RUDOLF PFNOR Portrait of a young Lady 1844

Rudolf Pfnor later spelt ''Rodolphe Pfnor'' (* 1824 in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

; †

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a German–French artist who specialised mainly in copper and

steel engraving Steel engraving is a technique for printing illustrations based on steel instead of copper. It has been rarely used in artistic printmaking, although it was much used for reproductions in the 19th century. Steel engraving was introduced in 1792 by ...

Life

Ornementation des appartements Pfnor 97010

Pfnor was born in Darmstadt in 1824 as the son of the inventor and woodcutter Johann Wilhelm Gottlieb Pfnor (19 December 1792 – 9 June 1869); in 1846 he moved to Paris. There he became a pioneer of the ''arts industriels'', i.e. the idea of

arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

. Pfnor also excelled as a publicist in this field. In this context, he collaborated with intellectuals of his time, such as

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

. He became famous for his graphic documentations of castles such as those of

Anet Anet () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It lies 14 km north-northeast of Dreux between the rivers Eure and Vesgre, the latter flowing into the former some 4 km no ...

, Fountainebleau and

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 ...

. Pfnor's graphic work is actively traded on the art market. By contrast, Pfnor's drawings are rare on the art market. His work can be found in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, among other places.

Literature (selection)

* ''Monographie du château de Heidelberg.'' Paris: A. Morel, 1859. * ''Recueil d'estampes relatives à l'ornementation des appartements aux XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles.'' Paris: Rapilly 1863–1871. * ''Histoire et description du château d'Anet : depuis le dixième siècle jusqu'à nos jours : précédée d'une notice sur un sommaire chronologique sur tous les seigneurs qui ont habité le château et sur ses propriétaires et contenant une étude sur Diane de Poitiers.'' Paris : Imprimé par D. Jouaust ..pour l'auteur 1875. * (with a preface by Anatole France:) ''Guide artistique & historique au Palais de Fontainebleau.'' Paris: A. Daly 1889.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfnor, Rudolf 1824 births 1909 deaths Artists from Paris 19th-century French engravers 19th-century French male artists Artists from Darmstadt German engravers German emigrants to France