Heinrich Ludwig Freiherr von Gleichen-Rußwurm (25 October 1836, Castle Greifenstein in

Unterfranken Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally r ...

- 9 July 1901,

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

) was a German

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter and graphic artist who was one of the pioneers of that style in Germany. He was a grandson of

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

Life

He was the only child of Baron Adalbert von Gleichen-Rußwurm and his wife Emilie, Friedrich Schiller's youngest daughter.Hammelburg Online: Brief Biography
King

Ludwig I en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

was his godfather. He first attended school in

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).

, where his family spent the winter and his father had a seat in the

Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernestin ...

's advisory legislature. Later, he studied in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, followed by an internship with the Agricultural Academy at the

University of Hohenheim The University of Hohenheim (german: Universität Hohenheim) is a campus university located in the south of Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1818, it is Stuttgart's oldest university. Its primary areas of specialisation had traditionally been ...

. During a stay in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, he met the Baroness Elisabeth von Thienen-Adlerflycht, daughter of the Danish

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

, and they were married in 1859. She died shortly after childbirth in 1865. Their son,

Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm (6 November 1865, Greifenstein Castle, Bad Kissingen - 25 October 1947, Baden-Baden) was a German writer, editor, translator and philosopher. His name in full was Heinrich Adalbert Carl Alexander Konrad Schiller, Fre ...

, became a well-known writer and philosopher. His sense of loss led him to pursue his artistic inclinations. Leaving Alexander in the care of his mother Emilie, he moved into an apartment with a studio in Weimar, studying with

Max Schmidt Max Schmidt (23 August 1818 – 8 January 1901) was a German landscape painter. Biography Schmidt was a native of Berlin, Province of Brandenburg. He studied in the Berlin Art Academy under Carl Joseph Begas and Wilhelm Schirmer. He was la ...

and Theodor Hagen at the

Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School The Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar (German:Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar) was founded on 1 October 1860, in Weimar, Germany, by a decree of Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. It existed until 1910, when i ...

. In 1872, he had his first exhibition in Berlin. During a stay in France in 1876, he came under the influence of the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

and developed an interest in etching. After 1880, he spent the winter in Berlin and travelled extensively during the summer. Together with Alexander, he participated in creating the Goethe-Schiller Archive, donating items from his family's collection. In 1889, he was named an honorary member of the

Goethe-Gesellschaft The (Goethe Society), not to be confused with the Goethe-Institut, is a literary and scientific organisation to explore the literary work of the German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was founded in Weimar, where he lived, in 1885 ...

and, five years later, was elected Chairman of the

Deutsche Schillerstiftung The Deutsche Schillerstiftung (German Schiller Foundation), headquartered in Weimar, is the oldest private foundation for the assistance of writers in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Cent ...

References

External links

Entry in the ''Große Bayerische Biographische Enzyklopädie'' by DeGruyter
@ Google Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Gleichen-Russwurm, Ludwig von 1836 births 1901 deaths Landscape painters Impressionism People from Lower Franconia 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters

Life

References

Further reading

External links