Bernhard Fries

Bernhard Fries ( born May 16, 1820 Heidelberg, † May 21, 1879 in Munich) was a German landscape painter.

Life

Bernhard Fries was born as the son of wealthy bankers, manufacturers madder ( madder dyer ) and painting collector Christian Adam Fries in Heidelberg. Received its first instruction Fries ( brother of Ernst Fries) under the history painter Carl Koopmann in Karlsruhe, attended from 1835 to 1837, the Munich Academy and went in the spring of 1838 to Italy, from where he returned in 1846 to Germany after being at 1840-1843 the Academy in Dusseldorf was.

When his most important work of the cycle of 40 Italian landscapes can be described that have been compared by some to the famous Rottmann 's cycle, the ' main model is considered Fries. After its completion in 1866, he created Italian views Palermo and The Mamellen ( at Schack in Munich), Civitella, Lake Garda, etc. as well as views of Heidelberg and motifs from its environment.

He was born into the art-loving family of bankers frieze, which he, unlike his colleagues made ​​it possible financially worry-free painting and travel. His father, the banker and producer Christian Adam Fries had quite a precious art collection. The collection contained Netherlands of the 17th century, images of Lorrain, Poussin, works by Joseph Anton Koch and George Augustus Wallis. He was the nephew of chemistry professor Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner, whose disciple Justus Liebig was. Fries was since 1857 a member of the Masonic Lodge Heidelberg Ruprecht of the five roses

A rich collection of drawings and sketchbooks is at a descendant in Germany privately owned. His paintings are represented in various museums, such as the great art galleries and engraving cabinets in Darmstadt, Halle, Karlsruhe, Munich ( Neue Pinakothek and Schackgalerie ), Stuttgart and Zurich. The Palatinate Museum in Heidelberg has a comprehensive collection of works by Bernhard Fries.

Fries ' Italian landscapes show great composition and broad treatment, the modern German, however, a very careful execution. He died on 21 May 1879 in Munich.

Works (selection)

• A distant view of the Mont Blanc
• Views of Lake Como
• The gorge at Nemi
• The Lake Geneva
• The Neckar valley
• The surroundings of Heidelberg
• A Storm