Oskar Begas (31 July 1828 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 ...

– 10 November 1883 in Berlin) was a German portrait and history painter.

Life and career

He took his first lessons from his father, the well-known painter

Carl Joseph Begas Carl Joseph Begas, or Karl Begas, (30 September 1794, Heinsberg – 24 November 1854, Berlin) was a German painter who played an important role in the transition from Romanticism to Realism (arts), Realism. He was the first in a multi-generation ...

, and began by doing portraits of his family. He was soon collaborating on works with his father and, at the age of thirteen, received his first commission. Later, at the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

, he specialized in history painting. From 1849 to 1850, he studied at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German language, German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institutio ...

under

Eduard Bendemann Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann (3 December 1811, in Berlin – 27 December 1889, in Düsseldorf) was a German-Jewish painter. Biography Bendemann was born in Berlin. His father, Anton Heinrich Bendemann, was a Jewish banker. His mother, Fan ...

. He lived in Italy on a scholarship for two years, from 1852 to 1854. He returned to Berlin after his father's death, completing an unfinished series of portraits depicting Knights who had received the

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

. Afterwards, he received many of his own commissions from King

Friedrich Wilhelm IV Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the " romanticist on the ...

, producing portraits of

Heinrich Friedrich Link Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (2 February 1767 – 1 January 1851) was a German naturalist and botanist. Biography Link was born at Hildesheim as a son of the minister August Heinrich Link (1738–1783), who taught him love of nature through ...

August Böckh August Böckh or Boeckh (; ; 24 November 1785 – 3 August 1867) was a German classical scholar and antiquarian. Life He was born in Karlsruhe, and educated at the local gymnasium; in 1803 he left for the University of Halle, where he studied t ...

Johannes von Müller Johannes von Müller (3 January 1752 – 29 May 1809) was a Swiss historian. Biography He was born in Schaffhausen, where his father was a clergyman and rector of the gymnasium. In his youth, his maternal grandfather, Johannes Schoop (1696–1 ...

and

Johann Lukas Schönlein Johann Lukas Schönlein (30 November 1793 – 23 January 1864) was a German naturalist, and professor of medicine, born in Bamberg. He studied medicine at Landshut, Jena, Göttingen, and Würzburg. After teaching at Würzburg and Zurich, he was ...

, among others. In 1866, he was named a Professor at the Academy, remaining in demand and exhibiting widely. Toward the end of his life, he concentrated on landscapes. Since his death, his style has come to be considered rather formulaic. He also did some decorative work, including

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', 'little moon') is a crescent- or half-moon–shaped or semi-circular architectural space or feature, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be ...

s in the

Rotes Rathaus The Red Town Hall ( ) is the town hall of Berlin, Germany, located in the Mitte (locality), Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the Governing Mayor of Berlin, governing mayor and the government (the Senate of B ...

and small murals in the ballroom of the Kaisergallerie (a sort of early shopping mall) on

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the Tilia, linden trees (known ...

. Little of these remains, however. A detailed diary he kept from 1843 to 1848 has been of great use to cultural historians. The three-volume manuscript is in the collection of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin. His brother

Adalbert Adalbert is a German given name which means "noble bright" or "noble shining", derived from the words ''adal'' (meaning noble) and ''berht'' (shining or bright). Alternative spellings include Adelbart, Adelbert and Adalberto. Derivative names incl ...

was also a painter. His brothers

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...

and

Reinhold Reinhold is a German language, German, male given name, originally composed of two elements. The first is from ''regin'', meaning "the (German)Gods" or as an emphatic prefix (very) and ''wald'' meaning "powerful". The second element having been re ...

were both sculptors.

Gallery

File:Oskar Begas Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm von Preußen 1867.jpg, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, 1867 File:Oscar Begas Daughters 1887.jpg, The artist's daughters, 1877 File:Oskar Begas Portrait Elisabeth Heegewaldt 1883.jpg, Portrait Elisabeth Heegewaldt, 1883 File:Oskar Begas Portrait Wilhelmine Begas 1842.jpg, Wilhelmine Begas, 1842 File:Oscar Begas - Bildnis Adolph Menzel, um 1875 (WV 218 B).jpg, Portrait of the painter

Adolph von Menzel Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (8 December 18159 February 1905) was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of t ...

, 1875 File:Oskar Begas Portrait Marie Begas 1883.jpg, Marie Begas, 1883

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begas, Oscar 1828 births 1883 deaths German portrait painters Painters from the Kingdom of Prussia Prussian Academy of Arts alumni 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters German people of Belgian descent

Life and career

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links