Wilhelm von Kügelgen

William of Kügelgen ( born November 20, 1802 in Saint Petersburg, † May 25 1867 in Ballenstedt ) was a German portrait and historical painter, writer, court painter and chamberlain at the ducal court of Anhalt- Bernburg. But he has become known primarily for his posthumously published early memories of an old man giving a lively and vivid picture of the intellectual and civic life of the early Romantic period. The plant experienced until today numerous editions in at least 17 publishers.

Life

The son of the portrait and history painter Gerhard von Kügelgen and his wife Helene Marie Zoege von Manteuffel (1773-1842) spent his early childhood in Dresden in the now so-called Kügelgenhaus, then attended high school in Bernburg (Saale ) and studied at the Art Academy in Dresden. His father (1820 ) murder caused a deep life crisis; he also suffered from increasing color blindness. 1825/26 he lived in Rome, where he became friends with Ludwig Richter.

Friendly Kügelgen was with Caspar David Friedrich, Chr Fr Dahl and Carl Gottlieb Peschel. In his youth memories there is also important information and descriptions of the extensive circle of friends of the family, was at the center of the early Romantic period.

He married 1827 Julie Krummenacher ( born October 25, 1804 in Duisburg, † May 22 1909 in Dessau ), daughter of Anhalt- Bernburg State Superintendent Friedrich Adolf Krummenacher. The marriage produced six children come: Bertha ( born April 14, 1828), Anna ( born February 7, 1831), Gerhard ( born May 27, 1833), Adolph ( born May 9, 1835), Benno (* April 18, 1837 ) and Elizabeth ( born September 22, 1839). A grandson (son of Benno von K. ), Lieutenant Colonel William of Kügelgen, was in the years 1919-1925 as a personal secretary adjutant of General Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg.

In 1833, he became court painter in the Anhalt- Bern Burgi 's summer residence Ballenstedt, where he spent the rest of his life.

Kügelgen was an avid chess player. On January 9, 1837, he was a founding member of the chess club Ballenstedt. In the years 1837-1841 a log book was kept by a Dr. Ziegler, for its frontispiece Kügelgen contributed a hand drawing. The drawing shows a lady symbolizing the club in whose lap sitting opposite Kügelgen and Ziegler on the chessboard. The log book was acquired in 1928 by the Municipal Museum Ballenstedt, reprinted and referred to as " a new Kügelgenreliquie ".

In 1853 he was supervisor of the insane Duke Carl Alexander of Anhalt- Bernburg. Its 1870 by the publisher Philip of Nathusius posthumously published early memories of an old man were one of the favorite books of the German bourgeoisie; they appeared in 1922 in the 230th edition. In the preface to the 1924 publishing of K.F. Koehler, Leipzig, published edition wrote the editor of the book:

If the modest, restrained old man there knew what his personality now sixty years after he weak and sick in the silent Kügelgenhaus Ballenstedt with Bienenfleiß to his " childhood memories " feilte, the German people is, and that the self-designation, which he silent with resignation and quiet irony coined, it has already become popular in honor of Pan-Germany Gaus long name!

Kügelgen house in Ballenstedt, Kügelgenstraße 35 a is, until today. Since 1993 the Bernburger " art circle Saxony- Anhalt" the awarded scholarship to William of Kügelgen visual artists.

Works

Painting

• Altarpiece for the St. Olav's Church in Tallinn
• History of the Kingdom of God in images (several issues)
• Numerous portraits of the families of Krosigk Veltheim and von Westphalen and history paintings

Writings

• Three lectures on art. George Heyse, Bremen 1842
• Childhood memories of an old man, ed. of Philip of Nathusius. W. Hertz, Berlin 1870 digitized
• Memoirs of an old man, from letters and diary entries. Produced and edited. by Paul Siegwart of Kügelgen and John Werner. Koehler, Leipzig 1923
• Between youth and maturity of the old man 1820-1840, from letters and diary entries compiled by Johannes Werner. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1925
• Civil life. The letters to his brother Gerhard 1840-1867, ed. and with an introduction provided by Walther Killy. Munich 1990