![Grahl-hca-1846](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Grahl-hca-1846.jpg)
August Grahl (26 May 1791,
Göhren-Lebbin - 13 June 1868,
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
) was a German portrait painter and
miniaturist
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...
.
Life
He was the son of the Court Jeweler to the
Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...
s. From 1811 to 1813, he studied at the
Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...
. He quit school to join the
Black Hussars
The Brunswick Ducal Field-Corps (german: Herzoglich Braunschweigisches Feldcorps), commonly known as the Black Brunswickers in English and the ''Schwarze Schar'' (Black Troop, Black Horde, or Black Host) or ''Schwarze Legion'' (Black Legion) in G ...
of
Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow
Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm Freiherr von Lützow (18 May 17826 December 1834) was a Prussian general notable for his organization and command of the '' Lützow Freikorps'' of volunteers during the Napoleonic Wars.
Early life
Lützow was born in Berlin ...
and fight in the
War of Liberation
Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...
. He retired with a commission.
[Biography](_blank)
@ Grahl Family Website, translated from "A German Lexicon of Artists".
His first success came in 1816, with a portrait of King
Friedrich Wilhelm III
Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...
. In 1817/18, he took a trip to Italy, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice and Bologna. Following his wife's death in 1821, after only two years of marriage, he began travelling more extensively, ending in Rome where he lived until 1830 at the
Palazzo Caffarelli.
It was there that he met his second wife, the daughter of a wealthy banker from
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
. He spent 1831 in England, where he painted a portrait of
Queen Adelaide
, house = Saxe-Meiningen
, father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
, mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy Rom ...
that was later made into an engraving by
Samuel William Reynolds
Samuel William Reynolds (4 July 1773 – 13 August 1835) was a mezzotint Engraving, engraver, Landscape painting, landscape painter and landscape gardener. Reynolds was a popular engraver in both Britain and France and there are over 400 examp ...
.
In 1832, he returned to Germany to get married and moved to Dresden in 1835, remaining there except for a brief period from 1853 to 1855, when he returned to Rome to attend to his son-in-law, the painter
Alfred Rethel
Alfred Rethel (May 15, 1816December 1, 1859) was a German history painter.
Early life and education
Rethel was born in Aachen in 1816. He showed an interest in art in his early life, and at the age of thirteen he executed a drawing which procure ...
, who was suffering from a severe episode of depression.
He is probably best known for his portrait of
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
, which is on display at the
Andersen Museum in
Odense
Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...
. Another familiar work is his portrait of Gabriele von Bülow,
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after ...
's daughter. He was also a significant art collector, possessing a large selection of Italian paintings and lithographs. Virtually all of his miniatures are still privately owned.
His granddaughter was artist,
Else Sohn-Rethel
Elisabeth "Else" Johanna Martha Maria Sohn-Rethel (14 March 1853 – 22 January 1933) was a German painter and singer, active in the mid and late 19th-century.
Biography
Elisabeth Johanna Martha Maria Rethel was born 14 March 1853 in Rome, I ...
.
References
Further reading
* "August Grahl" In:
Thieme-Becker
Thieme-Becker is a German biographical dictionary of artists.
Thieme-Becker
The dictionary was begun under the editorship of Ulrich Thieme (1865–1922) (volumes one to fifteen) and Felix Becker (1864–1928) (volumes one to four). It was complet ...
, ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart''. Vol.14, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1921, pgs.493–494
* Georg Poensgen: ''Die Bedeutung des Miniaturmalers August Grahl (1791–1868)''; in: ''Pantheon'', Nr.3, May/June 1966
External links
ArtNet: More paintings by Grahl including his portrait of
Vittoria Caldoni
Vittoria Candida Rosa Caldoni (6 March 1805 in Albano Laziale – 1872?/1890? in Russia) was an Italian artists' model. She was the most popular model among the German artists residing in Rome in the early nineteenth-century; especially thos ...
.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grahl, August
1791 births
1868 deaths
19th-century German painters
19th-century German male artists
German male painters
Portrait painters
People from Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (district)
Berlin University of the Arts alumni