Leopold Karl Walter Graf von Kalckreuth (15 May 1855 – 1 December 1928) was a German painter, known for portraits and landscapes.

Biography

A direct descendant of field-marshal Friedrich Adolf Graf von Kalckreuth, Leopold was born at

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, received his first training at

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 ...

from his father, the landscape painter Count

Stanislaus von Kalckreuth Count Stanislaus Friedrich Ludwig von Kalckreuth (25 December 1820, Kozmin - 25 November 1894, Munich) was a German painter who specialized in mountain landscapes. Biography He was born into the Kalckreuth family of the Prussian nobility w ...

(1820–1894), and subsequently studied at the academies of Weimar and

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 ...

. Although he painted some portraits remarkable for their power of expression, he devoted himself principally to depicting with relentless realism the monotonous life of the fishing folk on the sea-coast, and of the peasants in the fields. His palette is joyless, and almost melancholy, and in his technique he is strongly influenced by the

impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

. He was one of the founders of the

secessionist movement Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the cr ...

. One of his students was Hellmut Eichrodt. From 1885 to 1890, Count von Kalckreuth was professor at the Weimar art school. In 1890, he resigned his professorship and retired to his estate of Hockricht in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

, where he occupied himself in painting subjects drawn from the life of the country-folk. In 1895, he became a professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe The State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe or is an academy of arts in Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg in south-western Germany. History The Academy was founded in 1854 by Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, with the landscape painter Johann ...

. The Munich

Pinakothek A pinacotheca (Latin borrowing from = + ) was a picture gallery in either ancient Greece or ancient Rome. The name is specifically used for the building containing pictures which formed the left wing of the Propylaea on the Acropolis at Athen ...

has his ''Rainbow'' and the

Dresden Gallery Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

his ''Old Age''. Among his chief works are the ''Funeral at Dachau'', ''Homewards'', ''Wedding Procession in the Carpathian Mountains'', ''The Gleaners'', ''Before the Fish Auction'', ''Summer'', and ''Going to School''. Leopold's sister

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

was also a painter. Leopold's sister Clara was a pianist who studied with

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

and with

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

. A love of art and music was passed through this family to Leopold’s great-nephew,

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the s ...

(1906–1945), the German theologian and martyr who gave his life in opposing

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

.''Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography'', Eberhard Bethge, Fortress Press, 2000, p. 3.

Selected paintings

File:Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth - Portrait of Maria Countess of Kalckreuth.jpg, Portrait of Maria (1888), Leopold's sister File:Laura Beit00.jpg, Laura Beit, mother of

Alfred Beit Alfred Beit (15 February 1853 – 16 July 1906) was an Anglo-German gold and diamond magnate in South Africa, and a major donor and profiteer of infrastructure development on the African continent. He also donated much money to university ed ...

Leopold von Kalckreuth - Feierabend der Hafenarbeiter (1894).jpg,

Longshoremen A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships. As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockworke ...

Quitting Work File:Leopold von Kalckreuth - Wolf, der Sohn des Künstlers (1900).jpg, The Artist's Son, File:Leopold von Kalckreuth - Erntezeit (1900).jpg, Harvest Time File:Franz Koenigs.jpg,

Franz Koenigs Franz Wilhelm Koenigs (3 September 1881 – 6 May 1941) was a German banker and art collector. Biography Koenigs was born on 3 September 1881 in , Prussia, Germany, to . Koenigs became director of banks Delbrück Schickler & Co in Berlin, De ...

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Kalckreuth.WikiGallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalckreuth, Leopold Von 1855 births 1928 deaths Counts in Germany

Leopold Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name), including a list of people named Leopold or Léopold * Leopold (surname) Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold B ...

Painters from Düsseldorf Artists from the Rhine Province German artists 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Academic staff of State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart

Biography

Selected paintings

Further reading

References

External links