Franz Gerhard von Kügelgen (6 February 1772 – 27 March 1820) was a German painter, noted for his

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

s and history paintings. He was a professor at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the produc ...

and a member of both the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

and

Russian Imperial The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

Academies of Arts. His twin brother, Karl von Kügelgen, was also a painter of note.

Biography

He was born at Bacharach am Rhein. After leaving school in 1789, he studied painting in Koblenz. Beginning in 1791, he worked in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, where he painted portraits of Elector

Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (Maximilian Franz Xaver Joseph Johann Anton de Paula Wenzel; 8 December 1756 – 26 July 1801) was Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. He was the youngest child of Holy Roman E ...

, minister Ferdinand August von Spiegel zum Desenberg, and the Count of Waldstein. Afterwards, he and his brother undertook an educational journey to Rome, Munich and Riga, which was financed by Archduke Maximilian In 1800, he married Helene Marie Zoege von Manteuffel (1774–1842); from a noble Baltic-German family with roots in the 14th century. They had three children together. His first son,

Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

, was born in

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 ...

in 1802, and also grew up to become a painter. The other children were Gerhard (1806–1884), and Adelheid (1808–1874). During his career, he painted

s of Caspar David Friedrich,

Johann Wolfgang von 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 t ...

, Johann Gottfried Herder,

August von Kotzebue August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (; – ) was a German dramatist and writer who also worked as a consul in Russia and Germany. In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl L ...

, Friedrich Schiller,

Johann Gottfried Seume Johann Gottfried Seume (29 January 176313 June 1810) was a German author. Biography Seume was born in Poserna (now part of Lützen, Saxony-Anhalt). He was educated first at Borna, then at the Nikolai school and University of Leipzig. The study ...

Ludwig Uhland Johann Ludwig Uhland (26 April 1787 – 13 November 1862) was a German poet, philologist and literary historian. Biography He was born in Tübingen, Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest in ...

Zacharias Werner Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner (November 18, 1768 – January 17, 1823) was a German poet, dramatist, and preacher. As a dramatist, he is known mainly for inaugurating the era of the so-called "tragedies of fate". Biography Werner was born at ...

, Christoph Martin Wieland, Johann Carl Simon Morgenstern and other writers, artists and scholars of his time. After moving to Dresden, Kügelgen's villa "Gottessegen" (God's Blessing) became a meeting place for artists and adherents of early

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. Caspar David Friedrich was also a student and friend. In 1820, he was killed by a thief while on his way into Dresden from his studio in the suburb of

Loschwitz Loschwitz is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters (''Stadtteile''): Loschwitz is a villa quarter located at the slopes north of the Elbe river. At the top of the hillside is the quar ...

. He is buried in the . The asteroid 11313 Kügelgen is named after him and his son Wilhelm.Entry on the website of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
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Selected portraits

File:Gerhard von Kügelgen 001.jpg,

Friedrich von Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

File:Herder by Kügelgen.jpg, Johann Gottfried Herder File:Goethe Kügelgen.jpg,

File:Gerhard von Kügelgen portrait of Friedrich.jpg, Caspar David Friedrich File:Elizaveta Alexeevna by Kügelgen (1800s, Winnyzja).jpg, Princess

Louise of Baden Princess Louise of Baden (13/24 January 1779 – 4/16 May 1826) was, later known as Elizabeth Alexeievna ( rus, Елизавета Алексеевна), the Empress of Russia during her marriage with Emperor Alexander I. Princess of Baden Eliz ...

File:Wieland by Kügelgen.jpg, Christoph Martin Wieland

References

* * Dorothee von Hellermann: ''Gerhard von Kügelgen (1772–1820). Das zeichnerische und malerische Werk''. Reimer, Berlin 2001,

External links

Entry for Gerhard von Kügelgen
on the

Union List of Artist Names The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a free online database of the Getty Research Institute using a controlled vocabulary Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Cont ...

The Kügelgenhaus, Dresden, established in Kügelgen's former home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kugelgen, Gerhard von 1772 births 1820 deaths People from Mainz-Bingen German romantic painters 19th-century painters of historical subjects