Franz Karl Eduard von Gebhardt (13 June 1838 – 3 February 1925) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

painter of portraits and historical scenes, and a professor at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

Biography

He was born to Ferdinand Theodor von Gebhardt (1803–1869), Provost and member of the Consistorial Council in

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...

, and his wife, Wilhelmine, née Von Glehn (1808–1880). He graduated from the local gymnasium at sixteen, and enrolled at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thr ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where he studied for three years. He then spent two years travelling, spending some time in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, where he took classes at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

. He arrived in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

in 1860, and became a student of

Wilhelm Sohn Johann August Wilhelm Sohn (29 August 1829, in Berlin – 16 March 1899, in Pützchen, near Bonn) was a German genre painter and art professor. Life Johann August Wilhelm Sohn was born 29 August 1829, in Berlin, Germany. In 1847, he went to ...

, who gave him such wholehearted encouragement that he decided to stay there. He settled on a street which was the home of several other artists and their studios. In 1872, he married a local woman, Klara Jungnick (1851–1897). The following year, he was named a professor at the Kunstakademie. His best-known students included Otto Boyer and Carl Schmitz-Pleis. On the occasion of his seventieth birthday, in 1908, the in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

held a large exhibit of his works. At the

Große Berliner Kunstausstellung Große Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), abbreviated GroBeKa or GBK, was an annual art exhibition that existed from 1893 to 1969 with intermittent breaks. In 1917 and 1918, during World War I, it was not held in Berlin bu ...

of 1918, he was awarded a gold medal. Not long before his death he became an

Ehrenbürger Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

(Honorary Citizen) of Düsseldorf. He was interred at the . His home and studio at Rosenstraße Nr. 41 became a retirement home for the Mutual Aid Association of the . Streets were named after him in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Do ...

and

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

Work

Due to his father's profession, he was inclined to religious themes from the beginning. His models were the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and German masters of the 15th and 16th centuries, and he strove for a realistic presentation. It was said that what he gained in truthfulness was a loss for beauty. Eduard von Gebhardt - The Raising of Lazarus - Google Art Project

Eduard von Gebhardt - The Raising of Lazarus - Google Art Project

Some of his best-known Biblical scenes are: * "Christ on the Cross" (1866,

St Mary's Cathedral, Tallinn St. Mary's Cathedral, Tallinn (, full name: ''Tallinna Püha Neitsi Maarja Piiskoplik Toomkirik'', german: Ritter- und Domkirche, , also known as '' Dome Church'') is a cathedral church located on Toompea Hill in Tallinn, Estonia. Originally e ...

) * "The Last Supper" (1870, National Gallery, Berlin) * "Crucifixion" (1873, Hamburg Kunsthalle) * "Ascension of Christ" (1881, National Gallery, Berlin) * "Taking Care of Christ's Body" (1883, Dresden Gallery) * "Jacob and the Angel" (1893, Dresden Gallery) * "Christ and the Rich Youth" (1892, Düsseldorf Gallery) * "Sermon on the Mount" (1893, Düsseldorf Gallery) * "Healing of the Palsied" (1895, Breslau Museum) * "The Raising of Lazarus" (1896,

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

) He also painted excellent portraits; making sketches of prototypical peasants, which he drew while visiting Estonia. There, he was a tutor to famous Estonian painters such as

Ants Laikmaa Ants Laikmaa (5 May 1866 – 19 November 1942) was an Estonian painter.lla Rosenfeld, Norton T. Dodge, Jane Voorhees, ''Art of the Baltics: The Struggle for Freedom of Artistic Expression Under the Soviets, 1945-1991'', Rutgers University Press, ...

, and the brothers,

Kristjan Kristjan is a masculine given name in the Estonian language and Slovenian language. It is a variation of the name Christian. Notable people named Kristjan include: * Kristjan Čujec (born 1988), Slovenian futsal player * Kristjan Fajt (born ...

and Paul Raud. Many of works were considered for inclusion in the series of

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s issued by the

Stollwerck Stollwerck GmbH is a German chocolate manufacturer. It was founded in 1839 and expanded internationally in Europe and America, becoming the second largest producer of chocolate in the United States by 1900. Since 2011 it has belonged to Belg ...

chocolate company.Lorenz, Detlef: ''Reklamekunst um 1900. Künstlerlexikon für Sammelbilder.'' Reimer-Verlag, 2000.

Other selected works

File:Eduard von Gebhardt Sinnender Mann mit Bart 1922.jpg, ''Thoughtful Man
with a Beard'' (1922) File:GebhardtLazarus.jpg, ''Lazarus and the
Rich Man'' (1865) File:Eduard von Gebhardt - Eesti talumees.jpg, ''Estonian Peasant'' (1867) File:Thomas the Doubter by Eduard von Gebhardt.jpg, ''

Doubting Thomas A doubting Thomas is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience — a reference to the Gospel of John's depiction of the Apostle Thomas, who, in John's account, refused to believe the resurrected Jesus had appeared t ...

'' (date unknown) File:Eduard von Gebhardt - Naise portree.jpg, ''Portrait of a Woman'' (date unknown)

References

External links

* *

Baltische Historische Kommission Baltische Historische Kommission ('Baltic Historical Commission'; abbreviated BHK) is an organization which deals with history related to Baltic Germans/Germany and Baltic states. BHK is located in Göttingen, Germany. Since 2007, BHK's chairman i ...

: Entry on Gebhardt, Karl Franz Eduard*. In
BBLD – Baltisches biografisches Lexikon digital
* Gebhardt, Eduard von; in th
Ostdeutsche Biografie

More works by Gebhardt
@ ArtNet * Heinrich J. Schmidt: "Eduard von Gebhard" in:

Neue Deutsche Biographie ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (''NDB''; literally ''New German Biography'') is a biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 26 volumes published thus far cove ...

(1964), pp.119–120
Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebhardt, Eduard Von 1838 births 1925 deaths People from Järva Parish People from the Governorate of Estonia Baltic-German people 19th-century German painters German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists 19th-century Estonian painters 19th-century Estonian male artists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany 19th-century German male artists

Biography

Work

Other selected works

References

Further reading

External links