Christian Friedrich Mali (6 October 1832,

Darthuizen Darthuizen is a hamlet in the Dutch municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug. From 1818 to 1857, Darthuizen was a separate municipality. On 8 June 1857, it merged into the municipality of Leersum. The hamlet was first mentioned in 1253 as Derthesen. ...

(near

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

) – 1 October 1906,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

) was a German painter and art professor. His older brother, Johannes Cornelis Jacobus Mali (1828–1865) was also a painter.

Life

Mali was the youngest of ten siblings, all of whom displayed artistic talent. After the sudden death of his father in 1833, Mali moved to

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

with his mother and worked as a

xylographer Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with Chisel#Gouge, gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts ...

until 1858. He and his brother Johannes moved to Munich in 1860, where Christian became a lifelong friend of the animal painter

Anton Braith Anton Braith (2 September 1836 – 3 January 1905) was a German landscape and animal painter. He was also a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. Life Braith was born in Biberach an der Riß. His father was a day-laborer who later b ...

. As the result of a trip to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, he became interested in

architectural painting Architectural painting (also Architecture painting) is a form of Genre art, genre painting where the predominant focus lies on architecture, including both outdoor and interior views. While architecture was present in many of the earliest painting ...

, and produced several renderings of the buildings there. In 1865, after the death of his brother, Mali visited

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and from there went to Paris, where he encountered the works of the recently deceased animal painter

Constant Troyon Constant Troyon (; August 28, 1810 – February 21, 1865) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. In the early part of his career, he painted mostly landscapes. It was only comparatively late in life that Troyon found his ''métier'' as ...

and, perhaps under the influence of his friend Braith, decided to devote himself to animal painting. On 14 April 1905, he became an honorary citizen of

Biberach an der Riß Biberach an der Riß (, ; ), often referred to as simply Biberach (), is a town in southern Germany. It is the capital of Biberach (district), Biberach district, in the Upper Swabia region of the German state (Lands of Germany, Land) of Baden-Wü ...

. Upon his death the following year, he was buried there next to Braith in the Catholic Cemetery. He bequeathed much of his art, his studio and 60,000

Marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

to the city of Biberach. The studio (and Braith's) form the core of the Braith-Mali Museum and are among the few fully preserved examples of 19th-century art studios.

Work

His earlier images place more emphasis on scenery and many are set in the

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...

area and the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

. His later work focuses almost entirely on dramatic depictions of animals; especially sheep.

References

External links

*
Künstlerkolonie Brannenburg
*Biography and appreciation of Christian Mali by

Gerhard Raff Gerhard Raff (born 13 August 1946 in Stuttgart-Degerloch, then American Zone of Occupation, later West Germany) is a German historian, editor and publisher, well known around Swabia (eastern and southern Baden-Württemberg) for his writings on ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mali, Christian 1832 births 1906 deaths Dutch emigrants German landscape painters 19th-century German painters German male painters People from Leersum 19th-century German male artists

Life

Work

References

Further reading

External links