Christian Gottlob Hammer, baptized as Gottlieb, (18 July 1779,

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 larg ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

– 7 February 1864, Dresden), was an influential German landscape painter and engraver.

Personal

Hammer began his studies in 1794 at the Dresden University of Visual Arts. Four years later he had become the senior apprentice of Johann Phillip Veith, who himself had learned landscape drawing and copper etching from Adrian Zingg at the same establishment.

Career

In 1816 Hammer became an academy member, joining the famous circle of Dresden Romanticism, accompanying the likes of

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...

and Johann Christian Klengel. In 1829 he was appointed as

Professor extraordinarius Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...

Style

Hammer's works are extensive: including his own designs in sepia, watercolor, and opaque colors, and also copper etchings from his own drafts and those of other artists, such as Caspar David Friedrich,

Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer (23 October 1775 - 11 February 1842) was a German representative of neoclassical architecture. Life and artwork Education and early work Thormeyer was born in the Protestant Kreuzkirche parish, Dresden. He started to ...

, Johann Clausen Dahl, Georg Heinrich Crola et al. His works consist primarily of landscapes and city views, particularly in Saxony and his home town of Dresden, and the vicinity. He also took inspiration from Saxon Switzerland. Several of Hammer's works were published by Heinrich Rittner, a Dresden art dealer, in the volume "Dresden mit seinen Pachtgebäuden und schönsten Umgebungen" ("Dresden with her splendid buildings and beautiful surroundings"). An 1810 volume printed by Carl Christian Meinhold had prompted a great deal of interest in Dresden at that time. Hammer was one of the first painters to discover the pristine water world of the

Spreewald The Spree Forest (German: ''Spreewald'', ; Lower Sorbian: ''Błota'', i.e. 'the Swamps') is a large inland delta of the river Spree, and a historical cultural landscape located in the region of (Lower) Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Ger ...

; he created several high-romantic pictures of this unique European landscape. Around the period 1820-1840, Count Hermann Rochus zu Lynar (1797-1878), the owner of the castle of Lübbenau, commissioned Hammer to paint several views of the castle. A great admirer of C. G. Hammer's works was

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treatis ...

. He and Hammer met in the artist's Dresden studio during Goethe's stay in the town during 1810.

Public collections

Albertina, Vienna The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

, a set of Hammer's works collected by Duke

Albert of Saxe-Teschen Prince Albert Casimir of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (11 July 1738, Moritzburg, Electorate of Saxony – 10 February 1822, Vienna) was a Saxon prince from the House of Wettin who married into the Habsburg imperial family. He was noted as an art ...

. *

Dresden City Museum Dresden City Museum (german: link=no, Stadtmuseum Dresden) is the central city museum for the German city of Dresden. Its displays tell the 800-year story of the city and is the largest and most important of the Dresden State Museums (''Städtis ...

. *Goethe National Museum,

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. *Lübbenau castle. *

Dresden State Art Collections Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (, ''Dresden State Art Collections'') is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It is one of the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the ...

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, Christian Gottlob 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters German engravers Academic staff of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts 1779 births 1864 deaths 19th-century German male artists