Karl Daniel Friedrich Bach (

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

May, 1756 - Breslau 8 April 1829 (according to some sources in 1826)) was a German painter.

Biography

As his father was a merchant and an elder (''Landesältester'') of the

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Jewry Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

(de), Bach was enabled to obtain from the Potsdam painter, A. B. Krüger, his first instruction in the art of painting; later, through the influence of Colonel Guichard ("Quintus Icilius"), he succeeded in entering the

Berlin Academy of Arts The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

, and became intimately connected with Lesueur,

Daniel Chodowiecki Daniel Niklaus Chodowiecki (16 October 1726 – 7 February 1801) was a German painter and printmaker of Huguenot and Polish ancestry, who is most famous as an etcher. He spent most of his life in Berlin, and became the director of the Berlin Acad ...

and Frish. At Bach's insistence, life studies were introduced at the Academy. Bach soon distinguished himself with skillfully executed copies of old works, and, upon arriving in Warsaw with Count Ossolinski in 1780, achieved considerable success. Later he accompanied Count John Potocki on his travels; copied paintings 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 th ...

; and was made member of the local academy on 15 December 1785. Thence he went to Paris, and afterward to Italy, where he remained for four years (1786–1792), studying at the expense of his patron, Potocki, at first in Rome - where he applied himself chiefly to the productions of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

and Michelangelo — and subsequently in

Portici Portici (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy. It is the site of the Portici Royal Palace. Geography Portici lies at the foot of Mount Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, about southeast of Naples itself. There i ...

, where the antiquities of

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the nea ...

held his attention. Elected a member of the Academy of

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

on 9 December 1788, he visited Venice, Vienna and Berlin, at which latter place he exhibited his productions — copies, for the most part - of works of Italian masters. In 1792, Bach was appointed a director and professor of the Breslau Art Academy and on 23 June 1794, he became member of the Academy of Berlin. Two years later, in conjunction with C. F. Benkendorf, he started a journal called ''Torso'', devoted to "ancient and modern art"; but after a short time its publication was discontinued. Bach published two treatises on art: ''Umrisse der Besten Köpfe und Parthien nach Rafael's Gemälden im Vatican'' and ''Anweisung Schöne Formen nach Einer Einfachen Regel zu' Bilden, für Künstler, Handwerker, und Freunde des Schönen''. Bach made use of the etching-needle and in his paintings he chose historical subjects, portraits, animals and many

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

themes, all conceived in the spirit of the epoch. Though not a very important figure in the world of art, he helped encourage fellow-artists in Germany, and promoted instruction in drawing, handicraft, etc. Bach died a Christian

proselyte The biblical term "proselyte" is an anglicization of the Koine Greek term προσήλυτος (''proselytos''), as used in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) for "stranger", i.e. a "newcomer to Israel"; a "sojourner in the land", and in the G ...

Sources

* J. F. A. De Le Roi, ''Geschichte der Evangelischen Judenmission'', i. 56, Leipzig, 1899 *

Julius Meyer The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the c ...

, ''Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon'', ii., Leipzig, 1878 * ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

'' i., 1875 * Michael Bryan, ''Dictionary of Painters and Engravers'', i., London, 1886
Karl Daniel Friedrich Bach
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Messianic Judaism Wiki
18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Jewish painters Converts to Christianity from Judaism 18th-century German Jews People from Potsdam 1756 births 1826 deaths {{Germany-painter-stub

Biography

See also

Sources