Wilhelm Lambert Krahe (15 March 1712,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

– 2 November 1790, Düsseldorf) was a German

history painter History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

and

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

Life

He was the son of a government clerk. Nothing is known of his early education. He found a patron in Ferdinand von Plettenberg, who took Krahe along when he was appointed Imperial Envoy to the

Papal Court The papal household or pontifical household (usually not capitalized in the media and other nonofficial use, ), called until 1968 the Papal Court (''Aula Pontificia''), consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremoni ...

in 1736. When Plettenberg died suddenly in 1737, Krahe found support from the German Jesuits. He is also said to have worked in the studios of

Marco Benefial Marco Benefial (25 April 1684 – 9 April 1764) "Marco Benefial (Getty Museum)" (history), The Getty Museum, 2006, webpage: GM-Benefial. was an Italian, proto- Neoclassical painter, mainly active in Rome. Benefial is best known for h ...

and

Pierre Subleyras Pierre Subleyras (; November 25, 1699 – May 28, 1749) was a French painter, active during the late- Baroque and early- Neoclassic period, mainly in Italy. Life Subleyras was born in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, France. He left France in 1728, havi ...

. His patrons at that time included Cardinal

Alessandro Albani Alessandro Albani (15 October 1692 – 11 December 1779) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, but should be best remembered as a leading collector of antiquities, dealer and art patron in Rome. He supported the art historian, Johann Joachim Winckelmann ...

and

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann (; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. "The prophet and foundin ...

. In 1749, upon the recommendation of

Silvio Valenti Gonzaga Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (1 March 1690 – 28 August 1756) was an Italian nobleman and Catholic cardinal. Gonzaga was born in Mantua. He served as papal nuncio to Flanders, 1731–1736, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1738 by Pop ...

, the Cardinal Secretary of State, he was pensioned to Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, on whose behalf he painted altarpieces for the Jesuit Church in Mannheim. In 1756, he became head of the Düsseldorf Art Gallery. Later, the Elector appointed him to oversee the creation of new galleries in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

and Munich. In 1761, he was commissioned to paint ceilings in the library and ballrooms at

Schloss Benrath Schloss Benrath (Benrath Palace) is a Baroque-style ''maison de plaisance'' (pleasure palace) in Benrath, which is now a borough of Düsseldorf. It was erected for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodor and his wife, Countess Palatine Elisabeth ...

. He started an art school in 1762. Eleven years later, his school was designated the "Electorate of the Palatinate Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Academy" (later, the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

) and Krahe became its first Director. In his last years, an eye ailment prevented him from painting. The Classical architect Peter Joseph Krahe was his son.

Moritz Kellerhoven Moritz Kellerhoven (1758 - 15 December 1830) was a German portrait painter and etcher. Life Kellerhoven was born in the Altenrath district of Troisdorf. He was still very young when his father died, so he was placed in the care of his maternal ...

was one of his best-known students.

His art collection

Although Krahe was a very popular painter in his day, his art collection constitutes his most important achievement. Begun when he was in Rome, and expanded during travels throughout Germany, Holland and France, it came to include 332 paintings and oil sketches, as well as thousands of drawings and prints from the 15th to 18th centuries. It remains one of the world's most important collections of Italian Baroque drawings. In 1778, the collection was purchased by the

Duchy of Berg Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries. The name of the county lives on in the modern ...

for use at the academy. Since 1932, most of it has been on permanent loan from the academy to the

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

in Düsseldorf.Bertram Müller: ''Lambert Krahes Spürnase für Kunst''
Artikel vom 12. April 2013 im Portal ''rp-online.de'', retrieved, 12 April 2013 Smaller selections may be seen at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and

the Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. The centerpiece of the collection consists of graphic works by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

, Michelangelo and Paolo Veronese, with larger works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Pietro da Cortona and

Giuseppe Passeri Giuseppe Passeri (12 March 1654 – 2 November 1714) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in his native city of Rome. Born the nephew of the painter Giovanni Battista Passeri, Giuseppe trained in the studio of Carlo Maratta. A ...

. The collection also includes

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

s by Albrecht Dürer, engravings by

Martin Schongauer Martin Schongauer (c. 1450–53, Colmar – 2 February 1491, Breisach), also known as Martin Schön ("Martin beautiful") or Hübsch Martin ("pretty Martin") by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter. He was the most important ...

and etchings by Rembrandt.

References

External links

*
Heinrich Heine University: Bibliography for Lambert Krahe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krahe, Lambert 1712 births 1790 deaths 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters German art collectors Kunstakademie Düsseldorf faculty

Life

His art collection

References

Further reading

External links