Carl Christoph Wilhelm Theodor Albert Sprengel (30 September 1832, Wollershausen – 4 July 1900, Reval) was a

Baltic-German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly ...

painter, writer and professor, associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. Although most of his works are portraits, he is also known for landscapes and historical scenes.

Life and work

He was born to the pastor, Georg Wilhelm Theodor Sprengel, and his second wife, Charlotte née Gnüge. This made him half-brother to Carl August Bernhard Sprengel: founder of the . From 1844 to 1848, he attended the gymnasium in Heiligenstadt. After graduating, he attended the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts then, in 1852, transferred to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. There, he studied with

Christian Köhler Christian Köhler (13 October 1809, Werben - 30 January 1861, Montpellier) was a German painter, associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule, although his style owes much to the Nazarene movement. Life and work While working as a groo ...

and the history painter,

Theodor Hildebrandt Theodor Hildebrandt (2 July 1804, Stettin29 September 1874, Düsseldorf) was a German artist of the Düsseldorf school of painting who specialized in literary and historical subjects. He was also a noted entomologist. Biography He was a disci ...

. He completed his studies in 1854. From 1856 to 1866, he worked as a drawing teacher at the Behmsche Lehranstalt, a German-language school in

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...

. During this time he was awarded the title of "Free Artist" by the

Imperial Academy of Fine Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

in St. Petersburg. After 1866, he was a writing and drawing teacher at the Gustav Adolf Grammar School in Reval (Tallinn). Later, he also taught at a secondary school for girls and a technical school. From 1872 to 1877, he taught at the . His teaching method emphasized each individual's special talents. His best known students include

Gregor von Bochmann Gregor von Bochmann (1 June 1850, Nehatu, Kreis Wiek, Governorate of Estonia – 12 February 1930, Hösel, near Düsseldorf) was a Baltic-German landscape and genre painter. Biography His father was a forest warden for the Governorate of E ...

, and Ants Laikmaa. Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, he gave public lectures on German art. He also wrote reviews of the exhibitions at the local museums; which were some of the first to discuss Scandinavian and Finnish art.J. Keevallik, R. Loodus, L. Viiroja: ''Texte über Kunst und Architektur''. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Tallinn 2004, Vol.2, pp.28 ff.
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As a writer, in addition to works on art, he produced children's books,

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

s, poetry and travelogues. While in Vyborg, in 1862, he married Caroline Friedrike Wilhelmine von Frisch (1842–1915), the daughter of Dr. Robert Wilhelm von Frisch (1808–1855), from

Weißenstein Weißenstein ( sl, Bilšak) is a town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Weißenstein lies in the lower Drau valley northwest of Villach. The highest point in the municipality is the Spitzeck at 1517 m ...

. They had one child, Charlotte Friederike Luise (1867–1954), who married the chemist

Michael Wittlich Michael Wittlich (also Mihkel Vitsut; 11 October 1866 – 6 February 1933) was an Estonian chemist and professor. He acted as the professor for Technical Chemistry at Tartu University. In 1890 he graduated from Riga Polytechnical Institute wit ...

References

External links

"Theodor Albert Sprengel"
@ the Baltisches Biografisches Lexikon Digital {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprengel, Theodor Albert 1832 births 1900 deaths Immigrants to the Russian Empire Painters from the Russian Empire 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Estonian painters Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni People from Göttingen (district)

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links