Georg Friedrich Kersting (31 October 1785 – 1 July 1847) was a German

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, best known for his Biedermeier-style interior paintings and his association with fellow artist

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...

Biography

Kersting came from a large and impoverished family in

Güstrow Güstrow (; la, Gustrovium) is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is capital of the Rostock district; Rostock itself is a district-free city and regiopolis. It has a population of 28,999 (2020) and is the seventh largest town in Me ...

Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...

, the son of a

glazier A glazier is a tradesman responsible for cutting, installing, and removing glass (and materials used as substitutes for glass, such as some plastics).Elizabeth H. Oakes, ''Ferguson Career Resource Guide to Apprenticeship Programs'' ( Infobase: ...

. He studied at the progressive Copenhagen Academy between 1805 and 1808, where he adapted the visual clarity of the contemporary Danish schoolLife of Georg Friedrich Kersting
. Lib-Art. Retrieved on 24 March 2008. and was awarded a silver medal in draughtsmanship. Kersting moved to Dresden in 1808, joining the

Lützow Free Corps Lützow Free Corps ( ) was a volunteer force of the Prussian army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was named after its commander, Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow. The Corpsmen were also widely known as the “''Lützower Jäger''“ or “''Schwarz ...

—a voluntary force of the

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

—in 1813. He moved to Poland in 1814 to work as a drawing master, and returned to

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...

in 1818, where he married and had four children. That year he became the chief artist at

Meissen porcelain Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger continued von Tschirnhaus's work and ...

manufacture and remained there until life's end.

Art and associates

Georg Friedrich Kersting - Auf Vorposten - Google Art Project

Kersting was a friend of

, the leading German Romantic painter; his style was influenced by Friedrich, and he shared that artist's romantic attitude, although in a more subjective manner. The two friends went on a walking tour of the

Riesengebirge The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše or Karkonosze (Czech: , Polish: , german: Riesengebirge) are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Massif ...

in 1810. During his many hikes with Friedrich, the two painted numerous sketches and observations from nature.Georg Friedrich Kersting (1785 - 1847)
". Kunstareal Gallery, Munich. Retrieved on 24 March 2008. He may have painted the

staffage In painting, staffage () are the human and animal figures depicted in a scene, especially a landscape, that are not the primary subject matter of the work. Typically they are small, and there to add an indication of scale and add interest. Before ...

in some of Friedrich's early work—such as '' Morning in the Riesengebirge'' (1810–11), a result of their walking tour. He was also a friend of the painter

Louise Seidler Louise Seidler (15 May 1786, Jena - 7 October 1866, Weimar) was a German painter at the court of the grand dukes of Weimar, custodian of their art collection and a trusted friend of the poet Goethe and the painter Georg Friedrich Kersting. Life ...

, who described him as "an altogether splendid and comical fellow"Vaughan, 123–27. and often served as his model. In 1813 Seidler helped Kersting send a number of his works to

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

. Goethe was impressed and recommended that the Grand Duke

Charles Augustus Karl August, sometimes anglicised as Charles Augustus (3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828), was the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Weimar and of Saxe-Eisenach (in personal union) from 1758, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach from its creation (as a political uni ...

purchase his work ''The Embroiderer''. Kersting's most lasting works are his figures in interiors that borrow from seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting. These paintings nevertheless feel contemporary due to the situations depicted and the effect of the artist's personality. The characters are often viewed from the back, as in Friedrich's work, and the scenes provide hints of narrative as the figures engage privately in everyday activities. A number of his works refer to his time in the volunteer corps, the "Lützow rangers". He drew a full-length self-portrait in 1813, in which he wore the rangers' uniform. The painting ''On Sentry Duty'' (1815) depicts three rangers, including the artist

Ferdinand Hartmann Christian Ferdinand Hartmann (14 July 1774, Stuttgart – 6 January or June 1842, Dresden) was a German portrait and Classical history painter. Biography He was the youngest son of the Ducal finance councilor, and his wife Juliane Friederik ...

and the writer Theodor Körner, who fought with Kersting and died in wars against the French.

Selected paintings

File:Kersting Embroidery woman.jpg, ''Embroidery woman'' (1817) File:Georg Friedrich Kersting - Outpost Duty - Google Art Project.jpg, ''On Sentry Duty'' (1815) File:Kersting - Paar am Fenster.jpg, ''Couple at the Window'' File:Georg Friedrich Kersting - At the Mirror - WGA12123.jpg, ''At the Mirror'' File:Kersting - Lesender Mann beim Lampenlicht.jpg, ''Man Reading by Lamplight'' File:Kersting - Die Kranzwinderin.jpg, ''The Wreath Winder'' Georg Friedrich Kersting 002.jpg, '' Caspar David Friedrich in his Studio'' (1819)

Citations

Sources

* Muecke, Mikesch W. "Essays on Architecture and Other Topics". Lulu.com. 1 September 2006. *Vaughan, William. ''German Romantic Painting''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1980.

External links

Images
from the Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur (in German).
''German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Georg Friedrich Kersting (no. 37) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kersting, Georg Friedrich 1785 births 1847 deaths Freikorps personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Prussian Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 19th-century German painters 19th-century male artists German male painters People from the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni