Albrecht Adam

Albrecht Adam ( born April 16, 1786 in Nördlingen, † August 28, 1862 in Munich) was a German battles, portrait and genre painter.

Life and work

Albrecht Adam went as a pastry assistant to Nuremberg and visited here the drawing academy. The battle painter Johann Lorenz Rugendas put in the boy the seeds of his later inclination. In 1807 he lived in Munich, where he became acquainted with the painters Margarethe Geiger and Sophie Reinhard; all three went together in 1808 to Vienna, where Adam attended the Academy. In 1809, Adam joined as an eyewitness at the then battles of Aspern ( 21-22. May) and Wagram ( 5/6 July), in the wake of Austrian and Bavarian army leaders, including the Bavarian Major General Count Froberg -Montjoie on. During the Battle of Wagram he made several sketches, which him that which is exhibited in the Vienna Museum of Military History, is attributed. In his autobiography, which, however, only appeared in 1886, he described these experiences in writing:

" My ardent desire to be eyewitness to a great battle was so satisfied. There was now enough material for thought, even to images, if time and circumstances permitted. In those days I saw so many shocking scenes that I had no desire to follow the army on. "

Nevertheless, Adam 1812 took place in the Grande Armée in part in the Russian campaign. From there, back in December 1812, at great risk to Munich, he went to Italy, where he remained until 1815, then led in Munich a series of battle scenes from the past wars and published a lithographic splendor in 120 leaves under the title Voyage pittoresque et militaire, also containing battle scenes.

Later occupied him King Ludwig of Bavaria. Among other things, Adam painted for the banquet hall of the royal residence in Munich, the Battle of the Moskva River. In 1848/49 he made under Radetzky with the campaign in Italy, the result of which are the paintings of the battles of Novara and Custozza in the Neue Pinakothek. His last work was the Battle of anger village for the Maximilianeum in Munich.

Albrecht Adam had seven children. Four of his sons were also painters: Benno (1812-1892), Franz (1815-1886), Eugene (1817-1880) and the lithographer Julius Adam ( 1826-1874 ). Mostly he also worked with his sons, such as with his son Franz, with whom he created a monumental equestrian portrait of the young Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, which today is located in Vienna's Museum of Military History.

The history painter Ludwig von Langenmantel (1854-1922) was Albrecht Adam's grandson.

Works (selection)

  • Field Marshal Radetzky and his staff at the Battle of Novara on March 23, 1849 1855. Oil on canvas, 120 x 75 cm, Museum of Military History, Vienna.
  • Portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria at the age of 26 years, on horseback, 1856. Oil on canvas, 389 × 339 cm, Museum of Military History, Vienna.
  • Defense of the blockhouse of Malborghetto 15 to 17 May 1809 the command of Captain in the Corps of Engineers Friedrich Hensel, 1843. Oil on canvas, 126 × 182 cm, Museum of Military History, Vienna.
  • The Battle of Wagram on 5 and 6 July 1809 to 1810. Oil on paper, 22 × 28 cm, Museum of Military History, Vienna.
  • Field Marshal Joseph Wenzel Radetzky Graf von Radetz with his staff in front of Milan, 1848, 1849. Oil on canvas, 81 × 108 cm, Museum of Military History, Vienna.
  • After the battle. 1840, oil on canvas 80,5 x108, 5 cm, Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt. Scene of the Battle of Borodino with dying and Wi- rider horse, fallen soldiers and two soldiers who take care of wounded comrades.
  • A riderless horse on the battlefield of Borodino. In 1834. Hamburger Kunsthalle. Scene of the Battle of Borodino with a masterless become the warhorse and a soldier in the background, which leads away several also become ownerless horses.
  • Napoleon before Moscow. 1837, oil on canvas, Jenisch House (Hamburg), 1st floor. Acquired in 1999 from Altona Museum.
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