Hermann Schmiechen (22 July 1855 – c. 1923 or 1925) was a German

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

and Theosophist.

Biography

Hermann Schmiechen was born in Neumarkt,

Prussian Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

. In 1872, he entered the Royal Academy of Arts and Crafts at Breslau, where he learned by Albrecht Bräuer (1830–1897). In 1873, he shifted into

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy (now the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State Art Academy) during the 1830s and 1840s, when the A ...

and became student of Karl Müller and Eduard von Gebhardt, and was also a member of the artists association '' Malkasten''. After studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, he learned in Paris at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

. In 1883, on the recommendation of

August Becker August Becker (17 August 1900 – 31 December 1967) was a mid-ranking functionary in the SS of Nazi Germany and chemist in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). He helped design the vans with a gas chamber built into the back compartment u ...

, Schmichen, almost simultaneously with

Karl Rudolf Sohn Karl Friedrich Rudolf Sohn (21 July 1845, Düsseldorf – 29 August 1908, Düsseldorf) was a German portrait painter in the Academic style. Biography His father was the landscape painter, Karl Ferdinand Sohn. After graduating from the , he wa ...

, was invited into England to paint portraits of the British aristocracy. From 1884 to 1895 he was a member of the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

Theosophical portraits

June 20, 1884, a year after arriving in London, Schmiechen became a member the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

. Then, fulfilling the request of

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...

, he began to paint portraits of the Theosophical mahatmas. The portrait of the mahatma Koot Hoomi she assessed as "excellent" and immediately asked Schmiechen to begin working on a portrait of the mahatma Morya. It took him about three weeks, to complete these paintings. A Russian writer Vsevolod Solovyov reported his impression of the portraits of the Theosophical mahatmas as follows:

"Subsequently, when I had thoroughly examined these portraits, I found in them much that was unsatisfactory from an artistic point of view; but their life-likeness was remarkable, and the eyes of the two mysterious strangers gazed straight at the spectator, their lips could almost have been said to move... Schmiechen had painted two beautiful young men. Mahatma Koot Hoomi, clad in a graceful sort of robe, trimmed with fur, had a tender, almost feminine face and gazed sweetly with a pair of charming light eyes. But as soon as one looked at 'the master' f Blavatsky Koot Hoomi, for all his tender beauty, was at once forgotten. The fiery black eyes of the tall Morya fixed themselves sternly and piercingly upon one, and it was impossible to tear oneself away from them."

In 1901, Schmiechen, returning into Germany, settled in Berlin and joined the German section of the Theosophical Society.

Paintings

File:Moryaportrait.jpg, Portrait of Morya. File:Jesus216.jpg, Portrait of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. File:Koothoomi.jpg, Portrait of

Kuthumi Koot Hoomi (also spelled Kuthumi, and frequently referred to simply as K.H.) is said to be one of the Mahatmas that inspired the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875. In Theosophy it is believed that he engaged in a correspondence with tw ...

. * ''Bildnis einer Dame'' (in German) * ''Opernsängerin

Lillian Nordica Lillian Nordica (December 12, 1857 – May 10, 1914) was an American opera singer who had a major stage career in Europe and her native country. Nordica established herself as one of the foremost dramatic sopranos of the late 19th and early 20t ...

'', 1878 (in German) * '' Princess Victoria of Hesse'' * ''

Princess Elizabeth of Hesse , russian: Елизавета Фёдоровна Романова , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother = Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_name = Princess El ...

'' * ''

Princess Mary Adelaide Princess Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth of Cambridge (27 November 1833 – 27 October 1897), later Duchess of Teck, was a member of the British royal family. She was one of the first royals to patronise a wide range of charities. Mary Ade ...

, Duchess of

Teck Teck may refer to: * Teck Castle (Burg Teck) in Württemberg, Germany * Teckberg, mountain on which it is located * Duke of Teck, a title of nobility, associated with Teck Castle * Teck Railway, Germany * Teck Resources, a Canadian mining company ...

'', 1882 * '' Princess Frederica of Hanover, Baroness von Pawel-Rammingen'', 1884 * ''Turtelndes Liebespaar am Fenster'', 1895 (in German) * ''Dame mit Rosenkorb'', 1895 (in German)

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Schmiechen's paintings in the Royal Collection

List of the journal publications by/about Schmiechen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmiechen, Hermann 1855 births 1920s deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century male artists 20th-century German painters 20th-century male artists German portrait painters Académie Julian alumni Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni German Theosophists People from Środa Śląska