Johann Georg von Dillis

Johann Georg von Dillis ( born December 26, 1759 in Gmain at Schwindkirchen, today Villages, † September 28, 1841 in Munich) was a German painter who is today famous for his depictions of rural life and his travel sketches.

Life and work

Dillis was born as the first child of a family foresters and graduated in 1775 today Wilhelmsgymnasium from Munich. He then completed at the Lyceum Munich the compulsory basic studies ( = philosophy), he began the study of theology, which he continued at the University of Ingolstadt in 1779 from there. In 1782 he was ordained a priest in Ingolstadt. But soon he felt the desire to devote himself to painting.

Until the beginning of the 19th century, he was mainly busy to give painting lessons in German noble houses; later it was possible for him thanks to recommendations to accompany young German and English noblemen traveling in the Mediterranean, which zugutekam his development as a painter.

With the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig I Dillis made ​​several trips to Italy, especially Rome and Sicily. On these trips Dillis made ​​numerous watercolor sketches, which were intended as studies for later vistas in oil. For today's eye, however, these studies contribute, through their sectionality and Dillis ' consummate color and form, much more modern than its fully worked vistas.

One of the inspirations for Dillis ' work were the ideal landscapes by Claude Lorrain, on the Dillis refers several times in his sketches. Another interesting fact is Dillis numerous cloud studies with chalk on blue ground on, the former enthusiasm for this subject after the introduction of cloud classification by Luke Howard a few years earlier accordingly.

In his time Dillis was virtually unknown as a painter. The management activity as an inspector in the civil service and the lack of time for artistic activities, he has increasingly complained. The posterity best known is probably the conception of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, in which Dillis was inspired by the Louvre, among others.

On behalf of King Ludwig I. Georg von Dillis 1827 produced a portrait copy of the monarch for his former teacher Louise Weyland in Mannheim.

Castle Harlaching, 1790

Virgin Tower, 1796

Praterinsel, 1800

Exhibitions

• Hamburger Kunsthalle, June 14 bis September 12, 2004
• Pfarrheim Schwindkirchen 17th to October 25th, 2009 ( no originals )