Friedrich Wilhelm Weidemann or Wiedemann (1668, Osterburg - 25 December 1750, Berlin) was a German painter. From 1702 he worked as court painter to Frederick William I, prince and later king of Prussia. He also produced portraits of several other members of the Prussian royal family

Life

Born in what is now

Sachsen-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the 8th-largest state in Germany by area an ...

but what was then the Mark Brandenburg, Weidemann learned painting under the Dutch painter and architect Rutger van Langevelt, who had been working at Frederick William's court since 1678. He later also studied under

Samuel Theodor Gericke Samuel Theodor Gericke or Gerike (1665-1730) was a German painter. Born in Spandau in 1665, he became at first a student of Rutger van Langevelt, and later of Gedeon Romandon. In 1694 he went to Rome to get prints, books, drawings and plaster ...

and Langevelt's son Wilhelm van Langevelt. He completed his education at the

Berlin Academy of Arts The Academy of Arts () 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 founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

and worked in London for a time under the

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

-born British court painter

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leading Portrait painting, portraitist in England during the late Stuart period, Stuart and early Georgian eras ...

. On his return to Berlin Friedrich Wilhelm Weidemann was - as Heinecken reports - presented to Frederick William by the influential countess Katharina von Wartenberg, wife of the prime minister

Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg Johann Kasimir Kolbe, ''Graf'' von Wartenberg (6 February 1643, in Wetterau – 4 July 1712, in Frankfurt am Main) was the first ever Minister-President (effectively Prime Minister) of the kingdom of Prussia, and the head of the " Cabinet of T ...

. In 1702 he became a court painter. Weidemann made several paintings of members of the royal family, especially queen Sophie Charlotte - one of the latter now hangs in the

Schloss Charlottenburg Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough, and is among the largest palaces in the world. The palace was built at the end of th ...

in Berlin, whilst others are in the Schloss in Königs Wusterhausen. His paintings were very popular among his contemporaries and were engraved by G.P. Busch, A. B. König, Jakob Wilhelm Heckenauer, John Smith and Johann Jakob Haid. He remained the most popular painter for a long period under Frederick William I, until being superseded by the French painter

Antoine Pesne Antoine Pesne () (29 May 1683 – 5 August 1757) was a French-born court painter of Prussia. Starting in the manner of baroque, he became one of the fathers of rococo in painting. His work represents a link between the French school and the Fr ...

, brought to Berlin in 1710 by prince Frederick William's father

Frederick I Frederick I or Friedrich I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I ...

and appointed official court painter on 6 May 1711. In 1708 Weidemann was made ordinary clerk and member of the Berlin Academy, becoming its rector in 1712 and its director in 1718 (succeeding Samuel Theodor GerickeFüssli: ''Künstlerlexicon.'' 1806, S. 5013.), holding the final position until his death. From 1730 onwards he mainly taught as a professor of perspective.

Family

Weidemann's younger cousin Carl Emil Weidemann (1685 - 1735) also studied under Kneller in London for a time and followed Friedrich Wilhelm into court painting. He later painted portraits in Berlin and was court painter to Sophie Dorothea.

Bibliography

* Johann Rudolf Füssli: ''Allgemeins Künstlerlexicon''. Zürich 1779. * Johann Rudolf Füssli: ''Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon''. Zürich 1806. * Karl Heinrich von Heinecken: ''Nachrichten von Künstlern und Kunst-Sachen.'' Teil 1. Verlag Johann Paul Krauss, Wien 1768. * Rudolf G. Scharmann: ''Schloss Charlottenburg. Königliches Preußen in Berlin.'' 4. Aufl. Prestel-Verlag, München u. a. 2010, .

References

External links

''Friedrich Wilhelm Weidemann.''
- Berlin Academy of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Weidemann, Friedrich 1668 births 1750 deaths People from Osterburg (Altmark) German portrait painters