Jakob Emanuel Handmann (16 August 1718 in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

– 3 November 1781 in Bern) was a Swiss painter specialised in portrait painting. He was a contemporary of the Swiss painters

Anton Graff Anton Graff (18 November 1736 – 22 June 1813) was an eminent Swiss portrait artist. Among his famous subjects were Friedrich Schiller, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Heinrich von Kleist, Frederick the Great, Friederike Sophie Seyler, Johann Go ...

, Jean Preudhomme, Angelica Kauffman, Johann Jakob Schalch,

Johann Caspar Füssli Johann Caspar Füssli (3 January 1706 – 6 May 1782) was a Swiss portrait painter and writer. Biography Füssli was born in Zurich to Hans Rudolf Füssli, who was also a painter, and Elisabeth Schärer. He studied painting in Vienna betwee ...

and his son

Johann Heinrich Füssli Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, drawing, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in United Kingdom, Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare ...

Life and work

Jakob Emanuel Handmann was the 9th child of Johann Jakob Handmann, a baker and later bailiff of Waldenburg, and his wife Anna Maria Rispach. Between 1735 and 1739 he made an apprenticeship as a stucco

plasterer A plasterer is a tradesman or tradesperson who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been ...

and studied painting in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

with the painter and stucco

Johann Ulrich Schnetzler. He made study trips to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. In Paris he worked at the studio of Jean Restout II who influenced his work. In 1742 Handmann travelled through France finding employment in a portrait studio partnership with the painter Hörling. In the business partnership with Hörling Handmann was mainly responsible for painting the heads of the sitters. In

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

he worked among others in the studios of

Marco Benefial Marco Benefial (25 April 1684 – 9 April 1764) "Marco Benefial (Getty Museum)" (history), The Getty Museum, 2006, webpage: GM-Benefial. was an Italian, proto- Neoclassical painter, mainly active in Rome. Benefial is best known for h ...

and

Pierre Subleyras Pierre Subleyras (; November 25, 1699 – May 28, 1749) was a French painter, active during the late- Baroque and early- Neoclassic period, mainly in Italy. Life Subleyras was born in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, France. He left France in 1728, havi ...

in Rome. There he mainly copied masterpieces from the

Classical Antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

periods. By June 1746 he was back in Switzerland. In 1747 he settled down in

. In Basel he opened his own studio. However, many of his clients were

patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

from the city and the area of Bern. Thanks to the acquaintance of the Estonian

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Carl Friedrich von Staal, Handmann became a member of the “

Accademia Clementina The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia f ...

” of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

in 1773. Apart from a trip to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1753 he never again left his native country.

Gallery

File:Handmann, Portrait d'une jeune musicienne.jpg, A Young Musician, 1772 File:Handmann, Adrian Zingg.jpg,

Adrian Zingg Adrian Zingg (April 15, 1734, St.Gallen – May 26, 1816, Leipzig) was a Swiss painter. Life Adrian Zingg received his professional training with his father, the steel cutter Bartolomäus Zingg, then became an apprentice with the engra ...

, 1767 File:Niklaus Tscharner 1755.jpg, , 1755 File:Handmann Johann Ludwig Aberli.jpg,

Johann Ludwig Aberli Johann Ludwig Aberli (14 November 1723, Winterthur - 17 October 1786, Berne) was a Swiss painter and etcher. Biography He was born into a humble family. His father was a watchman. After completing his basic education, he became the student of a ...

, 1751 File:Leonhard Euler.jpg,

Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...

, 1753 File:Bildnis der Johanna Margaretha Frisching by Jakob Emanuel Handmann.jpg, Johanna Margaretha Frisching, 1758
(relative of Franz Rudolf Frisching)

Literature and references

* Thieme-Becker: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig: Seemann, 1907–1950; Taschenbuchausgabe: München: DTV (1992) * Thomas Freivogel: ''Emanuel Handmann 1718–1781 – Ein Basler Porträtist im Bern des ausgehenden Rokoko'', Licorne-Verlag (2002) * Thomas Freivogel: ''Emanuel Handmann – beliebtester Porträtist der Familie Tscharner!'
(online)
* Thomas Freivogel: Zwei Friedrich-Bildnisse von Emanuel Handmann. In: Jürgen Ziechmann (Hrsg.): Fridericianische Miniaturen Bd. 2 (OLDENBURG 1991), S. 189-201

External links

* * * * https://archive.today/20130101082009/http://www.khist.unizh.ch/static/Biblio/FV/EH_Buchanzeige.htm (German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Handmann, Jakob Emanuel 1718 births 1781 deaths 18th-century Swiss painters 18th-century Swiss male artists Swiss male painters Swiss portrait painters Artists from Bern Artists from Basel-Stadt