Heinrich Schlitt (August 21, 1849 – November 13, 1923) was a German painter and illustrator, known for his fantasy motifs that feature

gnome A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

s, dwarves, and

faeries A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

. He was one of the in-house artists at the

Villeroy & Boch Villeroy & Boch (, ) is a German manufacturer of ceramics, with the company headquarters located in Mettlach, Saarland. History The company began in the tiny Lorraine village of Audun le Tiche, where the iron master François Boch set up a pott ...

ceramic company in

Mettlach Mettlach (Saarlandic dialect:Mettlich) is a municipality in the district Merzig-Wadern, in Saarland, Germany, situated on the river Saar, approximately northwest of Merzig, and south of Trier. The headquarters of Villeroy & Boch are in Mettlach ...

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

, and his designs for their

beer stein A beer stein ( ), or simply stein, is either a traditional beer mug made out of stoneware or specifically an ornamental beer mug sold as a souvenir or collectible. An 1894 article on beer mugs in the American ''Vogue'' magazine that describes ...

s remain popular with collectors to this day.

Early life

Schlitt was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

in the

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

, what would now be in the modern day German state of Hesse. His father was a member of the court of the

Duke of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

, working as a coachman. After the Prussian annexation of the Duchy, Schlitt joined the Dutch military, a choice thought to be the result of the Schlitt family moving to the Netherlands with the rest of the exiled Duchy. Schlitt was a student of Kaspar Kögler at his school in

. In 1875, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Wilhelm Lindenschmit the Younger. He exhibited his works at exhibitions put on by the Munich Artists' Cooperative.

Works

Illustrator

Early in his career, Schlitt first became well known to the public as an illustrator. He produced hundreds of illustrations for a wide array of publications, including books, periodicals, and newspapers such as ''

Die Gartenlaube ''Die Gartenlaube – Illustriertes Familienblatt'' (; ) was the first successful mass-circulation German newspaper and a forerunner of all modern magazines.Sylvia Palatschek: ''Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Oxford: ...

'', ''Das Buch Für Alle'', and ''

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 ...

''. File:Die Gartenlaube (1887) b 145.jpg, "The Old Poacher" from Die Gartenlaube, 1887 File:Die Gartenlaube (1890) b 120.jpg, "Madame Pompadour and Marquis Posa at the masquerade ball" from Die Gartenlaube, 1890 File:Die Gartenlaube (1890) b 121.jpg, "Madame Pompadour and Marquis Posa the next morning" from Die Gartenlaube, 1890

Ratskeller of the Munich New Town Hall

In 1905, Schlitt was selected by architect

Georg von Hauberrisser Georg von Hauberrisser (19 March 1841 in Graz – 17 May 1922 in Munich) was a German-Austrian architect. Biography Hauberrisser’s father Georg Hauberrisser the Elder (1791–1875) was born in Erbach in Rheingau and worked as a builder. He ...

to paint the ceilings of the

Ratskeller Ratskeller (German: "council's cellar", pl. ''Ratskeller'', historically ''Rathskeller'') is a name in German-speaking countries for a bar or restaurant located in the basement of a city hall (''Rathaus'') or nearby. Many taverns, nightclubs, ba ...

at the New Town Hall in Munich. The paintings were originally intended to adorn the walls of the St. Johann Town Hall ratskeller, but after disputes between the municipal administration of St. Johann and Schlitt regarding payment for the works, Schlitt withdrew from the project and instead used the concepts for the paintings in the Munich Ratskeller. The paintings are considered to be some of his finest works. File:RatskellerNeuesRathausMünchenL1000673.JPG, Vault painting File:RatskellerNeuesRathausMünchenL1000668.JPG, Detail of the vault painting File:NeuesRathausMünchenWeinBiereSchlittL1050613 (2).jpg, ''When wine and beers are fighting ...'', Wall painting in the Ratskeller

Villeroy & Boch

Heinrich Schlitt was one of the principal in-house artists at

, a German ceramics manufacturer based in

. His work for the company is prominently featured on beer steins that they produced during the period, which are well known and held in renown amongst modern-day collectors of steins and ceramics. File:VundBKrugGeritztesSteinzeug(Schlitt-Zwerg).jpg,

Stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refracto ...

design by Schlitt, produced by Villeroy & Boch

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlitt, Heinrich 1849 births 1923 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists People from Wiesbaden Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists