Karl Friedrich von Rumohr by Friedrich Nerly

Carl Friedrich von Rumohr (6 January 1785,

Reinhardtsgrimma Reinhardtsgrimma is a former municipality in the district of Weißeritzkreis in Saxony in Germany located near Dresden. On 2 January 2008, it merged into the town Glashütte. Church of Reinhardtsgrimma, Its church features an organ by Gottfried Si ...

– 25 July 1843) was a German art historian, writer, draughtsman and painter, agricultural historian, connoisseur of and writer about the culinary arts, art collector and patron of artists.

Life

Carl Friedrich von Rumohr was born into an ancient aristocratic family and grew up on the family estates in

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

near

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

. He went to the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

1802-1804 where he studied

Classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

with

Christian Gottlob Heyne Christian Gottlob Heyne (; 25 September 1729 – 14 July 1812) was a German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library. He was a member of the Göttingen School of History. ...

, History (

Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren (25 October 1760, Arbergen6 March 1842, Göttingen) was a German historian. He was a member of the Göttingen School of History. Biography Heeren was born on 25 October 1760 in Arbergen near Bremen, a small village i ...

) and Mathematics ( Bernhard Friedrich Thibaut); he took drawing lessons with Johann Dominik Fiorillo who also introduced him to Art history and the critical reading of

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

. At university he came into contact with the

Romantic movement Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

around

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in Be ...

and converted in 1804 to Catholicism together with the brothers Riepenhausen. Inheriting a large fortune after the death of his father he went with Tieck and the brothers Riepenhausen on a study trip to Rome (1805-1806) where he met the group of German artists (among others,

Joseph Anton Koch Joseph Anton Koch (27 July 1768 – 12 January 1839) was an Austrian painter of Neoclassicism and later the German Romantic movement; he is perhaps the most significant neoclassical landscape painter. Biography The Tyrolese painter was born ...

) living and working there and acquired the foundations of his expertise of the classical arts. On his return journey he was introduced in Frankfurt to the circle around

Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz a ...

. The following years he spent on his estates in Holstein while travelling extensively and meeting many personalities from the German cultural elite of his days. Of importance for the development of his thinking was his contact in the years 1806/1807 in Munich with the

Naturphilosophie ''Naturphilosophie'' (German for "nature-philosophy") is a term used in English-language philosophy to identify a current in the philosophical tradition of German idealism, as applied to the study of nature in the earlier 19th century. German sp ...

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...

. He undertook studies at 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, ...

and befriended the son of the director,

Johann Peter von Langer Johann Peter Langer, after 1808, von Langer (baptized 1 July 1756, Düsseldorf-Kalkum, Kalkum – 6 August 1824, Munich) was a German painter, engraver and wallpaper designer. Biography His father, Anton Langer (1721–1788), was the garden ...

. He made his first important contribution to Art history with the publication in 1812 of: ''Über die antike Gruppe Castor und Pollux …''.

His second Italian journey (1816-1821) together with the painter Franz Horny took Rumohr to Florence and

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

for art historical archive studies and 1817 to Rome where he arranged for Horny to study with

. He met the German painters of the

Nazarene movement The epithet Nazarene was adopted by a group of early 19th-century German Romantic painters who aimed to revive spirituality in art. The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of c ...

who had been living and working in Rome since 1810 and became an important patron, supporting them through publications and purchases until he broke with the younger artists around

Johann David Passavant Johann David Passavant (18 September 1787 – 17 August 1861) was a German painter, curator and artist. Biography Passavant was born in 1787 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His interest in the arts was evident by an early correspondence wi ...

and

Julius Schnorr Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (26 March 1794 – 24 May 1872) () was a German Painting, painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Renaissance style in re ...

. He acted as guide to the future Danish King Christian VIII in 1819 and again 1821 and also to the Bavarian crown prince Ludwig. In 1822 Rumohr published under the name of his personal chef a treatise about the culinary arts, the ''Geist der Kochkunst von Joseph König.'', in praise and defence of traditional national (not just German) and provincial cuisine. It became his most successful book and was republished in an extended form in 1832. Recently it has been rediscovered and republished. In the following years Rumohr was active as an elected honorary member of the newly founded Hamburger Kunstverein and advised and promoted many young Hamburg artists among them the brothers

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

and

Erwin Speckter Erwin Speckter (18 July 1806, Hamburg - 23 November 1835, Hamburg) was a German painter, often associated with the Nazarene movement. Life His father was the lithographer, Johannes Michael Speckter. During the Siege of Hamburg, his family sough ...

, Carl Julius Milde,

Adolph Friedrich Vollmer Adolph Friedrich Vollmer (17 December 1806 – 12 February 1875) was a German landscape and marine painter and graphic artist. He and his contemporary, the painter Christian Morgenstern,Andresen (1872) 3, 25. were pioneers in Hamburg of early R ...

and

Christian Morgenstern Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin ...

. Being an able draughtsman himself, he supervised the artistic training of the young Friedrich Nerly. The relationship with their much older patron who tended to impose his strong views was, however, not always easy. Out of his study of

derived his main work, the ''Italienische Forschungen'', the first two volumes of which were published in 1827. Its importance to Art history as discipline lies in the critical evaluation of historic documents.

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after ...

judged the work ''to be the first step towards a more truthful evaluation of Art objects n their historic context'' Rumohr and the art historian

Gustav Friedrich Waagen Gustav Friedrich Waagen (11 February 1794 – 15 July 1868) was a German art historian. His opinions were greatly respected in England, where he was invited to give evidence before the royal commission inquiring into the condition and future o ...

were involved as advisors in the planning of the Berliner Gemäldegalerie. The project of a public collection of old European masters had been initiated by the archaeologist

Aloys Hirt Aloys HirtThe frequently-used form Aloys Ludwig Hirt is demonstrably incorrect. (27 June 1759 – 29 June 1837) was a German History of art, art historian and Archaeology, archaeologist of Ancient Greek architecture, Ancient Greek and Ancient Roma ...

(1759-1837) already in 1797 and had gained support from the architect

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassica ...

and the Prussian king

Friedrich Wilhelm III Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

. It was the first of its kind that had been conceived from an art historical perspective. On his third Italian journey (1828-1829), accompanied by Nerly (who travelled further on to Rome), Rumohr negotiated purchases for the Berliner Gemäldegalerie, worked on a novel and acted as guide to the Prussian crown prince in Florence and Siena.

In the following years Rumohr worked on essays and literary projects, some of them never published. The third volume of ''Italienische Forschungen'' came out in 1831; a critical review by Aloys Hirt leads to the breakup of their relationship and to several polemical essays. In the year 1834 he stayed in Copenhagen to catalogue together with

Just Mathias Thiele Justin Mathias Thiele (13 December 1795 – 9 November 1874) was a Danish scholar and librarian. A central personage during the Danish Golden Age, he contributed to Danish cultural life in a number of capacities. He collected and published Danish ...

the royal print collection; he was rewarded with the title of chamberlain and became patron to the young Danish painter

Lorenz Frølich Lorenz Frølich (25 October 182025 October 1908) was a Danish painter, illustrator, graphic artist and etcher. Early life and education Frølich was born into a wealthy bourgeouis family in Copenhagen. The son of Johan Jacob Frølich (1777-1858) ...

. In spring of 1837 Rumohr went on his fourth Italian journey that led him to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and the surrounding region of

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

to study the traditional irrigation systems. He published his observations in: ''Reise durch die östlichen Bundesstaaten in die Lombardey'' with recommendations for their adoption in Prussia. On what will be his last trip to Italy in 1841 Rumohr visited his favourite student Nerly in Venice. Returning to Copenhagen he asked Christian VIII in vain for the position of keeper of the royal art collection; rejecting an offered lesser position he retired to spend his last years on his estates near Lübeck devoting himself to his art collection. Rumohr died 1843 in Dresden. The physiologist, psychologist, medical practitioner and painter,

Carl Gustav Carus Carl Gustav Carus (3 January 1789 – 28 July 1869) was a German physiologist and painter, born in Leipzig, who played various roles during the Romantic era. A friend of the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, he was a many-sided man: a doctor, ...

had his death mask taken and performed an autopsy. He is buried in Dresden on the Innerer Neustädter Friedhof. Christian VIII donated his tombstone,

Gottfried Semper Gottfried Semper (; 29 November 1803 – 15 May 1879) was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in ...

designed it. It was destroyed in World War II and restored in 2010.see
Rumohr Gesellschaft

Notes

Bibliography

Selected writings

* ''Über die antike Gruppe Castor und Pollux oder von dem Begriffe der Idealität in Kunstwerken.'' Perthes, Hamburg, 181
Digitalisat der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
* ''Italienische Forschungen''. Nicolai’sche Buchhandlung, Berlin und Stettin, Teil 1–3 ** Erster Theil. 182
deutschestextarchiv.de
** Beigabe zum Ersten Bande. 182
deutschestextarchiv.de
** Zweyter Theil. 182
deutschestextarchiv.de
** Dritter Theil. 183
deutschestextarchiv.de
* ''Geist der Kochkunst von Joseph König. Überarbeitet und herausgegeben von C. F. von Rumohr.'', 2., verm. u. verb. Aufl., Stuttgart und Tübingen 1832.
SLUB Dresden
* ''Hans Holbein, der jüngere, in seinem Verhältnisse zum deutschen Formschnittwesen'', Anstalt für Kunst und Literatur, Leipzig 183
Google
* ''Zur Geschichte und Theorie der Formschneidekunst.'' Anstalt für Kunst und Literatur (R. Weigel), Leipzig 183
SLUB Dresden
* ''Reise durch die östlichen Bundesstaaten in die Lombardey und zurück über die Schweiz und den oberen Rhein in besonderer Beziehung auf Völkerkunde, Landbau und Staatswirthscharft''. Rohden’sche Buchhandlung, Lübeck 183
SLUB Dresden

References

* Heinrich Wilhelm Schulz: ''Karl Friedrich von Rumohr, sein Leben und seine Schriften'' mit einem Nachwort von C. G. Carus, F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 184
Google
* * Antonie Tarrach: ''Studien über die Bedeutung Carl Friedr. v. Rumohrs für Geschichte und Methode der Kunstwissenschaft.'' In: Monatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft 14 1921, Abhandlungen, Band I, S. 97–138.
Internet Archive
* Gerhard Kegel: ''Carl Friedrich von Rumohr.'' In

hg. v. d. Gesellschaft f. Schleswig-Holstein. Geschichte, Bd. 3, Neumünster 1974, S.230-235. * Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen (Hrsg.): Friedrich Nerly und die Künstler um Carl Friedrich von Rumohr, Mainz, 1991. - 175 S. * Gerhard Kegel (Hrsg.): ''Carl Friedrich von Rumohr: Briefe an

Johann Georg Rist Johann Georg Rist (23 November 1775 - 5 February 1847) was a Denmark, Danish author, diplomat and statesman, originally from Holstein. Life Johann Georg Rist was born in Niendorf, Hamburg, Niendorf, at that time a prosperous village on the edge ...

. '', kommentiert und mit drei Nachträgen versehen, Buchholz/Nordheide: Selbstverl. d. Hrsg., 1993. - 99 S. * Thomas M. Hauer
''Carl Friedrich von Rumohr und Der Geist der bürgerlichen Küche''
Universität Karlsruhe, Dissertation 2000 * Enrica Yvonne Dilk: ''Ein practischer Aesthetiker - Studien zum Leben und Werk Carl Friedrich von Rumohrs.'' Olms Verlag, 2000.
Abstract
*

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumohr, Carl Friedrich von 1785 births 1843 deaths People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge People from the Electorate of Saxony German art historians German draughtsmen German food writers Artist authors German artists Historians of agriculture German male non-fiction writers University of Göttingen alumni Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni