Kraus Georg Melchior Selbstbildnisr@20150929 01

Georg Melchior Kraus (26 July 1737, in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

– 5 November 1806, in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

) was a German painter. He was a co-founder of the

Weimar Princely Free Drawing School The Weimar Princely Free Drawing School (german: Fürstliche freie Zeichenschule Weimar) was an art and literature educational establishment. It was set up in 1776 in Weimar by the scholar and ducal private-secretary Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747� ...

, together with

Friedrich Justin Bertuch Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (30 September 1747 – 3 April 1822) was a German publisher and patron of the arts. He co-founded the Weimar Princely Free Drawing School with the painter Georg Melchior Kraus in 1776. He was the father of the wri ...

, in 1776.

Life

He was the sixth of nine children, five of whom died while infants. His parents, Cornelia and Johann, operated an inn called "Zur weissen Schlangen" (At the White Snakes) in Frankfurt. Cornelia died when he was eight, and Johann remarried that same year. From 1759 to 1762, he worked with Johann Heinrich Tischbein at his studio in Kassel, which was attached to the court of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. In 1762, he travelled to Paris to study with the engraver,

Johann Georg Wille Johann Georg Wille, or Jean Georges Wille (5 November 1715, near Biebertal - 5 April 1808, Paris) was a German-born copper engraver, who spent most of his life in France. He also worked as an art dealer. Life and work He was the eldest of seven ...

. While there, he also befriended the

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

painter,

Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Biography Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed h ...

. After returning to Frankfurt, in 1766, he worked as a private drawing teacher. His notable students included

Sophie von La Roche Marie Sophie von La Roche (née Gutermann von Gutershofen; 6 December 1730 – 18 February 1807) was a German novelist. She is considered the first financially independent female professional writer in Germany. Biography Sophie von La Roche was ...

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (; 25 January 1743 – 10 March 1819) was an influential German philosopher, literary figure, and socialite. He is notable for popularizing nihilism, a term coined by Obereit in 1787, and promoting it as the prime faul ...

and

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 t ...

. In 1767, he gathered signatures on a petition to establish an art academy there, but was not successful. Over the next few years, he was an itinerant painter, but maintained his home base in Frankfurt. It was in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

in 1773 that he met Christoph Martin Wieland and

, who introduced him at the court in Weimar. As it turned out, Bertuch was the confidential secretary to Duke Karl August. In 1774, he and Bertuch proposed to create a drawing school. The following year, after contacting Goethe to tell him about the situation in Weimar, he settled there permanently. In 1776, when Karl August took over the government, his first two acts were inviting Goethe to come there, and establishing what would become known as the "Princely Free Drawing School". Kraus was appointed the first Director and held that position until his death. In 1786, he and Bertuch began publishing the ''

Journal des Luxus und der Moden ''Journal des Luxus und der Moden'', was a German fashion magazine, published between 1786 and 1827. It is recognized to be one of the first fashion magazines in the world.Koning, Georgette, and Els Verhaak. New for Now: the Origin of Fashion Ma ...

'', generally considered to be one of the world's first fashion magazines. Kraus provided the

copper engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

s, taken from drawings produced at the school. It was published until 1827. After 1790, they also created picture books for children. In 1806, following the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt, victorious French troops overran and plundered Weimar. Kraus' home was raided and he was seriously injured. Bertuch rescued him and cared for him, but he died just over two weeks later. He was interred at the

Jacobsfriedhof The Jacobsfriedhof, also known as the Jakobskirchhof ("St. James's Burial Ground" or "Churchyard"), is the oldest extant burial ground in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany, on land round the Jakobskirche (St. James's Church). The first burials took pl ...

Gallery

PulverturmUnddasJohannistorInJenaVonGeorgMelchiorKraus.jpg, The Powder House and
Johannistor in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

G M Kraus Klusfelsen.jpg, The , near

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...

HerzoginAnnaAmaliagemaltvonGeorgMelchiorKraus1775.jpg,

Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (24 October 173910 April 1807), was a German princess and composer. She became the duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, by marriage, and was also regent of the states of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach from 1758 to ...

GoetheGemaltvonGeorgMelchiorKraus1776.jpg,

DerHuebichensteinImHarzGezeichnetvonGeorgMelchiorKraus.jpg, The Hübichenstein, in

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

HerzoginLuisevonHessen-DarmstadtGeorgMelchiorKraus.jpg, Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt DieBelagerungVonMainz1792S132.jpg,

Siege of Mainz (1793) In the siege of Mainz (german: Belagerung von Mainz), from 14 April to 23 July 1793, a coalition of Prussia, Austria, and other German states led by the Holy Roman Empire besieged and captured Mainz from revolutionary French forces. The allie ...

DasNeuestevonPlundersweilernGemaltGeorgMelchiorKraus.jpg,

Literary work

* Georg Melchior Kraus: ABC des Zeichners, von G. M. Kraus, Herzogl. S. W. Rath und Director der herzogl. Freien Zeichenschule in Weimar, 5. Aufl. Weimar 1810.

Bibliography

* Birgit Knorr: ''Georg Melchior Kraus (1737 - 1806) : Maler - Pädagoge - Unternehmer ; Biographie und Werkverzeichnis'' (Dissertation)
Download als PDF
* Hans Wahl, Anton Kippenberg: ''Goethe und seine Welt'', Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1932 S.45, 56, 58f, 79f, 87, 95, 131, 139 * Gisold Lammel: ''Georg Melchior Kraus – Bildchronist im Weimar der Aufklärung und Klassik'', in: Derselbe, Tagträume. Bilder im Lichte der Aufklärung, Amsterdam 1993, S. 185 193. * Christine u. Markus Meissner: ''In der Freiheit der Berge - Auf Goethes Spuren im Harz'', Weimar 1989. * Eberhard Freiherr Schenk zu Schweinsberg: ''Verzeichnis der Radierungen von Georg Melchior Kraus'', in: Jahrbuch der Sammlung Kippenberg, Bd. 7, (1927/28), Leipzig 1928, S. 277–302. (Ergänzungen in Jahrbuch d. Slg. Kippenberg, Bd. 10, S. 316–318). * Eberhard Freiherr Schenk zu Schweinsberg: ''Georg Melchior Kraus'', Weimar 1930 (= Schriften der

Goethe-Gesellschaft The (Goethe Society), not to be confused with the Goethe-Institut, is a literary and scientific organisation to explore the literary work of the German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was founded in Weimar, where he lived, in 1885 ...

, 43. Band). * Konrad Paul: ''Die ersten hundert Jahre 1774-1873. Zur Geschichte der Weimarer Mal- und Zeichenschule'', Weimar 1996. * Fritz Kühnlenz: ''Der Maler – Georg Melchior Kraus'', in: Derselbe, Weimarer Porträts. Männer und Frauen um Goethe und Schiller, Rudolstadt 1961, S. 347–360. * Ernst Beutler: Georg Melchior Kraus, in: Derselbe, Essays um Goethe, Bremen 1957, S. 417–443.

External links

Kalenderblatt des BR über Georg Melchior Kraus

Geschichte der Mal- und Zeichenschule in Weimar

Verlegerische Zusammenarbeit mit Johann Friedrich Justin Bertuch
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraus, Georg Melchior 1737 births 1806 deaths 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists