Johann Baptist Kirner (25 June 1806,

Furtwangen Furtwangen im Schwarzwald (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Furtwange im Schwarzwald'') is a small city located in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. Together with Villingen-Schwenningen, Furtwangen is part of the district (Ge ...

- 19 November 1866, FurtwangenCarina Mahlbacher: ''Johann Baptist Kirner, 1806–1866, badischer Hofmaler'', Dissertation, Stuttgart, 1983, p. 16.) was a German portrait and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

painter.

Life and work

He was one of seven children born to the shoemaker, Johann Kirner (1772-1835). For financial reasons, he initially had to learn art through apprenticeships with a coach painter in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and a

decorative painter A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

in Villingen. His older brother, the portrait painter , was had served similar apprenticeships, was admitted to the Augsburg art school (today

Augsburg University of Applied Sciences Augsburg University of Applied Sciences (german: Hochschule Augsburg – University of Applied Sciences or simply ''Hochschule Augsburg'') is a German university located in Augsburg. It was founded in 1971, but its institutional roots as an art ...

) in 1822, at age of twenty-eight. In 1824, Johann was finally able to attend the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

. Three years later, he received funds from a scholarship established by

Marie Ellenrieder Marie Ellenrieder (20 March 1791 – 5 June 1863) was a German painter known for her portraits and religious paintings. Life and career Ellenrieder was born in Konstanz, Germany in 1791, the daughter of Konrad and Anna Maria Herrmann, and ...

; awarded to him by

Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden Leopold (29 August 1790 – 24 April 1852) succeeded in 1830 as the Grand Duke of Baden, reigning until his death in 1852. Although a younger child, Leopold was the first son of Margrave Karl Friederich of Baden by his second, morganatic wife, ...

. At first, he focused on works with religious themes, but soon turned to secular subjects; creating some humorous pictures based on the poems of

Johann Peter Hebel Johann Peter Hebel (10 May 1760 – 22 September 1826) was a German short story writer, dialectal poet, Lutheranism, Lutheran theologian and pedagogue, most famous for a collection of Alemannic German, Alemannic lyric poems (''Allemannisc ...

. After 1829, he was a free-lance artist in Munich. He was awarded another scholarship from the Grand Duke in 1832, which enabled him to study in Italy. He lived in Rome from 1832 to 1834, sharing a studio with his friend,

Franz Xaver Winterhalter Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court ...

, who was also from the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

region. He also spent some time in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. In 1837, he left Italy and established himself in Vienna. By 1839 he was back in Furtwangen, and was appointed a

Court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

for the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. He moved there in 1842, and given an annual pension of 400

Gulden ''Gulden'' is the historical German and Dutch term for gold coin (from Middle High German "golden penny" and Middle Dutch " golden florin"), equivalent to the English term guilder. Gulden, Gülden, Guldens or Gulden's may also refer to: Coins o ...

, on the condition that he provide at least one painting for the Grand Ducal gallery every two years. He was apparently unhappy there, as he went back to Munich in 1844, periodically requesting leave from his duties. In 1856, he became an honorary member of the Munich Academy. In 1865, he retired to his hometown, where he died the following year. His gravestone was designed by one of his relatives; the sculptor . A street in Freiburg's Waldsee district has been named after him.

Selected paintings

File:Johann Baptist Kirner - Italienerin an der Wiege - 559 - Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.jpg, Italian Woman at the Cradle File:Johann Baptist Kirner - Die Preisverleihung des landwirtschaftlichen Vereins in einer Hotzenwälder Bauernstube - 564 - Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.jpg, The Award Ceremony of an
Agricultural Association File:Johann Baptist Kirner - Die jungen Erntehelfer (1857).jpg, Young Harvest Workers File:Johann Baptist Kirner - Italienischer Bauer mit Hund spielend - 1750 - Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.jpg, Italian Farmer Playing with His Dog

Sources

* * Christian Baumann: "Johann Baptist Kirner, ein bedeutender Maler des Schwarzwaldes 1806–1866", in: ''Badische Heimat'', Vol.1/1956 * Gabriele Brugger: ''Lebensweisen – Genremalerei von J. B. Kirner und J. B. Pflug''. Exhibition catalog, , Beuroner Kunstverlag, Beuron, 2004, * Geschichts- und Heimatverein Furtwangen e. V., ''Johann Baptist Kirner 1806–1866. Ausstellung zum 150. Todestag'', Exhibition catalogue, Furtwangen, 2016, * ''Johann Baptist Kirner. Erzähltes Leben''. Ed.: Adila Garbanzo León, Felix Reuße, Tilmann von Stockhausen. Exhibition catalogue.

Augustinermuseum The Augustiner Museum is a museum in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany located in the former Augustinian Monastery building. It is undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion, the first phase of which ended in 2010.More works by Kirner
@ ArtNet *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirner, Johann Baptist 1806 births 1866 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German genre painters German portrait painters Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni People from Furtwangen im Schwarzwald