Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm Franz von Kotzebue (russian: Алекса́ндр Евста́фиевич Коцебу́, tr. ; 9 June 1815 – 24 August 1889) was a German Romantic painter of historical scenes and battle scenes.

Life

Alexander von Kotzebue was the son of the playwright

August von Kotzebue August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (; – ) was a German dramatist and writer who also worked as a consul in Russia and Germany. In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl L ...

. He was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...

. On August's death in 1819, Alexander was educated in the Cadet Corps in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, leaving it in 1834 as a Gardeleutnant. However, four years later, in 1838, he moved to an artistic career and began his artistic training at the St Petersburg Academy under Alexander Sauerweid. He spent six years at the St Petersburg Academy and at the end of them, in 1844, exhibited his first painting, ''The Storming of Warsaw'', in St Petersburg. He then went to continue his studies in Paris in 1846 and to Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany in 1848, before finally settling in Munich. There he became imperial professor of Russian and an honorary member of the

Academy of Fine Arts Munich 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, ...

. He painted several large-scale works for the Russian tsar of Russian battles in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

and the campaigns of

Alexander Suvorov Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров, Aleksándr Vasíl'yevich Suvórov; or 1730) was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Râmnicu Sărat, Rymnik, C ...

. The most important of these are considered to be the ''Storming of Schlüsselburg'', ''Battle of Poltawa'', ''Storming of Narva'', ''Crossing of the Devil's Bridge'' and ''Founding of St Petersburg'' (

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 Maximilia ...

, Munich). Kotzebue died in Munich and is buried there in the

Alter Südfriedhof The Alter Südfriedhof (''Old South Cemetery'') also known as "Alter Südlicher Friedhof" is a cemetery in Munich, Germany. It was founded by Duke Albrecht V as a plague cemetery in 1563 about half a kilometer south of the Sendlinger Ga ...

Selected paintings

File:Kotzebue - Einnahme von Berlin (1760).jpg, The

Raid on Berlin The Raid on Berlin took place in October 1760 during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War) when Austrian and Russian forces occupied the Prussian capital of Berlin for several days. After raising money from the city, and with t ...

File:Battle of Kulm by Kotsebu.jpg, The

Battle of Kulm :''See Battle of Chlumec for the 1126 battle at Kulm The Battle of Kulm was fought near the town Kulm () and the village Přestanov in northern Bohemia. It was fought on 29–30 August 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition. A French ...

File:Fall of Kolberg in 1761.jpg, The Fall of Kolberg

Sources

*Sylva van der Heyden: "Kotzebue, (August) Alexander Evstafievich" by Alexander Ferdinand Wilhelm Franz In: France Nerlich and Bénédicte Savoy (Eds.), ''Pariser Lehrjahre. Ein Lexikon zur Ausbildung deutscher Maler in der französischen Hauptstadt''. Vol.2: 1844–1870. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2015 *Rostislav von Kotzebue, ''Geschichte und Genealogie der Familie Kotzebue'', Harvas 1984

External links

*
Gallery of Kotzebue's work
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotzebue 1815 births 1889 deaths Baltic-German people German romantic painters Artists from Königsberg 19th-century painters of historical subjects