Georg David Matthieu (20 November 1737,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

- 3 November 1778,

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 ...

) was a German engraver and portrait painter in the

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style who worked as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

for the

Duke of Mecklenburg This list of dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg dates from the origins of the German princely state of Mecklenburg's royal house in the High Middle Ages to the monarchy's abolition at the end of World War I. Strictly speaking, Mecklenburg's p ...

Life

He grew up in a family of artists. His father, , was a court painter in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. Through his stepmother Anna Rosina (his father's third wife), he was related to Georg Lisiewski (her father), who also worked at the Prussian court, and her siblings,

Anna Dorothea Therbusch Anna Dorothea Therbusch (born Anna Dorothea Lisiewski, pl, Anna Dorota Lisiewska, 23 July 1721 – 9 November 1782) was a prominent Rococo painter born in the Kingdom of Prussia. About 200 of her works survive, and she painted at least e ...

and Christoph Lisiewski. Her children, Leopold (1750-1778) and Rosina (1748-1795) also became painters. He was a close friend of

Jakob Philipp Hackert Jacob Philipp Hackert (15 September 1737 – 28 April 1807) was a landscape painter from Brandenburg, who did most of his work in Italy. Biography Hackert was born in 1737 in Prenzlau in the Margraviate of Brandenburg (now in Germany). He t ...

and probably accompanied him on study trips to Italy. From 1762 to 1764, he was a guest in the home of Adolf Friedrich von Olthof, the Swedish Governor in

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

, which was part of

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held ...

at that time. In return, he produced many portraits of the Von Olthofs and other Swedish nobility. It was there that he was commissioned to do a portrait of Queen Sophie Charlotte (who had just married King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

) for display at

Gripsholm Castle Gripsholm Castle ( sv, Gripsholms slott) is a castle in Mariefred, Södermanland, Sweden. It is located by lake Mälaren in south central Sweden, in the municipality of Strängnäs, about 60 km west of Stockholm. Since Gustav Vasa, Gripsho ...

. In 1764, as a result of that portrait, he became the court painter for the

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German Conf ...

and was given an apartment in

Ludwigslust Palace Ludwigslust Palace (german: Schloss Ludwigslust) is a stately home or '' schloss'' in the town of Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. It was built as a hunting lodge, rebuilt as a luxurious retreat from the ducal capital, Schwer ...

. For the remainder of his life, he was on call and kept busy, painting portraits of the ducal family and their relatives. He also gave lessons to , who would later become the court painter at Ludwigslust, but the relationship was apparently not a harmonious one, as Seehas left to study in Dresden instead. Matthieu's step-uncle, Christoph Lisiewski, succeeded him as court painter. Matthieu's paintings may now be seen in all of the ducal residences, although some have also been acquired by the

Staatliches Museum Schwerin The Staatliches Museum Schwerin (State Museum Schwerin) is an art gallery and museum in Schwerin in Germany. It was established by Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1882 its historicist Haupthaus as the ''Staatsgalerie'' ...

and the

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin The Gemäldegalerie (, ''Painting Gallery'') is an art museum in Berlin, Germany, and the museum where the main selection of paintings belonging to the Berlin State Museums (''Staatliche Museen zu Berlin'') is displayed. It was first opened in ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthieu, Georg David 1737 births 1778 deaths 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters German portrait painters 18th-century engravers German engravers Artists from Berlin

Life

References

Further reading

External links