![Professor Hermann Knackfuß](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Professor_Hermann_Knackfu%C3%9F.jpg)
Hermann Knackfuss (german: Hermann Knackfuß) (August 11, 1848,
Wissen
Wissen is a town in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Sieg, approximately 12 km northeast of Altenkirchen.
Wissen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") ...
,
Rhenish Prussia
The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...
– May 17, 1915) was a German painter and writer on art. He is known for his historical paintings, but his most-recognized work is his illustration on behalf of the German Emperor
Wilhelm II
, house = Hohenzollern
, father = Frederick III, German Emperor
, mother = Victoria, Princess Royal
, religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United)
, signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
, ''Peoples of Europe, Guard your Dearest Goods'', which has become an iconic symbol of the use of the
yellow peril
The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a psychocultural menace from the Eastern world ...
to justify
European imperialism in Asia at the end of the nineteenth century.
Biography
Hermann Knackfuss studied at the
Düsseldorf Academy between 1869 to 1874, where he was a student of
Eduard Bendemann
Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann (3 December 1811, Berlin – 27 December 1889, Düsseldorf) was a German-Jewish painter.
Biography
Bendemann was born in Berlin. His father, Anton Heinrich Bendemann, was a Jewish banker. His mother, Fanny El ...
,
Julius Roeting
Julius Amatus Roeting (13 September 1822, in Dresden – 21 May 1896, in Düsseldorf) was a German painter.
Biography
He displayed artistic talent while still very young and, at the age of twelve, helped create a painting of a lion on a loca ...
, and
Eduard von Gebhardt
Franz Karl Eduard von Gebhardt (13 June 1838 – 3 February 1925) was a Baltic German painter of portraits and historical scenes, and a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
Biography
He was born to Ferdinand Theodor von Gebhardt (1803 ...
. In 1870, he interrupted his studies to serve as a volunteer in the
Franco-Prussian War. His illustrations of the war's progress during his service would appear in the magazine ''
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: ...
''. While studying at Düsseldorf, He won the state prize in 1874, which paid for his studies at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
from 1875 to 1878. In 1880, Knackfuss was appointed to the
Cassel Academy. Initially, he taught
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
, but from 1890 onwards he also taught
history of art
The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visu ...
(1890).
![Schlacht bei Mühldorf Knackfuß](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Schlacht_bei_M%C3%BChldorf_Knackfu%C3%9F.jpg)
Knackfuss primarily created historical paintings, many of which depicted events in the history of Prussia. Many of these were created for public buildings. For example, he made frescoes for the entrance hall of the Strasbourg train station. Early in his career, his paintings were characterized by a sometimes pedantic-looking realism that focused on small details such as the historical accuracy of the costumes. From around 1890, his historical works developed a more impressionist style. In addition to his historical works, Knackfuss was also a sought-after portraitist of the Prussian nobility.
![Voelker Europas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Voelker_Europas.jpg)
In 1895, the German Emperor
Wilhelm II
, house = Hohenzollern
, father = Frederick III, German Emperor
, mother = Victoria, Princess Royal
, religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United)
, signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
commissioned Knackfuss to create allegorical works on behalf of the emperor. One commission was ''People of Europe, Guard Your Dearest Goods'' , based on a rough sketch by Wilhelm
[ that highlighted his fear of the ]yellow peril
The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a psychocultural menace from the Eastern world ...
after the end of the First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...
.[ This particular political illustration was sent to Europe's political leaders including ]Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
,[ and it was mass-distributed through the Leipziger illustrirte Zeitung.] It has become Knackfuss's most famous work.[
Knackfuss also traveled extensively to Greece, Spain, Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt, and accompanied Emperor Wilhelm II to Palestine in 1898. Knackfuss died of typhus in 1915 during ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
while serving as a guard at the Niederzwehren POW camp in Kassel.
Legacy
Knackfuss's role as an academic history painter and an illustrator of Prussian history was largely forgotten after 1945, especially since many of his paintings were destroyed during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Even in Germany, he now mainly known as the author of numerous art monographs, including biographies on Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Velasquez, Murillo, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Holbein the Elder, Holbein the Younger and Albrecht Dürer.
Works
Knackfuss's paintings include:
* ''Battle of Mühldorf'' (originally belonging to Wilhelm II
, house = Hohenzollern
, father = Frederick III, German Emperor
, mother = Victoria, Princess Royal
, religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United)
, signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
)
* ''Battle of Turin'', in Berlin Zeughaus
* Mural decorations for the officers' casino of the Potsdam Treppenhaus
* ''Entry of the Kaiser and Kaiserin into Jerusalem'' (1902)
* ''Holy Family'' altar picture in the Fulda Cathedral
Fulda Cathedral (german: Fuldaer Dom, also ''Sankt Salvator'') is the former abbey church of Fulda Abbey and the burial place of Saint Boniface. Since 1752 it has also been the cathedral of the Diocese of Fulda, of which the Prince-Abbots of Fu ...
(1893)
* Mural decorations in the Wohlau (Silesia) gymnasium
His writings include:
* ''Deutsche Kunstgeschichte'' (“German art history,” 1888)
* Articles on Raphael, Rembrandt Rubens, Michelangelo, Dürer, Murillo, Holbein, Titian, Velazquez, Frans Hall, van Dyck, Menzel, Teniers and others, for the serial ''Kunstler-monographien'' (“Artist monographs”) published by Velhagen & Klasing
Velhagen & Klasing was a major German publishing company in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
History
Long nineteenth century
Velhagen & Klasing's first major success was the popular cookbook of Henriette Davidis from 1844 to 1875. Th ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knackfuss, Hermann
1848 births
1915 deaths
19th-century German painters
19th-century German male artists
German male painters
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German non-fiction writers
German male non-fiction writers
German military personnel killed in World War I