William Bottomley

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Hunting scene

John William Bottomley (born July 31, 1816 in Hamburg , † April 13, 1900 in Schleswig ) was a German-British animal painter from the Düsseldorf and Munich schools .

Life

Bottomley was the son of a merchant who immigrated to Hamburg from Ireland . He received his first drawing lessons from Leo Lehmann . From 1833 to 1836 he attended the Düsseldorf Art Academy and was a student of the history painter Karl Ferdinand Sohn . He also attended Karl Friedrich Schäffer's building class there , where perspective was taught, among other things. In 1836 he moved to the art academy in Munich and studied with Peter von Cornelius and Wilhelm Kaulbach until 1838 . In 1837 he went on a study trip to Tyrol . From 1838 to 1840 he was a member of the Münchner Kunstverein . He was also a member of the Hamburg Artists' Association from 1832 .

In October 1838 Bottomley traveled to Rome with the history painter Henri Lehmann , where he made friends with the Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau and rented an apartment together, which the Holstein landscape painter Charles Ross moved into. In Rome, Bottomley painted cows at the watering table, grazing sheep or fighting bulls in the Campagna. In 1839 and 1841 he took part in the "Cervaro Festivals" of the Ponte Molle Society . In 1843 August Kestner portrayed him in a drawing. Jerichau modeled a bust of Bottomley in 1845 (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen ) and Carl Rahl painted his portrait around the same time ( Free German Hochstift , Frankfurt Goethe Museum). Bottomley stayed in Rome until the spring of 1845.

In 1845 Bottomley and Jerichau returned to Hamburg. It was here that Bottomley became friends with the painter Christian Carl Magnussen , and he also became Otto Speckter's first teacher . Bottomley had success at the exhibitions of the Hamburger Kunstverein with Italian motifs, in which he combined popular life with soulful depictions of animals. Through his family connections, it was possible for him since 1845 to exhibit in the Society of British Artists and the British Institute in London .

In 1853 Bottomley stayed with Christian Carl Magnussen and the Danish painter Lorenz Frölich in Paris and Barbizon , where Bottomley admired the animal paintings of the French Constant Troyon , whom he visited in his studio. Returning from France , Bottomley decided to settle in London, where he successfully established himself as an animal painter. He found his motifs in Sussex , Wales and Ireland . He often accompanied hunting parties in the Scottish highlands. He became friends with the English landscape painter Thomas Creswick (1811–1869). Over time, Bottomley went over to enhancing the landscape element in his paintings, which resulted in his painting and finishing his paintings in nature. At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855 he was represented in the English section with the painting Under the Cloud .

In 1871 Bottomley took a trip to Düsseldorf , Weimar and Hamburg. After his wife died after a long illness, Bottomley fell into a deep depression and he expressed a desire to return to Germany. First he returned to Hamburg, in 1883 he visited Lorenz Frølich in Copenhagen, then his friend Christian Carl Magnussen took him into care. From 1884 until his death, Bottomley was resident in Schleswig in the vicinity of the Magnussen family. He died there on April 13, 1900 at the age of 84.

His son Reginald Bottomley (1856–1933) was also an animal painter.

Works (selection)

  • Neapolitan peasant woman with child , 1846. Hamburger Kunsthalle
  • “Maurice,” Queen Victoria's St. Bernard , 1849. Osborne House, Isle of Wight
  • Riding horse , around 1854, Museumsberg Flensburg
  • Lumberjack , 1861, Kunsthalle Hamburg
  • Resting flock of sheep , 1863, Kunsthalle Hamburg

literature

Web links

Commons : John William Bottomley  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Finding aid 212.01.04 Student lists of the Art Academy Düsseldorf , website in the portal archive.nrw.de ( Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen )
  2. ^ Friedrich Noack : The Germanness in Rome since the end of the Middle Ages . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart / Berlin / Leipzig 1927, Volume 2, p. 99 PDF
personal data
SURNAME Bottomley, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bottomley, John William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-English animal painter
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1900
Place of death Schleswig