his wife Julie von Kügelgen, born. Krummacher, in Dessau on her 104th year of her life ", says:

"The memories of his youth that only appeared after his death will never let the trace of his earthly days go down."

Kügelgen's house in Ballenstedt, Kügelgenstrasse 35 a, has been preserved to this day. Since 1993, the “Kunstkreis Sachsen-Anhalt” in Bernburg has awarded the Wilhelm von Kügelgen scholarship to visual artists. The Ballenstedt city ​​museum "Wilhelm von Kügelgen" is named in his honor and shows an exhibition on his life in two rooms.

Works

Memories of an old man's youth , here the 15th edition, published by Wilhelm Hertz Verlag , Berlin, 1892

painting

Fonts

  • Three lectures on art . Georg Heyse, Bremen 1842
  • From the contradictions in the Scriptures for doubters . Berlin 1850. ( digitized in the digital library Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
  • Recollections of an Old Man's Youth , ed. by Philipp von Nathusius . W. Hertz , Berlin 1870 digitized
  • Memories of an old man's life, from letters and diary entries . Edited and ed. by Paul Siegwart von Kügelgen and Johannes Werner. Koehler, Leipzig 1923
  • Between youth and maturity of the old man 1820–1840 , compiled from letters and diary entries by Johannes Werner. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1925
  • Civil life. The letters to brother Gerhard 1840–1867 , ed. and with an introduction by Walther Killy . Munich 1990

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Genealogical Handbook of the Baltic Knights , Part 2.1: Estonia . Vol. 1, Görlitz 1930, p. 627.
  2. ↑ Binnewirtz / Fresen: Committed to tradition ... A bibliography of the Festschriften of German chess clubs, founded until 1914 , Venice 2008, p. 28 (Info on the chess club), p. 31 (frontispiece)
  3. ↑ Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer, Föhr, Amrum and the Halligen in Art, Heide 2012, pp. 38–42.
  4. ↑ William of Kügelen: Memoirs 1802-1867 [in three volumes]. Volume 3 was first published, Memoirs of the Old Man in Letters to His Brother Gerhard 1840–1867 . Edited and edited by Paul Siegwart von Kügelgen and Johannes Werner. KF Koehler, Leipzig 1923. XXXII, 399 p., Numerous plates. This was followed by volumes 1 and 2 = volume 1 memories of an old man's youth 1802–1820 . Edited by Johannes Werner. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1924. XXIV, 360 p., Numerous plates. - Volume 2 Between Youth and Maturity of the Old Man 1820–1840 . Edited by Johannes Werner. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1925. XVI, 414 p., Numerous plates.
personal data
SURNAME Kügelgen, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kügelgen, Wilhelm Georg Alexander von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1867
Place of death Ballenstedt