Johann Nepomuk Hoechle (16 September 1790,

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 ...

- 12 December 1835,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was an Austrian painter and

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

who specialized in scenes from military actions and current events.

Biography

His father was Johann Baptist Hoechle (1754-1832), an artist from Switzerland who later became

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

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

. When he was still a child, he was apprenticed to the engraver and etcher,

Ferdinand Kobell Ferdinand Kobell (7 June 1740, Mannheim – 1 February 1799, Munich) was a German painter and copper engraver. Biography His family was originally from Hesse. His grandfather, Johann Heinrich Kobell, was a prosperous grocer who came to Mannheim ...

,Brief biography
@ German WikiSource. who died shortly after, in 1799. The following year, his father took him to Vienna. From 1804 to 1808, he was enrolled at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

, where he studied history painting with Heinrich Friedrich Füger and landscape painting with Michael Wutky. His later career as a battle painter probably came from the influence of the French marine and military artist, Ignace Duvivier (1758-1832), who Hoechle met while he was visiting Vienna. This may be what inspired Hoechle, in 1809, to make sketches of the ongoing

Battle of Aspern In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21–22 May 1809), Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon ...

from a hillside near Heiligenstadt. He was found and arrested by French soldiers, who thought he was a spy and were going to have him shot. Luckily, he spoke French and was able to convince the commanding officer that they were mistaken. In 1814, after further studies in military art, he made more sketches at the scenes of major events, on behalf of Austrian Emperor Francis I, and turned them into paintings at his studio. His most important work from this period, and his best-known overall, depicts the crossing of the

Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian (linguistics), Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its France–Germany border, border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the bor ...

, following Napoleon's defeat at the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

. In 1819, he accompanied the Emperor's entourage to Italy, followed in 1820 by attendance at major military maneuvers in Hungary. That same year, he did a portrait of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and, shortly after the composer's death in 1827, made a detailed sketch of his study (where he died) in the "Schwarzspanierhaus".Beethovens Sterbezimmer
@ the

Beethoven-Haus The Beethoven House (German: ''Beethoven-Haus'') in Bonn, Germany, is a memorial site, museum, and cultural institution serving various purposes. Founded in 1889 by the Beethoven-Haus association, it studies the life and work of composer Ludwig v ...

website. In 1833, he was chosen to succeed his father as court painter, but died only two years later.

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Hoechle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoechle, Johann Nepomuk 1790 births 1835 deaths Painters from Munich People from the Electorate of Bavaria Painters from the Austrian Empire 19th-century Austrian painters 19th-century Austrian lithographers Military art Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni