Hans Ritter von Petersen (24 February 1850,

Husum Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of ...

- 18 June 1914,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

) was a German

marine artist Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre part ...

. He also painted landscapes, but they received little notice.

Life and work

He received his artistic training in private art schools, and studied with the Danish marine artist,

Anton Melbye Daniel Herman Anton Melbye (13 February 1818, Copenhagen – 10 January 1875, Paris) was a Danish painter and photographer who specialized in maritime scenes. He was the brother of painters Vilhelm and Fritz Melbye. Biography His father was a ...

. This was followed by studies in London. Some sources indicate that he also briefly attended the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová, ...

. This was followed by sea voyages to North and South America, India, and West Africa;, to acquire direct knowledge of his chosen subject. In 1884, while in West Africa, he was employed as a sketch artist by the ''

Illustrirte Zeitung ''Illustrirte Zeitung'' was Germany's first illustrated magazine that existed between 1843 and 1944. It was also known as ''Leipziger illustrirte Zeitung''. The magazine described itself as the Germany's illustrated magazine with the internationa ...

''. In 1885, he was attracted to Munich by an opportunity to work on a

panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

of the German colonies, two of which,

Togoland Togoland was a German Empire protectorate in West Africa from 1884 to 1914, encompassing what is now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana, approximately 90,400 km2 (29,867 sq mi) in size. During the period kno ...

and

Kamerun Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. Kamerun also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern p ...

, may have been among the places he visited in Africa. His work on the panorama was done in collaboration with

Louis Braun Louis Braun (23 September 1836 – 18 February 1916) was a German painter, mostly of battle scenes. Biography He was born at Schwäbisch Hall, Württemberg, and was educated in Munich and in Paris. He followed as an illustrator the Austrian ...

, who specialized in battle scenes. Upon its completion, he chose to remain in Munich. Over the next few years, he was involved in creating eight more panoramas. In 1896, he was awarded a small gold medal at the

Große Berliner Kunstausstellung Große Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), abbreviated GroBeKa or GBK, was an annual art exhibition that existed from 1893 to 1969 with intermittent breaks. In 1917 and 1918, during World War I, it was not held in Berlin bu ...

. From 1897, he was a regular exhibitor at the Glaspalast. In 1901, he became manager of the exhibitions there, and was elected President of the (artists' co-operative). That same year, he married the widow, Clara Wuth (1852-1923). His paintings of naval ships and battles contributed to the enthusiasm for building a fleet, which was a major goal for Kaiser

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

. In 1902, he was elevated to the nobility by

Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria ''Leopold Charles Joseph William Louis'' , image_size = , image = Luitpold Wittelsbach cropped.jpg , succession = Prince Regent of Bavaria , reign = 10 June 1886 – 12 December 1912 , reign-type = Tenure , regent = Ludw ...

. Three years later, he built a villa in Emmering; designed by . Petersen-Dover

In his last years, he turned away from explicitly naval themes and focused on melancholy seascapes. Suffering from bouts of depression, and facing the possibility of going blind, he committed suicide by shooting himself, at his office in the Glaspalast.

Sources

* Angelika Mundorff and Eva von Seckendorff (Eds.): ''Hans von Petersen (1850–1914). Ein Marinemaler in Bayern'', Stadtmuseum Fürstenfeldbruck, Germering 2010, * Franz Schiermeier: ''Panorama München, Illusion und Wirklichkeit, München als Zentrum der Panoramenherstellung''. Franz Schiermeier Verlag, 2010, * Peter Bussler: ''Historisches Lexikon für Cuxhaven und Umgebung'', Verlag Heimatbund der Männer vom Morgenstern, Bremerhaven, 2004, * Emmanuel Bénézit: ''Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs dessinateurs et graveurs'', Édition Gründ, Paris 1999, Vol.10, pg.796

External links

''Petersen, Hans Ritter von''
@ Bavarikon (Große Bayerische Biographische Enzyklopädie)

@ the Stadtmuseum Fürstenfeldbruck
More works by Petersen
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Hans von 1850 births 1914 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German marine artists German landscape painters Painters who committed suicide People from Husum 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists