Hermann Wilhelm Benjamin Eschke (6 May 1823 - 15 January 1900) was a German painter who specialized in

marine art Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main Sea in culture, inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea� ...

Biography

Eschke was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In 1840, at the age of seventeen, he began his studies with Professor Wilhelm Herbig and, upon his recommendation, attended the Prussian Academy of Art from 1841 to 1845. After graduating, he obtained a position in the studios of the marine painter, Wilhelm Krause, where he remained until 1848. Through Krause's recommendation, he obtained a similar position in the studios of Eugène Lepoittevin in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

.''Eschke, Wilhelm Benjamin Hermann''.
In: Hermann Alex. Müller: ''Biographisches Künstler-Lexikon''. Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig 1882, pg.162 In 1850, he took extensive study trips through Southern France and the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. When he returned to Berlin, he became a freelance artist. Over the next thirty years, he continued to travel frequently; visiting the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, Norway, Wales, the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

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and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, among other places. All of these trips produced numerous sketches that were later turned into oil paintings, although he also did some work en plein aire. Among his most familiar works are those created together with his son, , for the " Kaiserpanorama": ''The German Fleet on Display at Zanzibar'', and ''The Seizure of New Guinea''. Eschke was later given the title "Königlicher Professor" and received a gold medal at an exhibition by the "" (Association of Berlin Artists). He was also well known as a teacher. His students included Louis Douzette, Ernst Koerner, Walter Moras, Carl Saltzmann, Alexander Kircher and Elisabeth Reuter. Altogether, he and his wife Anna had ten children, of whom two, Richard and , became painters. He died in Berlin.

Selected paintings

File:Hermann Eschke - Aufkommender Sturm.jpg, The Coming Storm File:Hermann Eschke - Schiffbruch.jpg, Shipwreck File:Hermann Eschke - Blick von Svolvaer nach Storemolla und Lillemolla.jpg, View of Svolvaer File:Hermann Eschke - Blick auf den Genfersee im Mondschein.jpg,

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

in the Moonlight File:Eschke Hermann - Im Hafen von Livorno - 1879.jpg

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Eschke.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eschke, Hermann 1823 births 1900 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German marine artists Prussian Academy of Arts alumni Painters from Berlin Painters from the Kingdom of Prussia

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links