Ernst Joachim Förster (8 April 1800 – 29 April 1885) was a German painter and an art critic, author of a number of elaborate and important works bearing on the

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics ...

in Germany and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Biography

He was born in

Saaleplatte Saaleplatte is a former municipality in the Weimarer Land district of Thuringia, Germany. On 31 December 2019, it was merged into the town Bad Sulza.Peter von Cornelius Peter von Cornelius (23 September 1783, Düsseldorf – 6 March 1867, Berlin) was a German Painting, painter; one of the main representatives of the Nazarene movement. He was the uncle of the composer Peter Cornelius (1824–1874). Life Earl ...

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 ...

. He was employed in painting the frescoes in the ''Aula'' at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

, and those of the

Glyptothek The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig I to house his collection of Ancient Greek art, Greek and Roman art, Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculp ...

and the arcades at Munich, but his reputation rests chiefly on his discovery of several ancient pictures, and on his works on the history of art. His greatest discovery was the frescoes of

Altichiero da Zevio Altichiero da Zevio (), also called Aldighieri da Zevio, was an Italian painter much influenced by Giotto, certainly through knowledge of the frescoes in the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua and quite possibly through having been trained in Flo ...

, which date as far back as 1376, in the Chapel of San Giorgio at

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

. It is known that he lived at ''Löwen Straße 8'' in

around 1850.Paul Maucher
''Alphabetic register of house owners 1849-1851''
, p. 15. His brother was

Friedrich Christoph Förster Friedrich Christoph Förster (24 September 1791 in Münchengosserstädt on the Saale – 8 November 1868 in Berlin) was a German historian and poet. Biography He was the second son of Karl Christoph Förster (1751-1811), and consequently an olde ...

. He was the son-in-law of

Jean Paul Jean Paul (; born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories. Life and work Jean Paul was born at Wunsiedel, in the Ficht ...

, whose works he edited, and whose biography he wrote.

Art works

Among his paintings are “Hellas Liberated,” and portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Altenburg and children. Among his frescoes are scenes from

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

's poems, and scenes from

Christoph Martin Wieland Christoph Martin Wieland (; ; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the ...

's ''Musarion'' and ''Die Grazien'', in the Royal Palace at Munich.

Literary works

* ''Die Wandgemälde der Sanct Georgenkapelle zu Padua'' (1859) * ''Vorschule der Kunstgeschichte'' (1862) * ''Denkmale deutscher Baukunst, Bildnerei und Malerei'' (1853–69) * ''Geschichte der deutschen Kunst'' (1851–60) * ''Geschichte der italienischen Kunst'' (1869–78) * ''Peter von Cornelius'' (1874) Among his works are excellent guide books to Munich, Italy, and Germany.

Family

He was the younger brother of historian and poet

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Ernst Joachim 1800 births 1885 deaths People from Weimarer Land 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters German art historians German male non-fiction writers