Riepenhausen

German family of artists. The draughtsmen, engravers and painters Franz [Friedrich] Riepenhausen (b G?ttingen, 1786; d Rome, 3 Jan 1831) and his brother Johannes [Christian] Riepenhausen (b G?ttingen, 1788; d Rome, 17 Sept 1860) were both taught by their father, the G?ttingen engraver Ernst Ludwig Riepenhausen (1765-1840), and first worked in the style of precise, often anecdotal illustration typical of late 18th-century drawing and printmaking. In 1800 they produced engravings of Johann Heinrich Tischbein the elder's illustrations of the works of Homer, a commission that demanded the use of clear line. Studies in Dresden (from May to October 1804) under Ferdinand Hartmann (1774-1842) reinforced their preference for this style. They were also, however, attracted by Catholicism (they converted in 1804) and to Romanticism. In 1806, they published engravings after Ludwig Tieck's Genoveva, and they made copies of Hartmann's studies after old Italian oil paintings.

See the Abbreviations for further details.