Wilhelm Heinrich Franz Ludwig Langschmidt, or ''Willem Langschmidt'', (10 January 1805

Grabow Grabow () is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde, 7 km (4.35 mi) southeast of Ludwigslust, and 34 km (21.12 mi) northwest of Wittenberge. It ...

, Gustrow - 5 October 1866 Caledon) was a German-born South African painter and drawing master of 59 Long Street,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

. He was the seventh child in a family of 4 sons and 3 daughters raised by August Wilhelm Langschmidt (*8 June 1754), a wealthy merchant of Grabow, and his wife Dorothea Elisabeth Höpcker (*6 September 1774). Wilhelm was expected to take up the profession of merchant, but showed little interest in such a career, and instead had a great passion for painting. In 1826 he turned to the Mecklenburg Grand Duke Friedrich Franz for support, but was rejected. For a while he studied in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

under Prof. Kretsch, and decided to emigrate to South Africa, but not before marrying Dorothea Ahrens from

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal re ...

, 18 years his junior. The couple landed in Cape Town on 2 March 1840, where Langschmidt lived and worked until 1851. He was active as a miniaturist, and portrait and landscape painter, working mainly in oils, pastels and chalks. He also ran drawing classes and was a competent

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 ...

. A supporter of the Anti-Convict movement, he destroyed a portrait he had painted of the Governor,

Sir Harry Smith Lieutenant-General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet, GCB (28 June 1787 – 12 October 1860) was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, he is a ...

, at an anti-convict meeting. Returning to his merchant roots in 1856, Langschmidt bought the farm "''Grietjiesgat''" and started a trading store, around which in due course the town of

Grabouw Grabouw is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 highway.The town is the commercial centre for the vast Elg ...

grew, named for his German hometown. Langschmidt is assumed to have eventually retired to his farm "''Gustrow''", also near

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Chatham-Kent, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. He had at least 18 children, some sources citing 23, including 3 sets of twins. Langschmidt's great, great grandson is the Cape Town artist and whale conservationist, Noel Ashton. File:Long Street by W H F L Langschmidt.jpg,

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Langschmidt, W. H. F. L. South African painters South African male painters Artists from Cape Town German emigrants to South Africa 1805 births 1866 deaths Elgin, Western Cape