Samuel Friedrich Diez ( 19 December 1803 – 11 March 1873) was a German portraitist and court official. He served as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (2 April 1826 – 25 June 1914), was the penultimate Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, reigning from 1866 to 1914. For his support for his successful court theatre he was also known as the ''Theaterherzog'' (theatre duk ...

. An influential artist in royal courts across Europe, he was made Honorary Designer of His Majesty The King of the Belgians by

Leopold I of Belgium * nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik * en, Leopold George Christian Frederick , image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg , caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856 , reign = 21 July 1831 – , predecessor = Erasme Loui ...

. Diez also served in a political role at court, and was appointed as a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

Heinrich LXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line , house = House of Reuss Younger Line , father = Heinrich XLII, Prince Reuss Younger Line , mother =Princess Caroline of Hohenlohe-Kirchberg , birth_date = , birth_place =Schleiz, Reuss , death_date = , death_place =Gera, ...

Biography

Diez was born on 19 December 1803 in

Neuhaus am Rennweg Neuhaus am Rennweg is a town in the district of Sonneberg, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated in the Thuringian Forest, 17 km north of Sonneberg, and 22 km southwest of Saalfeld. The former municipalities Lichte and Piesau Piesau ...

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 Ernest ...

to a

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

family. His father, Jakob Diez, was a

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

in Neuhaus. Diez was the uncle of the sculptor

Robert Diez Robert Diez (20 April 1844 in Pößneck – 7 October 1922 in Loschwitz) was a German sculptor. Life He was the son of Pößneck's Mayor. His artistic inclinations began to emerge at his grandparents home in Sonneberg, the center of the Ge ...

. He was educated at

Casimirianum Coburg The Casimirianum, known to the students as the "Casi", is a '' Gymnasium'' in Coburg, Bavaria. It was founded in 1605 by Johann Casimir, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg (15641633), and named after him. Today the Casimirianum is a linguistic and humanisti ...

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. In 1824 he enrolled as a student at the

Munich Academy of Fine Arts The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

, where he studied painting and portraiture. In 1832 Diez was brought to the royal court in Meiningen by

to work as a painter. In 1833 he was officially appointed as

. While serving as court painter, he became well known around the empire for his portraits. He painted at the royal courts of Coburg, Gotha, Weimar, Reuss, and Munich as well as courts in Brussels, Paris, London, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg. In 1853 Diez was appointed as Honorary Designer of His Majesty The King of the Belgians by

. In 1858 Diez was appointed as a

Geheimrat ''Geheimrat'' was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the ''Geheimer Rat'' reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic r ...

, or privy councilor, by

. Diex created the Marienbild in der Haßfurtschlucht, a Catholic pilgrimage site and shrine in 1867. Some of his notable works include portraits of

Karl August Varnhagen von Ense Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (21 February 1785 in Düsseldorf – 10 October 1858 in Berlin) was a German biographer, diplomat and soldier. Life and career He was born in Düsseldorf, the younger brother of Rosa Maria Varnhagen, a noted poet, w ...

Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Bernhard II (17 December 1800, in Meiningen – 3 December 1882, in Meiningen) was a Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Family He was the only son of Georg I Frederick Karl, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Bernhard was a ...

Christian Daniel Rauch Christian Daniel Rauch (2 January 1777 – 3 December 1857) was a German sculptor. He founded the Berlin school of sculpture, and was the foremost German sculptor of the 19th century. Life Rauch was born at Arolsen in the Principality of ...

, and

Ludwig Bechstein Ludwig Bechstein (24 November 1801 – 14 May 1860) was a German writer and collector of folk fairy tales. He was born in Weimar, the illegitimate child of Johanna Carolina Dorothea Bechstein and Hubert Dupontreau, a French emigrant who disappe ...

. Diez died from complications related to a heart condition on 11 March 1873.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diez, Samuel Friedrich 1803 births 1873 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Court painters Geheimrat German male painters German portrait painters German Roman Catholics People from Neuhaus am Rennweg