Gustav Bauernfeind (; 4 September 1848, in

Sulz am Neckar Sulz am Neckar is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Neckar, 22 km north of Rottweil, and 19 km southeast of Freudenstadt. Sulz am Neckar came in the possession of the Hohe ...

– 24 December 1904, in Jerusalem) 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 ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and architect of partly Jewish origin. He is considered to be one of the most notable Orientalist painters of Germany.

Education and early career

After completing his architectural studies at the Polytechnic Institute in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, he worked in the architectural firm of Professor Wilhelm Bäumer and later in that of Adolph Gnauth, where he also learned painting. In his earlier paintings, Bauernfeind focused on local views of Germany, as well as motifs from Italy.

Painting the Levant

During his journey to the Levant from 1880 to 1882, he became interested in the

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

and repeated his travels again and again. In 1896 he moved with his wife and son to Ottoman Palestine and subsequently settled in Jerusalem in 1898. He also lived and worked in Lebanon and Syria. His work is characterized primarily by architectural views of Jerusalem and the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. The oil paintings of Bauernfeind are mostly meticulously crafted, intricately composed and almost photographically accurate cityscapes and images of known edifices. In addition, he produced landscape scenes and watercolours.

Reception

During his lifetime he was the most popular Orientalist painter of Germany, but would fade into irrelevance after his death. However, since the early 1980s, Bauernfeind was gradually rediscovered, with his paintings appearing at auctions with high prices. Thus, his oil painting ''The Wailing Wall'' was sold at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in London for the equivalent of €326,000 in 1992. The same painting would reach at Sotheby's in London the equivalent of €4.5 million in a later auction in 2007. In 1997, another oil painting of Bauernfeind, ''The Port of Jaffa'', was sold at the Van Ham Kunstauktionen in Cologne for 1,510,000 DM, thus becoming the most expensive 19th-century painting ever sold in Germany.

Legacy

At his birthplace in Sulz am Neckar, the life and work of the painter is commemorated by the Gustav Bauernfeind Museum with a large permanent exhibition. Gustav Bauernfeind grave

Work

Gallery

File:MarktJaffaGustavBauernfeind1887.jpg, ''Market at

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

'', 1877. File:Bauernfeind, Gustav - At the Entrance to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem - 1886.png, ''At the Entrance to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem'', 1886. File:The Wailing Wall by Bauernfeind.jpeg, '' The Wailing Wall'', 1904. File:Canal Scene in Chioggia by Bauernfeind.jpeg, Canal Scene in Chioggia

Select list of paintings

* ''Castel Gandolfo am Albaner See,'' 1864 (Drawing) * ''Markt in Jaffa,'' 1877 (Oil painting) * ''Der Hafen von Jaffa'', 1888 (Oil painting) * ''Straßenszene in Damaskus,'' um 1887 (Oil painting, 51 × 68 cm) * ''Jaffa, Einziehung der türkischen Landwehr in Palästina,'' 1888 (Oil painting) * ''Die Klagemauer, Jerusalem,'' 1890 (Oil painting, 130 × 101 cm) * ''Straße in Jerusalem'' (Oil painting, 109 × 82 cm) * ''Ansicht der deutschen Kolonie in Haifa,'' 1898 (Oil painting) * ''Jerusalem, Blick von unten auf den Felsendom'' (Oil painting, 109 × 82 cm) * ''Eingang zum Tempelberg, Jerusalem'' (Oil painting, 102 × 70 cm)

Books

* ''Die Reise nach Damaskus. 1888/89. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen des Orientmalers,'' herausgegeben von Hugo Schmid unter Mitarbeit von Otto Höschle, Tübingen und Basel 1996 ()

Bibliography

* Hugo Schmid: ''Der Maler Gustav Bauernfeind (1848–1904) und der Orient.'' Mit einer Einführung von Petra S. Versteegh-Kühner. Hauswedell, Stuttgart 2004, 208 (XX) S., * Hugo Schmid: ''Der Maler Gustav Bauernfeind. 1848–1904.'' H. Schmid, Sulz 1980, 149 S. *

Alex Carmel Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peo ...

, Hugo Schmid (Bearb.), Gustav Bauernfeind (Ill.): ''Der Orientmaler Gustav Bauernfeind. 1848–1904. Leben und Werk''/''The life and work of Gustav Bauernfeind, orientalist painter.'' Herausgegeben in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Gottlieb-Schumacher-Institut zur Erforschung des Christlichen Beitrages zum Wiederaufbau Palästinas im 19. Jahrhundert an der Universität Haifa, Israel. Hauswedell, Stuttgart 1990, 360 (XII) S., * Petra S. Kühner: ''Gustav Bauernfeind. Gemälde und Aquarelle.'' Monographien zur bildenden Kunst, Band 5. (Dissertationsschrift.) Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, New York, Paris und Wien 1996, 315 (X) S., * Hugo Schmid, Otto Höschle (Bearb.), Gustav Bauernfeind (Autor): ''Die Reise nach Damaskus 1888/1889. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen des Orientmalers''. Francke, Tübingen 1996, 135 Seiten. . * Hugo Schmid: ''Der Orientmaler Gustav Bauernfeind in Italien''. Geiger, Horb 2008, 128 Seiten. .

References

;Attribution * ''This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the German Wikipedia.''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bauernfeind, Gustav 1848 births 1904 deaths People from Sulz am Neckar People from the Kingdom of Württemberg German people of Jewish descent 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters German orientalists Holy Land travellers Orientalism Orientalist painters German male non-fiction writers