Adolf Heinrich Lier (21 May 1826, Herrnhut - 30 September 1882,

Vahrn Vahrn (; it, Varna ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of the city of Bolzano. Geography Vahrn borders the following municipalities: Brixen, Klausen, Franzensfeste, Natz-Schabs, Sarntal ...

) was a German landscape painter.

Life and work

He was the son of a goldsmith from

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

. At the age of fifteen (after a problematic youth that included three years in a

reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...

) he expressed a desire to be a painter but his father opposed the idea, sending him instead to the construction tradeschools in

Zittau Zittau ( hsb, Žitawa, dsb, Žytawa, pl, Żytawa, cs, Žitava, Upper Lusatian Dialect: ''Sitte''; from Slavic "'' rye''" (Upper Sorbian and Czech: ''žito'', Lower Sorbian: ''žyto'', Polish: ''żyto'')) is the southeasternmost city in the Ge ...

and Dresden to study draftsmanship. He was able to gain a short-term position in the studios of Gottfried Semper while he was in Dresden. In 1848, he received a commission to help prepare designs for a museum ceiling in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, under the direction of Melchior Berri. This type of work proved to be unsatisfying, however, and he was encouraged to go to Munich for further studies. After failing to obtain a position in the studios of

Joseph Karl Stieler Joseph Karl Stieler (1 November 1781 – 9 April 1858) was a German painter. From 1820 until 1855 he worked as royal court painter of the Bavarian kings. He is known for his Neoclassical portraits, especially for the Gallery of Beauties at N ...

, he encountered

Richard Zimmermann Richard Augustus Zimmermann, genre and landscape painter, was born in Zittau in 1820. Biography Zimmermann was the son of the impresario Karl Friedrich August Zimmermann, and his three brothers, Albert, Max, and Robert, have all been well-known ...

, who he knew from Zittau, and became his pupil. He decided to specialize in landscape painting and held his first exhibit in 1855. Initially, he focused on the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

and

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

n lakes. In 1861 he took a trip to Paris, where he had his first encounter with the

Barbizon School The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...

. This confirmed him in his belief that landscapes should be natural, focus on overall effect rather than detail, and be what one might now call "deceptively simple". In 1864 he returned to Paris, where he spent his time copying the old masterpieces in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. He was especially interested in the work of

Jules Dupré Jules Louis Dupré (April 5, 1811 – October 6, 1889) was a French painter, one of the chief members of the Barbizon school of landscape painters. If Corot stands for the lyric and Rousseau for the epic aspect of the poetry of nature, Dupré i ...

, and visited with him in L'Isle-Adam that winter. In 1868 he opened an art school which he operated until 1873, when his health began to decline, due to a heart condition. After that time he continued to teach, but took a much less active role in the school. Hoping to find some rest and recovery, he planned to spend the winter of 1882 in the

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...

, but died of a heart attack shortly after arriving.

References

External links

ArtNet: Twelve pages of paintings by Lier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lier, Adolf Heinrich 1826 births 1882 deaths 19th-century German painters German male painters German landscape painters People from Herrnhut 19th-century German male artists

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links