Johann Friedrich Ludwig Heinrich August Riedel (25 December 1799, Bayreuth – 6 August 1883,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) was a German painter who spent much of his career in Italy.

Life and work

His father was the architect . His mother was Marianne Eleonora (née Tretzel). He studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

, with , then went to

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, where he was able to copy works by the Old Masters. Their treatment of color had a great influence on his mature works. In 1823, he was able to visit Italy, where he met many of the German artists associated with the

Nazarene movement The epithet Nazarene was adopted by a group of early 19th-century German Romantic painters who aimed to revive spirituality in art. The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of c ...

. From 1828 to 1829, he returned to Italy and stayed in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

. After three more years in Munich, he settled permanently in Rome; although he travelled extensively and would occasionally return to Germany to fulfill commissions. He was especially known for his

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes and sensitive portraits of women. One of his best known early works is a portrayal of the Biblical figure, Judith, from 1840. Although he enjoyed great financial success, receiving commissions from members of the German and Italian nobilities, as well as the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

, he outlived his style and came to be seen as old-fashioned as critical tastes turned to

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

. By the time he had grown old, his fame had greatly diminished. He was a professor at

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fi ...

until his death at age eighty-three and was interred at the

Protestant Cemetery, Rome The Cimitero Acattolico (Non-Catholic Cemetery) of Rome, often referred to as the Cimitero dei protestanti (Protestant Cemetery) or Cimitero degli Inglesi (English Cemetery), is a private cemetery in the rione of Testaccio in Rome. It is near ...

. His works may be seen at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

Selected paintings

File:August Riedel - Frauen aus Albano.jpg, Women from Albano File:August Riedel Judith 1840.jpg, Judith File:A Mother from Alvito - August Riedel 1848.jpg, A Mother from Alvito File:Riedel August - Römerin in Albano.jpg, Römerin in Albano File:August Heinrich Riedel (1799-1883) - Marianna Verettoni - RCIN 403885 - Royal Collection.jpg, Marianna Verettoni File:August Riedel - Felice Berardi aus Albano - 1842.jpg, Felice Berardi aus Albano File:Happy mother (Rome, 1840), by August Riedel.jpg, Happy Mother

Sources

* *

Georg Kaspar Nagler Georg Kaspar Nagler (January 6, 1801 in Obersüßbach – January 20, 1866 in Munich) was a German art historian and art writer. Life and work Georg Kaspar Nagler, who came from a poor background studied from 1815 at the Wilhelmsgymnasium, Mu ...

; "Riedel, August", In: ''Neues allgemeines Künstlerlexicon'', Vol.13, E. A. Fleischmann, 1843, pp. 151–15
Online

External links

@ Androom Archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riedel, August 19th-century German painters German male painters 1799 births 1883 deaths Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni 19th-century German male artists