Johann Harper (August 1688,

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

- 4 December 1746,

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

) was a Swedish painter who worked at the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

Royal Court.

Biography

He was the son of Jakob Harper, a merchant, and his wife Anna née Pohl. His first painting lessons came from Peter Martin van Mytens and

David von Krafft David Krafft, from 1719 David von Krafft (1655 – 20 September 1724), was a German-Swedish painter, the nephew and student of David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl and his successor (in 1698) as painter to the Swedish Royal Court. Biography Krafft was bo ...

in Stockholm. Then he studied with the court painter Benoît Le Coffre in Copenhagen. In 1709, together with Ismael Mengs, eft Copenhagen for a trip to Germany, where he studied with Paul Heinecken in the

Hanseatic City The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in 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 ...

. After completing his studies, he became a popular miniature and enamel painter. From 1712, he worked 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 1716, he was appointed

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

for the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

s. There, he created portraits and decorations at

Charlottenburg Palace 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 the 1740s, he created the ceiling painting, "'

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and her Followers" for the vestibule at the new

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

palace in Potsdam,Gert Streidt, Klaus Frahm, Gabriele Leuthäuser, Peter Feierabend: ''Potsdam – Die Schlösser und Gärten der Hohenzollern''. Könemann, Cologne, 1996, pg.38 which underwent a restoration in 2016. His first marriage was to Maria Barbara Wolffgang, the daughter of J. G. Wolffgang, a copper engraver. Their eldest son, Adolf Friedrich Harper, learned miniature and flower painting at home. Later, he became a landscape painter in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. His best known student was the portrait painter and etcher, Joachim Martin Falbe. Several of his works may be seen at the

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Johann 1688 births 1746 deaths Swedish painters Swedish emigrants Immigrants to the Kingdom of Prussia Court painters Artists from Stockholm

Biography

References

Further reading

External links