Hermann Wilhelm Benjamin Eschke (6 May 1823 - 15 January 1900) was a German painter who specialized in

marine art Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre parti ...

Biography

Eschke was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1840, at the age of seventeen, he began his studies with Professor

Wilhelm Herbig Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Herbig (22 April 1788, Potsdam - 5 July 1861, Berlin) was a German painter and art professor. Life and work His father, Friedrich Herbig (1754–1832), was a cellist who played in a chamber ensemble. His brother, , w ...

and, upon his recommendation, attended the Prussian Academy of Art from 1841 to 1845. After graduating, he obtained a position in the studios of the marine painter, Wilhelm Krause, where he remained until 1848. Through Krause's recommendation, he obtained a similar position in the studios of Eugène Lepoittevin in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

.''Eschke, Wilhelm Benjamin Hermann''.
In: Hermann Alex. Müller: ''Biographisches Künstler-Lexikon''. Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig 1882, pg.162 In 1850, he took extensive study trips through Southern France and the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

. When he returned to Berlin, he became a freelance artist. Over the next thirty years, he continued to travel frequently; visiting the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

, Norway, Wales, the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

and

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, among other places. All of these trips produced numerous sketches that were later turned into oil paintings, although he also did some work en plein aire. Among his most familiar works are those created together with his son, , for the " Kaiserpanorama": ''The German Fleet on Display at Zanzibar'', and ''The Seizure of New Guinea''. Eschke was later given the title "Königlicher Professor" and received a gold medal at an exhibition by the "" (Association of Berlin Artists). He was also well known as a teacher. His students included Louis Douzette, Ernst Koerner, Walter Moras, Carl Saltzmann, Alexander Kircher and Elisabeth Reuter. Altogether, he and his wife Anna had ten children, of whom two, Richard and , became painters. He died in Berlin.

Selected paintings

File:Hermann Eschke - Aufkommender Sturm.jpg, The Coming Storm File:Hermann Eschke - Schiffbruch.jpg, Shipwreck File:Hermann Eschke - Blick von Svolvaer nach Storemolla und Lillemolla.jpg, View of Svolvaer File:Hermann Eschke - Blick auf den Genfersee im Mondschein.jpg,

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial la ...

in the Moonlight File:Eschke Hermann - Im Hafen von Livorno - 1879.jpg

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Eschke.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eschke, Hermann 1823 births 1900 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German marine artists Prussian Academy of Arts alumni Painters from Berlin

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links