Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

(b Haina, 15 Feb 1751; d Eutin, 26 June 1829). Painter, teacher and theorist. In 1776 he trained under his uncle, (1) Johann Heinrich Tischbein I, in Kassel, and then moved to Hamburg to study with another uncle, Jacob Tischbein (1725-91). From both teachers he imbibed the courtly, late Baroque style then fashionable in Germany. His instruction was mainly in portrait painting with a smattering of landscape painting. In Hamburg he also studied history painting in the company of his cousin Johann Dietrich Lilly (1705-92), who was both painter and art dealer, by copying works by the Old Masters. During the 1770s, Tischbein travelled to the Netherlands and worked in Bremen and Hannover, before finally settling in Berlin in 1777. Over the next two years he established himself as a portrait painter to the Prussian court. From 1779 to 1781 he undertook his first trip to Italy, staying mainly in Rome. There he studied at the private academy run by the Swiss sculptor Alexander Trippel, from whom he learnt the principles of the Neo-classical style of which he subsequently became a leading exponent.

Part of the Tischbein family

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Self-portrait

Tischbein's most famous painting: Goethe in the Campagna, 1787

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, also known as Goethe-Tischbein (15 February 1751  – 26 February 1828) was a German painter. He was a descendant of the Tischbein family of painters, and a pupil of his uncle Johann Jacob Tischbein.

Tischbein was born at Haina, in what is now Hesse. Like many contemporary colleagues, he moved to Rome for some years. During his first stay in Rome (1779–1781) his style changed from Rococo to Neoclassicism. He painted landscapes, historical scenes and still lifes. His second stay in Rome lasted 16 years (1783–1799). He met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there in 1786, made friends with him and accompanied him to Naples in 1787. Later, Goethe recounted this travel in his Italian Journey.

Diogenes of Sinope c. 1780 (attributed).

Also in 1787, Tischbein painted his most famous work, a portrait of Goethe as a traveler in the Roman Campagna (now in the Städel museum, Frankfurt am Main).

From 1808, Tischbein was a painter at the court of Oldenburg in Northern Germany. He died at Eutin in 1829.

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