Carl Timoleon von Neff, also Timofey Andreyevich Neff (russian: Тимофей Андреевич Нефф, – ) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Imperial artist of

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

descent.

Biography

Carl Timoleon von Neff was born at a manor house in Neu-Isenhof (Püssi),

Kreis Wierland Wierland County (german: Kreis Wierland, german: Wierlandische Kreis, et, Viru kreis, russian: Vezenbergsky uyezd, russian: Virlyandsky uyezd) was one of the four counties of the Russian Empire located in the Governorate of Estonia. It was situat ...

in the

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Governorate of Esthonia (Pre-reformed rus, Эстля́ндская губе́рнія, r=Estlyandskaya guberniya); et, Eestimaa kubermang was a governorate in the Baltic region, along with th ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

) in 1804. His mother was a French governess at the estate; he was an illegitimate child. He began studying art in Estonia under the tutelage of Karl von Kügelgen and continued at the Academy of Arts in

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 ...

, present-day Germany. He graduated from there in 1825. Following his graduation, he travelled and divided his time between his native Estonia,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, the Imperial capital. In St. Petersburg he received a commission to paint the daughters of the emperor Nicholas I. The portrait was apparently well received as he from this time onward became tied to the court, and made a career as an artist working for the higher echelons of society. He received prestigious commissions in both St. Petersburg and abroad. In recognition for his work, especially for contributing to the artistic embellishment of several churches, he was generously awarded with different forms of official recognition, such as

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

and titles. In addition, he became one of the emperor's closest advisers in questions related to art. In 1846, he was made an honorary member of the Academy of Florence and after finishing the decoration of parts of the

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis ( gr, εἰκονοστάσιον) is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand t ...

of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, was nominated to become a member of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts. Following his many successes he built an Italianate manor house to house his personal art collection in Muuga, Estonia.

Works

As a court artist, von Neff was appreciated as a portraitist and painter of typically academical subjects which were then popular, notably

odalisque An odalisque (, tr, odalık) was a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish seraglio, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan. In western usage, the term came to mean the harem concubine, and refers to the ...

-like nude bathers and nymphs. As mentioned, he contributed to the artistic decoration of

Saint Isaac's Cathedral Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is ...

, St. Petersburg,

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ( rus, Храм Христа́ Спаси́теля, r=Khram Khristá Spasítelya, p=xram xrʲɪˈsta spɐˈsʲitʲɪlʲə) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskv ...

, Moscow, and

Helsinki Cathedral Helsinki Cathedral ( fi, Helsingin tuomiokirkko, ; sv, Helsingfors domkyrka, ) is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the c ...

, in present-day

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, as well as churches outside the Russian empire - e.g. in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, France and

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, present-day Germany. Several of his works are displayed in the

Art Museum of Estonia The Art Museum of Estonia ( et, Eesti Kunstimuuseum) was established in 1919. Originally based in Kadriorg Palace, the museum has expanded across several sites and today exhibits both international and local art works. At the end of the 1970s, in t ...

today.

Gallery

File:Aleksandra Petrovna of Rzssu.jpg, Portrait of Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Russia File:Italian woman with children on the stairs.jpg, Young Mother File:Neff Kupalshchitsa.jpg, The Bather File:Neff Angel.jpg, The Angel File:Neff - Maria Magdalene.jpg,

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

File:Itaalia tänavalapsed.jpg, Italian street children File:Pauline Viardot by Timoleon von Neff.jpg,

Pauline Viardot Pauline Viardot (; 18 July 1821 – 18 May 1910) was a nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue and composer of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, her name appears in various forms. When it is not simply "Pauli ...

References

External links

*
Works by von Neff at the Art Museum of Estonia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neff, Carl Timoleon von 1804 births 1877 deaths People from Püssi People from Kreis Wierland Baltic-German people Estonian people of French descent 19th-century Estonian painters 19th-century Estonian male artists 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)

Biography

Works

Gallery

See also

References

External links