Johann Martin von Rohden (b

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, 30 July 1778; d

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 9 September 1868) was a German painter active for most of his career in Rome.

Life and work

Son of a merchant, von Rohden began his studies at the Kunstakademie in Kassel, remaining there until 1795. At seventeen he went to Rome with a friend who had won a travel grant for artists from the

Landgrave of Hesse The Landgraviate of Hesse () was a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a single entity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided among the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. History In the early ...

. There he met and studied with

Johann Christian Reinhart Johann Christian Reinhart (24 January 1761 – 9 June 1847) was a German painter and engraver. He was one of the founders, along with Joseph Anton Koch, of German romantic classical landscape painting. Biography Reinhart was born in Hof, Bava ...

. In 1799 he left Rome and traveled up the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

coast; he was back in Germany from 1801 until 1802. In the latter year he returned to Rome to study with

Joseph Anton Koch Joseph Anton Koch (27 July 1768 – 12 January 1839) was an Austrian painter of Neoclassicism and later the German Romantic movement; he is perhaps the most significant neoclassical landscape painter. Biography The Tyrolese painter was born ...

; he remained in or near the city for the duration of his time in Italy, save for a trip in 1805 to

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. He returned to Germany in 1811, visiting

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 ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

and joining a Kassel-based reading group run by the

brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

, but returned the following year to Rome, staying until 1826. He converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and married the daughter of the innkeeper of the Sibylla Inn in Tivoli. With

Johann Georg von Dillis Johann Georg von Dillis (26 December 1759 – 28 September 1841) was a German painter. Biography He was born in Gmain near Dorfen. Son of a gamekeeper and forester, he was educated in Munich with support from the prince-elector of Bavaria. In ...

he was apparently the first German painter to paint outdoors as part of his work. Though he was older, this practice earned him respect from the younger generation of German landscape painters who came to Rome to work in the early nineteenth century. In 1826 he was offered the post of chief painter at the court of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, but the relocation was hard on his family, and two years later he was granted permission to return to Rome for good. There he was known as kind and sociable, helping to form the German Academy and frequently going for

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

trips in the

Campagna Campagna (Italian: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. Its population is 17,148. Its old Latin name was Civitas Campaniae (City of Campagna). Campagna is located in one of the ...

. He died in Rome in 1868.

References

*Philip Conisbee, Sarah Faunce, and Jeremy Strick. ''In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting''. New Haven; Yale University Press, 1996.
Johann Martin von Rohden
from Answers.com 1778 births 1868 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Artists from Kassel Painters from Hesse Expatriates in the Papal States {{Germany-painter-stub