Hans von Marées (24 December 1837 – 5 June 1887) was a German painter. Initially specialising in portraiture he later turned to mythological subjects. He spent the last years of his life in Italy.

Life

Marées was born into a banking family at

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

, part of Wuppertal since 1829, in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. In 1847 his family moved to

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

, where he was educated at the ''Gymnasium'' (grammar school). From 1853 to 1855 he studied at the Berlin Academy, and in 1854 he entered the studio of the painter and printmaker

Carl Steffeck Carl Constantin Heinrich Steffeck (4 April 1818, Berlin – 11 July 1890, Königsberg) was a German painter and graphic artist. He was especially well known for his paintings of horses and dogs. Life He was the son of a "gentleman of independ ...

. He served in the military in 1855–7, after which he moved to Munich where he met

Franz von Lenbach Franz Seraph Lenbach, after 1882, Ritter von Lenbach (13 December 1836 – 6 May 1904), was a German painter known primarily for his portraits of prominent personalities from the nobility, the arts, and industry. Because of his standing in society ...

.Artist biography in ''German Masters of the Nineteenth Century'', p.270 During his time in Munich he concentrated mainly on portraiture. In 1864 Count Adolf von Schack sent Marées and Lenbach to Italy to copy old masters. In Italy he became friendly with the art theorist Konrad Fiedler, who later became his patron, and the sculptor

Adolf von Hildebrand Adolf von Hildebrand (6 October 1847 – 18 January 1921) was a German sculptor. Life Hildebrand was born at Marburg, the son of Marburg economics professor Bruno Hildebrand. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, with Kaspar von ...

. In 1869, he visited

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

with Fiedler. He served in military in the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

(1870–71) and then lived in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

for a while. In 1873, he decorated the library walls of the newly built German Marine Zoological Institute in Naples,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

The murals consist of five scenes depicting figures in landscapes, set into a framework of friezes and pilasters designed by Hildebrand. They have no specific symbolic or mythological scheme, being intended simply to express, in Marées' own words, "the joys of sea and beach life". The next year, he moved to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where he became acquainted with

Anselm Feuerbach Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German Painting, painter. He was the leading neoclassicism, neoclassical painter of the German 19th-century school. Biography Early life Feuerbach was born at Speyer, the son of ...

and

Arnold Böcklin Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolism (arts), Symbolist Painting, painter. His five versions of the ''Isle of the Dead (painting), Isle of the Dead'' inspired works by several late-Romantic composers. Biography ...

, two leading members of the group of idealist, intellectual artists known as the "German Romans". He turned increasingly to mythological subjects and developed a complex and individual technique, overpainting tempera with layers of oil and creating a depth of colour quite unlike the muted tones used by his fellow classicist, Feuerbach. Fritz Novotny wrote that in Marées' brand of classicism "a completely new role is assigned to colour", and that, after Ingres, he was "the second great classicist in the nineteenth century who was also a great artist".Novotny 1978, p.323 In the 1880s Marées painted four monumental triptychs: ''The Judgment of Paris'', ''The Hesperides'', ''Three Saints on Horseback'' and ''The Wooing''.Schiff, Gert, "An Epoch of longing" in ''German Masters of the Nineteenth Century'', pp.28– 9 During this time he also produced smaller mythological paintings and some portraits. He spent these last years of his life in Rome, supported by Fiedler. He died there in 1887, at the age of 49, and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery. In 1935 the painting ''Die Labung'' had been stolen by the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. In 1980 it came into the possession of the

Museum Wiesbaden The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of Art museum, art and Natural history museum, natural history in the Hesse, Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Hessian ...

. In order to fulfill the museum's project of identifying

Nazi plunder Nazi plunder () was organized stealing of art and other items which occurred as a result of the Art theft and looting during World War II, organized looting of European countries during the time of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany. Jewi ...

and to return it to the legitimate heirs - the museum kept showing only the backside of the work, until they collected enough money through donations to buy it at the end of the same year.

References

Sources

''German Masters of the Nineteenth Century: Paintings and Drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany''
Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1981. Free download available. *

External links

WetCanvas biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marees, Hans von 1837 births 1887 deaths Painters from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters German people of Jewish descent German untitled nobility Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome People from Elberfeld Prussian Academy of Arts alumni Artists from Wuppertal Painters from North Rhine-Westphalia