Philipp von Foltz (11 May 1805 – 5 August 1877) was a German
history painter.
Biography
He was born in
Bingen am Rhein. His father, Ludwig, a painter of some note, gave him his first art lessons. In 1825, he went to Munich, where he was accepted at the
Academy of Fine Arts and studied with
Peter von Cornelius. Soon, he was allowed to assist Cornelius with his
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es at the
Glyptothek
The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig I to house his collection of Ancient Greek art, Greek and Roman art, Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculp ...
and the
Hofgarten.
Later, he assisted
Wilhelm Lindenschmit the Elder at the new Royal Palace, creating murals based on the ballads 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 ...
. At this time, he also began to create a series of oil paintings on historical subjects; notably one of King
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 ...
saying farewell on his way to Greece.
In 1835, he took a study trip to Rome, where he created his monumental painting "Des Sängers Fluch" (The Singer's Curse), based on the poem by
Ludwig Uhland. Upon his return, he was appointed a Professor at the Academy by King
Maximilian II of Bavaria. In thanks, he created two monumental canvases for the
Maximilianeum
The Maximilianeum, a palatial building in Munich, was built as the home of a gifted students' foundation but since 1949 has housed the Bavarian State Parliament. It sits grandly and as a focal point on the bank of the Isar River above Maximilian ...
.
Between 1865 and 1875, he served as Director of the Royal Gallery, but was harshly criticized for his methods of restoration, which employed questionable chemical processes developed by
Max von Pettenkofer
Max Joseph Pettenkofer, ennobled in 1883 as Max Joseph von Pettenkofer (3 December 1818 – 10 February 1901) was a Bavarian chemist and hygienist. He is known for his work in practical hygiene, as an apostle of good water, fresh air and proper s ...
, as well as the
overpainting
Overpainting is the final layers of paint, over some type of underpainting, in a system of working in layers. It can also refer to later paint added by restorers, or an artist or dealer wishing to "improve" or update an old image—a very common ...
of some canvases. Despite this, he was elevated to the nobility in 1869.
His paintings are historically precise, but are now considered to be rather conservative and
academic.
Foltz died in Munich in 1877.
Sources
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foltz, Philipp
19th-century German painters
19th-century German male artists
German male painters
1805 births
1877 deaths
History painters
People from Bingen am Rhein