Joseph Melling (27 December 1724,

Saint-Avold Saint-Avold (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Sänt Avuur'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated twenty-eight miles (45 km) east of Metz, France and seventeen miles (27 km) southwest o ...

- 23 December 1796, Strasbourg) was an Alsatian artist who 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 ...

for the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden (german: Markgrafschaft Baden) was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, ...

Karlsruhe Palace Karlsruhe Palace (german: Karlsruher Schloss) was built in 1715 for Margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach after a dispute with the citizens of his previous capital, Durlach. The city of Karlsruhe has since grown around it. The building i ...

Biography

He came from a long-established line of painters, etchers, architects and woodcarvers. His father came to Saint-Avold to participate in the rebuilding of a monastery and its church. He attended the

Lateinschule The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Emphasis was placed, as the name indicates, on learning to use Latin. The education given at Latin schools gave gre ...

in Saarlouis and went to Paris to complete an apprenticeship in carpentry. After that, he studied with

Carle van Loo Carle or Carlé is a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Andrea Cosima Carle, whose stage name is Maggie Mae (1960 – 2021), German singer *Barbara Carle (born 1958), French-American poet, critic, translator and Italianist *David Car ...

and François Boucher. In 1750, he was awarded the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

in painting for his version of

Laban Laban is a French language, French surname. It may refer to: Places * Laban-e Olya, a village in Iran * Laban-e Sofla, a village in Iran * Laban, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * 8539 Laban, main-belt asteroid People ...

giving his daughter to

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

. It is not clear if he went to Rome, but it is probable that he did some church painting with his uncle

Valentin Metzinger Jean-Valentin Metzinger (19 April 1699, Saint-Avold – 12 March 1759, Ljubljana) was a French-born Austrian-Slovenian painter, in the Baroque style. Life and work His ancestors were originally from Italy. He was one of twelve children born ...

in Laibach (

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

). In 1758, he joined his brother, the sculptor Christoph Melling (1716-1778), as a court painter in Karlsruhe. The following year, he married Josepha Lengelacher, the daughter of his brother's supervisor, the sculptor

Ignaz Lengelacher Ignaz Lengelacher (25 July 1698, near Peißenberg - c. 1780, Baden) was a German-born Baroque sculptor; primarily active in south Moravia. Life and work Little is known of him before 1717, when he was an assistant in the workshops of Giovanni ...

. In 1760, he completed a ceiling painting in the large marble hall of the Palace and, in 1764, decorated the altar at the Stadtkirche in

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was a ...

. He also served as an advisor to Countess Karoline Luise, helping her to acquire an art collection that later became the basis of the

Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. The museum, created by architect Heinrich Hübsch, opened in 1846 after nine years of work in a neoclassical building next to the Karlsruhe Castle and the ...

. In later years, he travelled throughout the area. In 1769, he painted a ceiling fresco and altarpieces for the monastery church in Schuttern. The same year, he did decorations at the Capuchin monastery in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

. The year 1770 found him in

Hechingen Hechingen ( Swabian: ''Hächenga'') is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border. Geography The town lies at the foot of t ...

, creating altarpieces for the Stiftskirche. Two years later, he was in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

doing a large mural for the Grand Ducal Palace. For many years, he operated a drawing school in what was once the palace's menagerie. His daughter Marie Luise (1762–1799) was one of his first students. Later, she took the name "Maria Rosa" and entered

Lichtenthal Abbey Lichtenthal Abbey (german: Kloster Lichtenthal) is a Cistercian nunnery in Lichtenthal in the town of Baden-Baden, Germany. History and buildings The abbey was founded in 1245 by Irmengard bei Rhein, widow of Margrave Hermann V of Baden, whose ...

, where she helped him paint murals in the meeting hall. In 1774, for financial reasons, he left Karlsruhe for Strasbourg, where he founded an art school; the "Academie de déssin d’après nature". He retained his contacts with the court, however and, after the death of Karoline Luise in 1783, created a catalog and directory of her collection. In 1789, during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, his school was superseded by a system of centrally-controlled state schools. Six years later, he was able to open a private school, supported by his son, the painter Joseph Ignaz Melling (1764–1817), who later operated his own art school in Rastatt.

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Melling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, Joseph 1724 births 1796 deaths 18th-century French painters Religious paintings Portrait painters Court painters Alsatian people People from Saint-Avold Prix de Rome for painting Fresco painters French emigrants to Germany

Biography

References

Further reading

External links