Karl Ferdinand Sohn (10 December 1805 in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

– 25 November 1867 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

) was a German painter of the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy (now the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State Art Academy) during the 1830s and 1840s, when the Ac ...

Biography

Schattenseiten der Düsseldorfer Maler, Portrait of Karl Ferdinand Sohn (1805-1867)

He was born in Berlin and started his studies at the age of eighteen under

Wilhelm von Schadow Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow (7 September 1789 – 19 March 1862) was a German Romantic painter. Biography He was born in Berlin, the second son of the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow, who gave him his first lessons in drawing. He then turne ...

, whom he followed to Düsseldorf. He focused on mythical and poetic subjects of a highly

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

character, and painted in the idealistic manner of the Düsseldorf school. He visited Italy (1830–1831) and adopted ideas from the works of the Venetians;

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, n ...

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...

, and

Palma il Vecchio Palma Vecchio (c. 1480 – 30 July 1528), born Jacopo Palma, also known as Jacopo Negretti, was a Venetian painter of the Italian High Renaissance. He is called Palma Vecchio in English and Palma il Vecchio in Italian ("Palma the Elder") to di ...

. In 1832, he was named a Professor at the

Düsseldorf Academy 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 ...

, where he exercised an important influence. On 18 January 1834, he married Emilie Auguste von Mülmann 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 ...

. They had five children. His two sons Paul Eduard Richard Sohn (1834–1912) and Karl Friedrich Rudolf Sohn (1845–1908) also grew up to be painters. The latter married

Else Sohn-Rethel Elisabeth "Else" Johanna Martha Maria Sohn-Rethel (14 March 1853 – 22 January 1933) was a German painter and singer, active in the mid and late 19th-century. Biography Elisabeth Johanna Martha Maria Rethel was born 14 March 1853 in Rome, I ...

(1853–1933), daughter of the painter

Alfred Rethel Alfred Rethel (May 15, 1816December 1, 1859) was a German history painter. Early life and education Rethel was born in Aachen in 1816. He showed an interest in art in his early life, and at the age of thirteen he executed a drawing which procure ...

. Clara, his eldest daughter, was married to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

composer and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

Albert Dietrich Albert Hermann Dietrich (28 August 182920 November 1908), was a German composer and conductor. In addition to his work, he is remembered for his friendship with Johannes Brahms. Dietrich was born at Golk, near Meissen. From 1851 he studied com ...

. His daughter Marie married the painter

Karl Hoff Karl Heinrich Hoff (8 September 1838, Mannheim – 13 May 1890, Karlsruhe) was a German genre painter, best known for his 18th century period scenes. He is generally referred to as The Elder, to distinguish him from his son, , who was also a paint ...

(1838–1890). His youngest daughter, Emilie, married his nephew, the painter

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 ...

(1830–1899), thereby making him his nephew and son-in-law. Emma Elwin by Luise von Martens 1853 - Private Collection Germany

Later, He painted biblical subjects, and then devoted himself to genre scenes, well characterized and of great coloristic charm. Among these are: the ''Consultation at the Lawyer's'' (1866, Leipzig Museum) and the ''Warrior of the Seventeenth Century'' (1869, Dresden Gallery). At the age of nearly sixty-two Karl Ferdinand Sohn died on 25 November 1867 during a visit to his friend

Ferdinand Hiller Ferdinand (von) Hiller (24 October 1811 – 11 May 1885) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, writer and music director. Biography Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus (origina ...

Notable students

Anselm Feuerbach Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German painter. He was the leading classicist painter of the German 19th-century school. Biography Early life Feuerbach was born at Speyer, the son of the archaeologist Joseph ...

Marie Wiegmann Marie Elisabeth Wiegmann (7 November 1820 – 4 December 1893) née Hancke, was a German genre and portrait painter who worked in Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands. She studied under artists Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Hermann Stilke. She ...

Amalie Bensinger Amalie Bensinger (28 March 1809 – 16 November 1889) was a German painter associated with the Nazarene movement. Biography She was born in Bruchsal to an old merchant family from Mannheim that was originally Jewish and had been converted. Her ...

Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann Anna Maria Elisabeth Lisinska Jerichau-Baumann (21 November 1819 – 11 July 1881) was a Polish-Danish painter. She was married to the sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau. Early life and career Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann was born in Żoliborz (Frenc ...

Heinrich Ludwig Philippi Heinrich Ludwig Philippi (9 June 1838, Kleve – 16 September 1874, Düsseldorf) was a German history painter; associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. He was primarily known as a watercolorist. Biography His father, was a jurist and ...

Clemens Bewer Lambert Clemens Jakob Bewer (30 May 1820, Aachen – 2 September 1884, Bonn) was a German history and portrait painter, in the Romantic style. Biography He began his art studies in the master class of Karl Ferdinand Sohn at the Kunstakademi ...

Ludwig von Milewski Ludwig von Milewski, also Ludwig Milewsky (24 August 1825 – 10 May 1849), was a Polish painter. He was shot dead on a barricade as a leader of revolutionary street fighters in the 1849 May uprising in Düsseldorf. Life Milewski was born in K ...

Selected paintings

File:Rinaldo und Armida, Karl Ferdinand Sohn 1828.JPG, alt=Rinaldo and Armida, ''

Rinaldo Rinaldo may refer to: * Renaud de Montauban (also spelled Renaut, Renault, Italian: Rinaldo di Montalbano, Dutch: Reinout van Montalbaen, German: Reinhold von Montalban), a legendary knight in the medieval Matter of France * Rinaldo (''Jerusalem Li ...

and

Armida Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso. Description In Tasso's epic ''Jerusalem Delivered'' ( it, Gerusalemme liberata, link=no), Rinaldo is a fierce and determi ...

'', 1828 File:Carl Ferdinand Sohn - Torquato Tasso and the Two Leonores - Google Art Project.jpg, alt=Torquato Tasso and the Two Leonores, ''

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

and the Two Leonores'', 1839 File:Mathilde Wesendonck by Karl Ferdinand Sohn, 1850.jpg,

Mathilde Wesendonck Agnes Mathilde Wesendonck (née Luckemeyer; 23 December 182831 August 1902) was a German poet and author. The words of five of her verses were the basis of Richard Wagner's ''Wesendonck Lieder''; the composer was infatuated with her, and his w ...

File:Karl Ferdinand Sohn - Minstrel and two listening Ladies - NG.M.00188 - National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.jpg, alt=, ''Minstrel and Two Listening Ladies'', 1849. Depicting Torquato Tasso, Eleonora d'Este, and

Leonora Sanvitale Leonora Sanvitale (Contessa di Scandiano) (c. 1558–1582) was a noblewoman and singer at the Este court at Ferrara, and along with her stepmother Barbara Sanseverino, was among the most "brilliant" noblewomen at the court. She joined the court in ...

. File:Carl Ferdinand Sohn - Die beiden Leonoren. Um 1834.jpg, alt=, ''The Two Leonors'', circa 1834 File:Emilie Auguste geb. von Mülmann Gemälde vom Gatten Carl Ferdinand Sohn (1867).jpg, alt=, ''Portrait of Emilie Auguste Sohn'' by her husband

External links

PhD project to Carl Ferdinand Sohn

Sources

* * This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sohn, Karl Ferdinand 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 1805 births 1867 deaths Academic staff of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Düsseldorf school of painting