Ernst Fries
Ernst Fries (22 June 1801, Heidelberg - 11 October 1833, Karlsruhe) was a German landscape painter. His works represent a transition from Romanticism to Realism.
Life and work[]
He was one of fifteen children born to , a banker, dye maker, and art collector, and his wife Luisa Christina née Heddaeus (1781-1858), daughter of Philipp Christian Heddaeus, a church administrator.[1] His family's affluence allowed him to travel freely and receive a thorough artistic education, without financial concerns. His much younger brothers, Wilhelm (1819-1878) and Bernhard, also became painters.
Beginning in 1810, he received lessons from , an engraver and designer who was known as the "University Sign Master" (Universitätszeichenmeister). After 1815, he studied with the landscape painter, Carl Kuntz, in Karlsruhe. He continued his studies in Munich for a short time then, in 1818, went to Darmstadt, where he took private lessons in perspective and architectural drawing from Georg Moller. At this point, he slowly came to prefer landscape painting and, from 1820 to 1821, enrolled in courses at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.
He travelled extensively, throughout the Rheinland and the Tyrol. From 1823 to 1827, he lived in Rome, where he created some of his most accomplished works.[2] Upon returning to Germany, he settled in Munich, but relocated to Karlsruhe in 1831, when he received an appointment as court painter there. During his brief tenure, he painted a large number of vedute; both paintings and engravings.
He committed suicide by slitting his wrists in 1833, apparently while in a manic state, related to scarlet fever.[3]
His works may be seen at most of the major museums in Germany, although the Kurpfälzisches Museum in Heidelberg has the largest collection, with around 180 paintings and engravings. Many of his works are also in a large private collection, owned by one of his collateral descendants.
References[]
- ^ "Der Fabrikant Christian Adam Fries und seine Familie" @ Historia Mathematica Heidelbergensis
- ^ Friedrich Noack: Das Deutschtum in Rom seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1927, Vol.2, pg.191
- ^ Friedrich Pecht (1878), "Fries, Ernst", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 8, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 72–73
Further reading[]
- Ernst Fries. Heidelberg 1801 - 1833 (Exhibition catalog), Frieder Hepp and Annette Frese (Eds.), Kurpfälzisches Museum der Stadt Heidelberg, Kehrer Verlag 2001 ISBN 978-3-933257-72-7
- Matthias Lehmann: Naturstudien – Nachlaß – Nachruhm. Die Nachlaßakte des Landschaftsmalers Ernst Fries (1801–1833). Fichter, Frankfurt am Main 2013 ISBN 978-3-943856-04-0
- Arthur v. Schneider (1961), "Fries, Ernst", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), 5, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 604; (full text online)
External links[]
Media related to Ernst Fries at Wikimedia Commons
- More works by Fries @ ArtNet
- Literature by and about Ernst Fries in the German National Library catalogue
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- 1801 births
- 1833 deaths
- 19th-century German painters
- 19th-century male artists
- German male painters
- Artists from Heidelberg
- Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni