Karl Friedrich Lessing, also known by Carl Friedrich Lessing (15 February 1808 – 4 January 1880), was a German

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

and landscape painter, grandnephew of

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

and one of the main exponents of the

Düsseldorf school of painting Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Biography

Karl Friedrich Lessing was born on 15 February 1808 in Breslau,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

(now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland). His father, also named Karl Friedrich Lessing (1778–1848), was a judicial officer in Breslau, from 1809 on the chancelor of the court of the Free State country of former Polnish-Wartenberg (now Syców, Poland). Lessing's mother, Clementine née Schwarz (1783–1821), was the daughter of a government Chancellor for the

House of Hatzfeld The House of Hatzfeld, also spelled House of Hatzfeldt, is the name of an ancient and influential German nobility, German noble family, whose members played important roles in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia and Au ...

in Trachenberg. His brother, Christian Friedrich, became a doctor and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. His sister, Franziska Maria (1818–1901), married the painter, . He spent most of his childhood in Wartenberg, where he developed an early love of nature. After spending two years at a Catholic school in Breslau, his talent for drawing was noted by the artist, who, in 1822, arranged for him to study at the

Bauakademie The Bauakademie (Building Academy, also known as the ''Schinkelsche Bauakademie'') in Berlin, Germany, was a higher education institution for the art of building to train master builders. Founded on 18 March 1799 by King Frederick William II ...

in Berlin. The following year, against his father's wishes, he decided to become a painter. He spent three years studying at the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

with the landscape painters and Heinrich Dähling. A successful showing in 1825, with the subsequent sale of the painting ''Kirchhof mit Leichensteinen und Ruinen im Schnee'' (Churchyard with Gravestones and Ruins in the Snow), reconciled his father to his chosen career. In 1826, he accompanied one of his instructors, Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. There, he became associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. In 1827, he undertook further studies in landscape painting with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. In the first phase of his career, he painted dark and imaginative landscapes, after the style of

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

with romantic motivs like castle ruins, left churchyards (''Klosterhof im Schnee'', 1829, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum,

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

), or ragged rocks, with staffage figures of monchs, knights, robbers, or gypsies. Other subjects he drew from poetry (''Lenore'', 1802) or tales and legends like A King and Queen in Mourning (''Das trauernde Königspaar,'' 1830,

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, St Petersburg, Russia) after Ludwig Uhland's poem ''Das Schloß am Meere.'' Later, Schadow encouraged him to take up history painting and helped him obtain a commission from Count to paint a cycle of

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es depicting the life of

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

at Heltorf Castle near

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, the so-called "Barbarossazyklus". He completed part of a monumental representation of the Battle of Iconium, but decided that wall painting did not appeal to him, and allowed another artist at the project, Hermann Plüddemann, to finish the fresco, from his sketches. His most renowned and influential work was The Hussite Sermon (''Die Hussitenpredigt,'' 1836) which had not been a historical subject as such until then, however allowed for a variety of references to contemporary history. The picture went on tour throughout Germany and France and was positively discussed, as, for instance, by

Friedrich Theodor Vischer Friedrich Theodor Vischer (; 30 June 180714 September 1887) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, and writer on the philosophy of art. Today, he is mainly remembered as the author of the novel '' Auch Einer'', in which he developed the concept ...

in his essay "Zustand der jetzigen Malerei" (1842). Lessing married Ida Heuser (1817–1880), daughter of the businessman, Heinrich Daniel Theodor Heuser (1767–1848), in 1841. Three of her sisters, Louise Wüste, Adeline Jaeger and Alwine Schroedter, were painters. They had several children, including the painters, and , and the sculptor, Otto Lessing. His daughter, Bertha (1844–1914), married the actor, Karl Koberstein (1836–1899). The painter, Hans Koberstein (1864–1945), was their son. In 1846, he was offered the position of Director at the Städelschen Kunstinstituts in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, but declined. Later, in 1858, he accepted an appointment as Director at the Großherzoglich Badischen Gemäldegalerie in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. There, he resumed painting landscapes. In 1867, he received another offer, as Director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, but chose to remain in Karlsruhe. Over the course of his career, he was awarded several honors. In 1848, he was named a Professor by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, and was one of the first artists to receive the

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

medal. He was also a member of the Prussian Academy and served as chairman of the progressive artists' association " Malkasten" (Paintbox). During his last decade, he suffered several strokes, which left him unable to work. He died of one in 1880, at the age of seventy-two, and was buried in Karlsruhe's main cemetery, with a memorial designed by his son Otto. The cemetery was levelled in 1956.

Selected paintings

File:Carl Friedrich Lessing Romantische Landschaft mit Klosteranlage.jpg, ''Romantic Landscape with
Monastery Complex'', 1834 File:Hussitenpredigt.jpg, '' The Hussite Sermon'',
depicting

Hussites upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century upright=1.2, The Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the Hussite Wars. The movement began during the Prag ...

File:Last Crusader.jpg, ''The Last Crusader'' File:1839 Lessing Waldkapelle anagoria.JPG, ''Forest Chapel'' File:Karl Friedrich Lessing, German - The Robber and His Child - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Robber and His Child''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lessing, Karl Friedrich 1808 births 1880 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists 19th-century painters of historical subjects German male painters Artists from the Province of Silesia Artists from Wrocław Prussian Academy of Arts alumni Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Düsseldorf school of painting Painters from the Kingdom of Prussia

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links