Friedrich Carl Gröger (14 October 1766 in

Plön Plön (; Holsatian: ''Plöön'') is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 8,700 inhabitants. It lies right on the shores of Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Great Plön Lake, as well as on ...

– 9 November 1838 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) was a north-German portrait painter and lithographer. One of the most respected portraitists of his time in northern Germany, his works are to be found in several museums, including the

Hamburger Kunsthalle The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...

, as well as in north German, Holstein and Danish private collections.

Life

Gröger was the son of a tailor in

, where he grew up in modest circumstances. His parents wanted him to become a tailor or wood turner and opposed his early artistic activities. He was largely self-taught in painting, though he had some contact in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

with Tischbein and in 1785 was in the city of

, where he met

Heinrich Jacob Aldenrath Heinrich Jakob Aldenrath (17 February 1775, Lübeck – 25 February 1844, Hamburg) was a portrait painter, miniaturist, and lithographer. Life Aldenrath was a pupil of Johann Jakob Tischbein and of Friedrich Carl Gröger, with whom he develo ...

, his first, most loyal and lifelong friend - the Grögersweg in Hamburg-Barmbek named after him links the Tischbeinstraße with the Aldenrathsweg. From 1789 he studied at Berlin's

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...

. He and Aldenrath then went together to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, then on a joint study trip to

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 ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, then back to Lübeck, where he worked until 1807. They then alternated between Hamburg,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

and Lübeck, before finally settling in Hamburg in 1814. In 1792 Gröger was made an honorary member of the

Gesellschaft zur Beförderung gemeinnütziger Tätigkeit The ("Society for the Furtherance of Charitable Activities") is Lübeck's oldest charitable organization. History It was the preacher at St. Peter's Church, Lübeck (and later lawyer) Ludwig Suhl (1752–1819) and his friends Christian Adolph ...

in Lübeck. Gröger developed from a

miniature painter 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 ...

into a portrait painter, who towards the end of his life preferred three quarter bust portraits. Aldenrath took over the miniature painting side of their joint business. After

lithography 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 ...

developed in northern Germany, they both worked in this medium individually as well as jointly under the business name Firma Gröger & Aldenrath.

Gallery

File:Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus.jpg, Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus File:Salomon Heine, Bankier.jpg,

Salomon Heine Salomon Heine (19 October 1767 – 23 December 1844) was a merchant and banker in Hamburg. Heine was born in Hanover. Penniless, he came to Hamburg in 1784 and in the following years acquired sizeable assets. It was common knowledge at the t ...

File:Linagroeger retouched.jpg, Lina Gröger, the artist's foster daughter, 1802 File:Elisabeth Seyler and her husband Gerhard von Hosstrup painted ca. 1815 by Friedrich Carl Gröger.jpg,

Gerhard von Hosstrup Gerhard Carsten Jakob von Hosstrup (or Hoßtrup) (born 23 April 1771 in Hamburg, died 7 September 1851) was a Hamburg businessman and the founder of the Hamburg Stock Exchange building (Hamburger Börsenhalle). He became ''Oberalter'' in 1843. ...

and his wife Elisabeth née Seyler, painted ca. 1815

External links

1766 births 1838 deaths German lithographers 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German portrait painters People from Plön (district) Portrait miniaturists {{Germany-painter-stub

Life

Gallery

See also

External links