Carl Timoleon von Neff
Carl Timoleon von Neff, Timofei also Andreevic Neff (Russian Тимофей Андреевич Нефф; * 2 Oktoberjul / October 14 1804greg on the estate Püssi, today Ida -Viru, Estonia, .. † December 24 1876jul / January 5 1877greg. . St. Petersburg, Russia ) was a Russian imperial deutschbaltischer court painter, curator and art collector.
Life and work
Neff was an illegitimate child of the teacher Felicite Neff on the farm Püssi ( German New Isenhof ) in the government of Estonia was born. He studied painting in 1824 at the Art Academy in Dresden. From 1826, he worked in St. Petersburg, where he quickly rose through his talent as court painter of Tsar Nicholas I.. In Italy, he continued his education. From 1839 Neff was a lecturer at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1846 he was made an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
In the summer of 1838, he married Louise of Kaulbars. The couple had two children.
1849 academic title of professor he was awarded in Saint Petersburg. 1850 Neff acquired the manor of Piera (now Piira ) at Wesenberg ( Rakvere today, rural community Vinni ), where he set up his own studio. Naturally, most of his pictures were taken. In 1854, Neff was curator at the Hermitage and artistic overseer of the imperial palaces. He frequented the salons and the highest aristocratic circles of Russia.
Neff has become particularly well known as a painter of portraits, biblical and mythological scenes and genre paintings ( bathers, nymphs, and idealized country life ). In addition, he received numerous commissions from the Orthodox Church. Paintings in the Petersburg St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Uspenski Cathedral of Helsinki and the Russian Orthodox Church of Wiesbaden are the Members of him.
In his mansion on Good Münkenhof at Ladikfer (now Muuga of Laekvere, Estonia) - the goods Münkenhof and Piera belonged to him both from 1861 - Neff put on a large art collection, which today mostly located in Tallinn in the Estonian Art Museum. He had built up between 1866 and 1872 in Neo-Renaissance style, the new manor house. The marble interior staircase was a personal gift of the Russian Tsar Alexander II
Neff today lies in the cemetery of Simuna ( German Saint - Simonis ) buried.
When Neff was raised in the Russian hereditary nobility, is not known. The only certainty is that it was his son Heinrich von Neff, squire was enrolled on Münkenhof, on 15 January 1881 in the Estonian Knighthood.