Ludovike Simanowiz - Selbstbildnis mit wehendem Haar

Kunigunde Sophie Ludovike Simanowiz (née Reichenbach; February 21, 1759,

Schorndorf Schorndorf is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located approximately 26 km east of Stuttgart. Its train station is the terminus of the S2 line of the Stuttgart S-Bahn. The town is also sometimes referred to as ' (''The Daimler Tow ...

- September 3, 1827,

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is s ...

) was a German portrait painter in the Classical style.

Biography

Her father was a military

feldsher According to the World Health Organization, a feldsher (german: Feldscher, pl, Felczer, cs, Felčar, russian: фельдшер, sv, Fältskär, Finnish: ''Välskäri'') is a health care professional who provides various medical services limi ...

and her mother was the daughter of a pharmacist. She was born in the barracks where her father was employed. In 1762, her family moved to Ludwigsburg, where she grew up with Friedrich Schiller and his sisters.* Christophine, who was the first to recognize Friedrich's talent, became her life-long friend. Her family appreciated her artistic talent and made every effort to promote her career. The Ducal Academy in Ludwigsburg and the Hohe Karlsschule in Stuttgart would not admit women but, in 1776, a professor at the Karlsschule, Nicolas Guibal, agreed to give her private lessons. Friedrich Schiller by Ludovike Simanowiz

Friedrich Schiller by Ludovike Simanowiz

In 1787, with the financial support of Duke

Carl Eugen Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

and his mistress, Franziska von Hohenheim, she was able to travel to Paris and study with the miniaturist,

Antoine Vestier Antoine Vestier (1740 – 24 December 1824) was a French miniaturist and painter of portraits, born at Avallon in Burgundy, who trained in the atelier of Jean-Baptiste Pierre. He showed his work at the Salon de la Correspondance, Paris, before ...

. She remained for almost two years, then received a commission to paint portraits for Duke Friedrich Eugen, Carl's brother, in Mömpelgard (now

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

). These portraits were never completed, however, as she returned to Stuttgart in 1789 to marry Lieutenant Franz Simanowiz, an old classmate of Schiller's, who had been her fiancé since 1786. Her letters from that time indicate that she missed Paris and, despite the unsettled conditions arising from the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, she took the opportunity to return when her husband was called off on a troop deployment. Once there, she was able to stay with an old friend from Stuttgart, the opera singer, Helena Balletti, who had since married a marquis. In 1792, her situation became precarious when her hosts were subjected to searches by monarchist sympathizers and were forced to flee to the marquis' estate in Spain. Simanowiz remained behind, was interrogated, and denied a passport to go home. Early in 1793, her friend helped her escape to Normandy where she was given a passport. When she arrived in Strasbourg, she was seriously ill and spent six weeks in bed, tended by friends. Charlotte von Lengefeld - Simanowiz

When she finally got back to Ludwigsburg, she began by painting portraits of the Schiller family. Her portraits of Friedrich and his wife Charlotte were done while he was spending some time at home to work on ''

Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...

''. In 1798 her husband, now a Captain, was transferred to Stuttgart and she joined him there. The following year, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his legs. She would be his nurse for the next twenty-eight years. In 1812, they returned to Ludwigsburg. Her eldest brother, Friedrich, was a pastor in nearby Erdmannhausen and they would often attend political meetings there to express solidarity with those who were fighting Napoleon. Franz died in June 1827 and she followed a few months later. She completed approximately 100 portraits (none signed), most of which are in private collections. There is a memorial to her in the Municipal Museum of Schorndorf. One of her nephews was the well-known scientist,

Carl Reichenbach Carl Ludwig von Reichenbach (full name: Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Reichenbach; February 12, 1788January 1869) was a German chemist, geologist, metallurgist, naturalist, industrialist and philosopher, and a member of the Prussian Academy of Scienc ...

References

External links

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@ the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.
Timeline
@ Kulturforum Schorndorf. {{DEFAULTSORT:Simanowiz, Ludovike 1759 births 1827 deaths 18th-century German women artists 19th-century German women artists 18th-century German painters 19th-century German painters German portrait painters German women painters People from Schorndorf

Biography

References

Further reading

External links