Christian Griepenkerl (17 March 1839 – 22 March 1916) was a German painter and professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...

Biography

Griepenkerl was born to one of

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

's leading families. As a young man, he heeded the advice of his fellow countryman, the landscapist Ernst Willers, and went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in late 1855 in order to enroll at the private art school for monumental paintings founded four years earlier by

Carl Rahl Carl Rahl, sometimes spelled Karl Rahl (13 August 1812 – 9 July 1865), was an Austrian painter. Life Rahl was born in Vienna to Carl Heinrich Rahl (1779–1843), an engraver. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and won a prize at ...

. Rahl allowed several of his students to participate in drafting and carrying out his paintings and thereby shaped their individual artistic development. Griepenkerl's first painting – ''

Œdipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, wikt:Οἰδίπους, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up kill ...

, Led by

Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & R ...

'' – received Rahl's approval, and he was thereafter involved with Rahl and other students in painting frescos in the grand staircase of the Museum of Weapons (today's

Heeresgeschichtliches Museum The Museum of Military History – Military History Institute (german: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum – Militärhistorisches Institut) in Vienna is the leading museum of the Austrian Armed Forces. It documents the history of Austrian ...

), in the Palais Todesco, and in the city palace of

Simon Sinas Simon von Sina or Simon Sinas ( el, Σίμων Σίνας; 1810–1876) was a Greek-Austrian banker, aristocrat, benefactor and diplomat. He was one of the most important benefactors of the Greek nation together with Georgios Sinas. Biography Sim ...

. After Rahl's death in 1865, he individually continued and completed the master's unfinished commissions. Griepenkerl-Faistauer

In 1874, Griepenkerl was appointed a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where starting in 1877 he headed a special school for historical painting. His specialty was the allegorical representation using themes from classical mythology and portraiture. Griepenkerl thereby taught an entire generation of Viennese painters. Among his most famous students are

Carl Moll Carl Julius Rudolf Moll (23 April 1861 – 13 April 1945) was a prominent art nouveau painter active in Vienna at the start of the 20th century. He was one of the artists of the Vienna Secession who took inspiration from the pointillist techniqu ...

(1880–81),

Alfred Roller Alfred Roller (2 October 1864 – 21 June 1935) was an Austrian painter, graphic designer, and set designer. His wife was Mileva Roller and they were members of the Viennese Secession movement. Life and work Roller was born in Brünn (Br ...

Jacques Bunimowitsch Jacques Bunimowitsch (1859-ca. 1915?; Yiddish: יעקב בונעמאוויטש; romanized: Yakov Bunimovitsh; Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: Jokūbas Bunimovičius) was a Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian Jewish Portrait artists, portrait artist who f ...

Max Kurzweil Maximilian Franz Viktor Zdenko Marie Kurzweil (12 October 1867, Bisenz – 9 May 1916, Vienna) was an Austrian painter and printmaker. He moved near Vienna in 1879. Maximillian or Max Kurzweil studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna wit ...

Carl Otto Czeschka Carl Otto Czeschka (22 October 1878, Vienna – 30 July, 1960, Hamburg) was an Austrian painter and graphic designer associated with the Wiener Werkstätte. Life Carl Otto Czeschka was half Bohemian and half Moravian origin. His father Wen ...

(1894–99),

Richard Gerstl Richard Gerstl (14 September 1883 – 4 November 1908) was an Austrian painter and draughtsman known for his expressive psychologically insightful portraits, his lack of critical acclaim during his lifetime, and his affair with the wife of Ar ...

(1898–99), Egon Schiele (1906–08),

Anton Faistauer Anton Faistauer (14 February 1887, Sankt Martin bei Lofer – 13 February 1930, Vienna) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. Life He came from a family of farmers, grew up near Maishofen and originally wanted to be a priest. After a meeting ...

(1906–09),

Richard Geiger Richard Geiger (29 June 1870 – 9 February 1945) was an Austrian painter. Initially he worked for a Hungarian weekly magazine. By the 1920s, he worked illustrating books, bookplates and posters. His paintings included portraits, nudes, genre p ...

