Friedrich Bernhard Westphal (5 October 1803,

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been di ...

– 24 December 1844) was a German-Danish

genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

and illustrator. He was also known by his nickname Fritz Westphal.

Life

From 1821 to 1826 he studied at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

in Copenhagen alongside Carl Andreas August Goos, Hermann Wilhelm Bissen,

Harro Harring Harro Paul Harring (28 August 1798 – 14 May 1870) was a German-Danish revolutionary and writer. Often identified as Danish, he was, more accurately, from North Frisia in the Duchy of Schleswig. Early life Harring was the son of a farm owner in ...

and the Norwegian landscape painter

Thomas Fearnley Thomas Fearnley (, 27 December 1802 – 16 January 1842) was a Norwegian romantic painter, a pupil of Johan Christian Dahl and a leading representative of Norwegian romantic nationalism in painting. His son Thomas Fearnley (1841–1927) founde ...

. In 1823 he took Fearnley on a hike through Schleswig. In 1827 he returned to his birthplace and produced a lithograph of J. F. Fritz's 'Four Seasons' sequence in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

. In 1828 he studied in

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 ...

and from May 1829 alongside Fearnley in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, where he befriended the genre painter Joseph Petzl – both Westphal and Petzl recorded their artistic, romantic and everyday lives in diary-like drawings. Petzl was a major influence on Westphal, who began painting small genre works in the

Biedermeier The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...

style, sometimes reflecting recent historical events such as the

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

ese struggle against the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and the Greeks suffering from cholera epidemics. He also painted scenes from Danish contemporary history, such as

Bertel Thorvaldsen Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...

's return to Copenhagen (1838), Frederick VI's funeral procession (1840) and the anointing of

Christian VIII Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Fred ...

(1840). Aftershocks of the 1830 French

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...

in the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

caused both Petzl and Westphal to move to Schleswig. In summer 1832 Westphal went on a hike through Norway and from 1837 onwards he began to produce illustrations for books by the Danish writers

Christian Winther Rasmus Villads Christian Ferdinand Winther (29 July 1796 – 30 December 1876) was a Danish lyric poet. He was born at Fensmark near Næstved, where his father was the vicar. He went to the University of Copenhagen in 1815, and studied theol ...

Heinrich Hertz Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (; ; 22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. Biography Heinri ...

and

Carsten Hauch Johannes Carsten Hauch (12 May 1790 – 4 March 1872) was a Danish poet. Biography Hauch was born in Frederikshald in Norway. His father was the Danish bailiff in Smaalenene, Frederik Hauch. His mother, Karen Tank was sister of Norwegian shi ...

. Hoping to travel to Italy, Westphal returned to Copenhagen to compete for the academy's Great Gold Medal, whose prize was a scholarship to go to Rome, but lost the 1837, 1839 and 1841 competitions for it. He then became a "costumier" at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

in Copenhagen. After his death his sister Sophie tried to keep his memory alive by publishing "Genre-Bilder in Bildern und Tönen von Fritz Westphal" in 1852 – it contained 32 of his poems and 10 of his lithographs.

Works

* ''Portrait of Westphal's master baker'', c. 1825. 22 x 18 cm. Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig. * ''Sappho'', c. 1828. Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen,

Schloss Gottorf Gottorf Castle (, , Low German: ''Slott Gottorp'') is a castle and estate in the city of Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is one of the most important secular buildings in Schleswig-Holstein, and has been rebuilt and expanded several ...

, Schleswig.
''Winter''
drawing, c. 1828. Städt. Museum Schleswig.
''Self portrait''
c. 1828. Städt. Museum Schleswig.
''The Möwenpreis''
1836. 82 x 101,5 cm. Städt. Museum Schleswig. * ''David Playing the Harp for Saul'', 1837. Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
''King Valdemar testing Little Else''
1838. 82 x 97,5 cm.

National Gallery of Denmark National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

* ''Christ at Emmaus'', altarpiece, 1838.

Aastrup Church Aastrup Church (), located on the top of a steep hill in the village of Aastrup, southwest of Stubbekøbing on the Danish island of Falster, dates from c. 1200. Built in the Late Romanesque style, it has frescos from the 13th and 15th centurie ...

''Thorvaldsen's Return to Copenhagen in 1838''
c. 1840. 71,5 x 100 cm.

Thorvaldsen-Museum The Thorvaldsen Museum is a single-artist museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, dedicated to the art of Danish and Icelandic Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844), who lived and worked in Rome for most of his life (1796–1838). The mu ...

, Copenhagen.

References

* Ernst Schlee: ''Leben und Treiben im alten Schleswig.'' Flensburg 1972. *

Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer is a German art historian, specializing in north German painters of the 19th and 20th centuries. Life Schulte-Wülwer holds the position of Honorary Professor at the Kiel University, Christian Albrechts Universität zu Kiel ...

: ''Der Maler Friedrich Bernhard Westphal.'' In: Nordelbingen – Beiträge zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Schleswig-Holsteins, Bd. 61, 1992, S. 65–110. * Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer: ''Gezeichnete Tagebücher zur Zeit des Biedermeier – Fritz Westphal und Joseph Petzl.'' Heide 1993,
Westphal on GBV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westphal, Friedrich Bernhard 1803 births 1844 deaths 19th-century painters of historical subjects 19th-century Danish painters Danish male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Danish lithographers 19th-century Danish illustrators German lithographers German illustrators People from Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein German genre painters German history painters Danish genre painters Danish history painters 19th-century Danish male artists