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 ...
- 22 December 1866, Weimar) was a German
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
and engraver who mainly painted historical subjects.
Life
Schwerdgeburth was born from the second marriage of Carl August Schwerdgeburth, a well-known engraver and painter. He was first a pupil of his father and later studied under Friedrich Preller. He then travelled to Belgium where from 1856 to 1860 he studied at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts.Franz Vallentin: Schwerdtgeburth: Otto (Karl Friedrich Julius) In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 54, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1908, p. 286
The Antwerp Academy played an important role in the Belgian historical painting movement. Schwerdgeburth became acquainted with leading artists of this school of painting such as
Jan August Hendrik Leys
Henri Leys, Hendrik Leys or Jan August Hendrik, Baron Leys (18 February 1815 – 26 August 1869) was a Belgian painter and printmaker. He was a leading representative of the historical or Romantic school in Belgian art and became a pioneer of th ...
,
Jan Swerts
Jan Swerts (25 December 1820, Antwerp - 11 August 1879, Marienbad) was a Belgium, Belgian painter of historical subjects and portraits who worked on many publicly funded commissions. He played a major role in introducing German Romanticism, Roma ...
and
Godfried Guffens
Egide Godfried Guffens (22 July 1823 – 11 July 1901) was a Belgian painter. He is best known for his monumental religious and historical murals.R.Weigel, ''Archiv für die zeichnenden künste mit besonderer beziehung auf kupferstecher- und holzschneidekunst und ihre geschichte'' Volumes 12-13 (Google eBook), 1866, p.122-124
In Antwerp he worked from 1856 to 1858 with Jan Swerts and Godfried Guffens on murals in the restored Old Bourse of Antwerp. The murals after designs by Jan Swerts and Godfried Guffens depicted scenes from Antwerp’s glorious trading past in a style reminiscent of the German
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 ...
Melsele
Melsele is a town in the Belgian province of East Flanders, between the city of Beveren and the nearby town of Zwijndrecht. Tram route 3 which starts just outside the town connects it to Zwijndrecht and Antwerp. The town's road links include the ...
in Belgium.
He returned to Weimar in 1860 where he worked on various historical paintings. Suffering from ill health, he went to
Bad Reichenhall
Bad Reichenhall (Central Bavarian: ''Reichahoi'') is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgau Alps (including Mount Staufe ...
for cures. After his health improved he spent time in
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
where he worked on the painting ''The Salzburg Protestants'' which he finished in 1863 after a second stay in Salzburg. This painting was very well received. He worked on other historical paintings. In order to make a painting on the execution of
Andreas Hofer
Andreas Hofer (22 November 1767 – 20 February 1810) was a Tyrolean innkeeper and drover, who in 1809 became the leader of the Tyrolean Rebellion against the Napoleonic and Bavarian invasion during the War of the Fifth Coalition. He was subse ...
he travelled to
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
and from there on to
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
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 ...
. He died not long after his return from Rome.
Work
Only a few works by him are known. His paintings show the influence of the Belgian history painter
Ferdinand Pauwels
Wilhelm Ferdinand Pauwels ( pʌu̯əls 13 April 1830, Ekeren – 26 March 1904, Dresden) was a Belgian history painter who lived and worked in Germany.
Life
From 1842 to 1850, he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), under Gus ...
. He also made a number of etchings.
Pictures of Otto Schwerdgeburth are in the collections of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, in the
Kunsthalle Bremen
The Kunsthalle Bremen is an art museum in Bremen, Germany. It is located close to the Bremen Old Town on the "Culture Mile" (german: Kulturmeile). The Kunsthalle was built in 1849, enlarged in 1902 by architect Eduard Gildemeister, and expanded ...
* ''Faust's Easter walk'', 1864, oil on canvas, 83.5 × 184.5 cm, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, CologneFaust's Easter walk in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne
* ''The Salzburg Protestants‘ final look at their home'', Kunsthalle Bremen
* ''Andreas Hofer goes to his execution'', Schlossmuseum Weimar