, and

Uroš Predić Uroš Predić ( sr-Cyrl, Урош Предић, ; Orlovat, 7 December 1857 – Belgrade, 12 February 1953) was a Serbian Realist painter. Predić is perhaps best known for his early works depicting ordinary people, as well as his many portrai ...

. His "antiquated views" led to repeated protests on the part of his students and later even to withdrawals, leading among other things to the founding of the

New Art Group New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. Griepenkerl also became famous posthumously for having rejected

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's application to train at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In 1907, when Hitler was provisionally admitted to prepare a sample drawing, Griepenkerl disapprovingly noted, "Sample drawing unsatisfactory. Too few heads." And in 1908, his verdict was even clearer: "Not admitted."Brigitte Hamann, ''Hitler's Vienna. A Dictator's Apprenticeship''. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Works

A larger collection are Rahl's compositions which Griepenkerl carried out with the help of

Eduard Bitterlich Eduard Bitterlich (17 August 1833, Stupnicka, or Dubliany, Galicia, now Ukraine - 20 May 1872, Pfalzau, now part of Pressbaum), was an Austrian artist. Life Bitterlich was born in Galicia where his father had established himself. While he was ...

in the new municipal opera house. They worked for four years on the ceiling of the auditorium and on the drop curtain of the tragical opera. It was only after the death of Rahl in 1865 that Griepenkerl took on his own monumental assignments. The

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Hansen employed him to decorate the

Palace Ephrussi ''Palais Ephrussi'' is a former ''Ringstraßenpalais'' in Vienna. It was built for the Ephrussi family of financiers by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, the architect of the Austrian Parliament Building. It is on the Ringstrasse, specifically t ...

and

Palace Epstein Palais Epstein is a in Vienna, Austria. It was built for the industrialist and banker Gustav Ritter von Epstein. The architect was Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, who also designed the adjacent Austrian Parliament Building. Unlike traditional B ...

, Franz Klein hired Griepenkerl for the castle of Hornstein and for the palace of Sina in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. There he made the ceiling fresco ''

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...

's Wedding Procession'', ''Demons of the Storm'', and ''Protective Ghosts of the Sea'', which are of noble form and very graceful, but have some insufficiencies concerning the clothing and the illumination. Of the same importance are the wall paintings in the mansion of the

grand duchess Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. In status, a grand duke traditionally ranks in order of precedence below an emperor, as an approxi ...

of Tuscany in Gmunden and his painting ''The Wedding of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

and

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

'' in the dining hall of the Mansion Simon near

Hietzing Hietzing () is the 13th municipal District of Vienna (german: 13. Bezirk, Hietzing). It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling. Hietzing is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also contains lar ...

. Griepenkerl also made the decorative oil paintings (finished in 1878) in the stairway hall of the Augusteum in

, on the ceiling depicting the

Venus Urania Aphrodite Urania ( grc, Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία, Aphrodítē Ouranía) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying "heavenly" or "spiritual", to distinguish her from her more earthly aspect of Aphrodite Pandemos, "Aphrodi ...

as the ideal of all beauty, surrounded by four themes from the myth of

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...

; and on three walls (similar to the hémicycle of

Paul Delaroche Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (17 July 1797 – 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subjects from English ...

) is depicted an ideal gathering of the all-time heroes of art in historical sequence. It was followed by a cycle of paintings – once again employing themes from the Prometheus myth – that are distinguished by a great concept of forms and a swinging composition, in the conference hall of the new

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Honours and awards

* 1878:

House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis The House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis (German: ''Haus und Verdienstorden von Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig'') or proper German Oldenburg House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis (German: ''Oldenburgische Haus- und Verdi ...

(Oldenburg) * 1887:

Order of the Iron Crown (Austria) The Imperial Order of the Iron Crown (german: Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone; it, Ordine imperiale della Corona ferrea) was one of the highest orders of merit in the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary until 1918. It was founded in 1815 b ...

* 1912: Honorary grave at

Vienna's Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , regi ...

(''Zentralfriedhof'') * 1924: the street Griepenkerlgasse in Hietzing district, Vienna was named after him

Literature

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 ...

Vol. 15, 1922, page 22. *

References

External links

Entry for Christian Griepenkerl
on the

Union List of Artist Names The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a free online database of the Getty Research Institute using a controlled vocabulary Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Cont ...