Joseph Karl Stieler

(b Mainz, 1 Nov 1781; d Munich, 9 April 1858). German painter. In 1798 he studied under Christoph Fesel (1737-1805) in W?rzburg and in 1800 with Heinrich F?ger in Vienna, where his style was strongly influenced by English portraiture. After he studied in Paris (1807-8) with Fran?ois G?rard the influence of Neo-classicism became apparent in his work. He visited Italy in 1809, 1810 and 1812 to do commissioned portraits for various patrons, among them Prince Eug?ne de Beauharnais (1809; Munich, Bayer. Nmus.) and Joachim Murat, King of Naples (reg 1808-15). In 1812 he went to Munich where he did work for middle-class clients, the nobility and the royal family of Bavaria (e.g. the portrait of Maximilian I Joseph, 1816; Ellingen, Schloss). In 1820 he was appointed court painter to Ludwig I, King of Bavaria (reg 1825-48), and painted several portraits of him. In 1823 he helped co-found the Kunstverein in Munich. He was one of the most important portrait painters in the Neo-classical style, specializing particularly in studies of women, as seen in the 36 portraits commissioned by Ludwig I for the Sch?nheitsgalerie (1827-42; Munich, Schloss Nymphenburg). In his portraits for the middle classes and for the court he devised certain peculiarities of form. He painted various members of the royal houses of Austria, Prussia and Sweden, as well as members of the nobility in the duchies of Saxe-Altenberg, Saxe-Coburg and Hesse. His sitters also included some of the most important figures in the political and intellectual life of Germany in the first half of the 19th century. He painted the pendant portraits of Franz Brentano and Antonie Brentano (both 1808; Winkel, Brentanohaus), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1828; Munich, Neue Pin.) and Ludwig Tieck (1838; Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg), the geographer and botanist Alexander von Humboldt (1843; Potsdam, Schloss Charlottenhof) and the musician Ludwig van Beethoven (Bonn, Beethoven-Haus). After 1845 the classical elements in his paintings were sometimes combined with an application of colour typical of plein-air studies. He also painted genre pictures and religious scenes.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

STIELER, Karl (Munich, 1842-85, Munich), an archivist under the Bavarian government, possessed a talent for attractive dialect poetry. His volumes of verse include Bergbleamel (1875), Weil's mi freut! (1876), Habt's a Schneid! (1877), Um Sunnawend (1878), and In der Sommerfrisch' (1883).

Photograph of Joseph Karl Stieler, c. 1857, by Franz Hanfstaengl

Stieler's 1820 portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven

Joseph Karl Stieler (1 November 1781 – 9 April 1858) was a German painter.^[1] Born in Mainz to a family of engravers and die-cutters, Stieler received some artistic training from his father, August Friedrich Stieler (1736–1789). Stieler began his career as a painter of miniatures.

His portrait style was most especially shaped during his work in the Parisian atelier of Francois Gérard, a student of Jacques-Louis David. In 1808, he established himself as an independent portraitist in Frankfurt am Main. He traveled through Italy in 1810. In 1816, he traveled to Vienna to paint the portrait of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Between February and April 1820, he worked on his portrait of Beethoven, which is probably the most well-known representation of the composer today.

Stieler worked mainly in the service of the Bavarian court. His painted likenesses in Schloss Nymphenburg, Schönheitengalerie, the so-called Gallery of Beauties, were commissioned by King Ludwig I. Stieler also painted the portraits of Goethe, Amalia of Greece, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, Johann Ludwig Tieck, and Alexander von Humboldt.

The most distinguishing feature of Stieler's portraits is his utter focus on the sitter. Decorative additions are left out, and there is nothing that distracts the viewer's scrutiny. Stieler accomplished this concentration through deliberate light–dark contrast, which above all highlights the accurately characterized facial features.

He died at Munich.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joseph Karl Stieler

1. ^ Web Gallery of Art

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