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Joseph Melling (27 December 1724,
He came from a long-established line of painters, etchers, architects and woodcarvers. His father came to Saint-Avold to participate in the rebuilding of a monastery and its church. He attended the
ArtNet: More works by Melling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, Joseph 1724 births 1796 deaths 18th-century French painters Religious painters French portrait painters French court painters People from Alsace People from Saint-Avold Prix de Rome for painting Fresco painters French emigrants to Germany
Joseph Melling (27 December 1724, Saint-Avold
Saint-Avold (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Sänt Avuur'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
It is situated east of Metz, France and southwest of Saarbrücken, Germany.
History
The Saint-Avold area ha ...
- 23 December 1796, Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
) was an Alsatian artist who served as 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 Margraviate of Baden
The Margraviate of Baden () was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the right banks of the Upper Rhine in south-western Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, when it was split into the tw ...
at Karlsruhe Palace
Karlsruhe Palace () was built in 1715 for Margrave Charles III William, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, Charles III William of Baden-Durlach after a dispute with the citizens of his previous capital, Durlach. The city of Karlsruhe has since grown arou ...
.
Biography
He came from a long-established line of painters, etchers, architects and woodcarvers. His father came to Saint-Avold to participate in the rebuilding of a monastery and its church. He attended the Lateinschule
The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Other terms used include Lateinschule in Germany, or later Gymnasium. Latin schools were also established in Coloni ...
in Saarlouis
Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...
and went to Paris to complete an apprenticeship in carpentry. After that, he studied with Carle van Loo
Carle or Carlé is a surname. Notable people with the name include:
*Andrea Cosima Carle, whose stage name is Maggie Mae (1960–2021), German singer
* Barbara Carle (born 1958), French-American poet, critic, translator and Italianist
* David Ca ...
and François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
. In 1750, he was awarded the Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
in painting for his version of Laban
Lakas ng Bayan ( or People Power), abbreviated as Laban, was an electoral alliance, later a political party, in the Philippines formed by Senator Ninoy Aquino for the 1978 Interim Batasang Pambansa regional elections. The party had 21 candidat ...
giving his daughter to Jacob
Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...
. It is not clear if he went to Rome, but it is probable that he did some church painting with his uncle Valentin Metzinger
Jean-Valentin Metzinger (19 April 1699, Saint-Avold – 12 March 1759, Ljubljana) was a French-born Austrian-Slovenian painter, in the Baroque style.
Life and work
His ancestors were originally from Italy. He was one of twelve children born t ...
in Laibach (Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
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, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
).
In 1758, he joined his brother, the sculptor Christoph Melling (1716-1778), as a court painter in Karlsruhe. The following year, he married Josepha Lengelacher, the daughter of his brother's supervisor, the sculptor Ignaz Lengelacher. In 1760, he completed a ceiling painting in the large marble hall of the Palace and, in 1764, decorated the altar at the Stadtkirche in Rastatt
Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...
. He also served as an advisor to Countess Karoline Luise, helping her to acquire an art collection that later became the basis of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an fine art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. Its collection consists of works by mainly German, French, Flemish and Dutch masters from the past eight centuries. The museum was conceived in the early ...
.
In later years, he travelled throughout the area. In 1769, he painted a ceiling fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
and altarpieces for the monastery church in Schuttern. The same year, he did decorations at the Capuchin monastery in Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
. The year 1770 found him in Hechingen
Hechingen (; Swabian: ''Hächenga'') is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border.
Geography
The town lies at the foot of th ...
, creating altarpieces for the Stiftskirche
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...
. Two years later, he was in Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...
doing a large mural for the Grand Ducal Palace.
For many years, he operated a drawing school in what was once the palace's menagerie
A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoo or zoological garden.
The term was first used in 17th-century France, referring to ...
. His daughter Marie Luise (1762–1799) was one of his first students. Later, she took the name "Maria Rosa" and entered Lichtenthal Abbey
Lichtenthal Abbey () is a Cistercian nunnery in Lichtenthal in the town of Baden-Baden, Germany.
History and buildings
The abbey was founded in 1245 by Irmengard bei Rhein, widow of Margrave Hermann V of Baden, whose body she had brought here ...
, where she helped him paint murals in the meeting hall.
In 1774, for financial reasons, he left Karlsruhe for Strasbourg, where he founded an art school; the "Academie de déssin d’après nature". He retained his contacts with the court, however and, after the death of Karoline Luise in 1783, created a catalog and directory of her collection.
In 1789, during the French Revolution, his school was superseded by a system of centrally-controlled state schools. Six years later, he was able to open a private school, supported by his son, the painter Joseph Ignaz Melling (1764–1817), who later operated his own art school in Rastatt.
References
Further reading
*Richard Melling: ''Der Karlsruher Hofmaler Joseph Melling (1724–1796) und seine Familie'', in: Badische Heimat, #30. 1950, Vol. 1/2External links
ArtNet: More works by Melling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, Joseph 1724 births 1796 deaths 18th-century French painters Religious painters French portrait painters French court painters People from Alsace People from Saint-Avold Prix de Rome for painting Fresco painters French emigrants to Germany