Jeremiah Meyer
Jeremiah Mayer ( also Jeremiah Meyer, born as Majer Jeremiah, born January 18, 1735 in Tübingen, † January 19, 1789 in Kew in London ( now a suburb of London) ) was an English painter of German origin. He traveled at the age of 15 years with his father Wolfgang Dietrich Majer to London, where he stayed and lived most of the time. He was a famous miniature and enamel painter.
Life
Childhood
Mayer was the fourth of five children of the Tübingen Painter, Wolfgang Dietrich Majer and his first wife Anna Barbara born Sturmin, but the only one of those children who survived childhood. His mother died when he was only two years old. Since the illness of the mother in the last few days in December 1736, he grew up two years under the care of Aunt Maria Katharina Majer, who took over the financial management until her marriage, later well under the care of other women because his father at that time a lot in the yard in Stuttgart worked.
From the desire to leave the then six- year-old son Jeremiah bestowed a better education, the father gave him in January 1741 in the care of his brother- Schwalb, which an official - then in Rosenfeld and since 1743 in Ebingen - was. Jeremiah had first of Aunt from the vermin that plagued him, to be cleaned. This is an indication in what circumstances he spent the first years of his life. The civilized son took the father from July 25, 1744. Jeremiah's stay with his uncle gave rise to disputes, because the father of the agreed maintenance fee of 35 florins a year not fully paid.
Youth
The following years were spent Jeremiah Majer in Tübingen. He attended as " probably decent Lateindisziplinus " lessons and learned from his father paint. Well in 1749 bought a house in this Muenzgasse for 500 fl Since his savings now not even filed for a quarter of the purchase price; the rest of the inheritance of his grandfather Jeremiah was funded. To escape the misery of life in Tübingen to Father Majer decided to travel to London and the 15 -year-old Jeremiah, who had already made good progress in painting take. They left Tübingen on 20 October in 1750.
In London Jeremiah Majer studied at Shipley's Academy in St. Martin 's Lane. When his father returned to Tübingen in 1755, he was still in training. 1757-1758 he was a student of German, living in London painter Christian Friedrich Zincke, which he paid for lessons and materials £ 400. The contact was established a few years earlier by his father, who was a friend of Zincke. He also studied with Joshua Reynolds, who significantly influenced his painting style.
Success
Jeremiah Mayer specialized in email and miniature painting and, within a few years, he achieved great fame. Since 1760 he exhibited regularly in the exhibitions of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1761 he won a prize ( £ 20 ) for a profile image of the king for a coin. In 1762 he participated in the English nationality and in 1763 he married the portrait artist Barbara Marsden, with whom he had several children and survived him. In the same year, during the inheritance process in connection with the death of his father in 1762, he renounced de facto to his inheritance in favor of his step- mother because she was left without means of eight children and had no intention of marrying again .. was already at that time its financial situation referred to as " blessed." At this time he also became court painter to the king, first as a miniaturist and painter in 1764 as an email. His reputation was great and he took a leading role in the merged company an artist. In 1769 he was among the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts. In Mayer's suggestion a pension fund for members of the Academy was founded in 1775.
Mayer was good friends with the painter George Romney ( 1734-1802 ). He lived several years in Tavistock Row Covent Garden and later, until his death, in Kew, near London. Mayer died of fever at the age of 54 years. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Anne's Church of Kew, in the church itself a marble memorial tablet was placed with his medallion portrait and verses by William Hayley.
After Mayer had to leave Germany in 1750, he never came back. His knowledge of German subsided over time. Already in the correspondence of 1763 one finds linguistic defects that are due to the influence of English.
Performance
Mayer painted in oil, watercolor and enamel. His miniatures on ivory were incomparable to life truth. They found their coloring enchantingly beautiful. For many years he was unsurpassed as a miniature and enamel painter. As a man Mayer was also estimated as a painter. Many of his works were in possession of the royal family and are, inter alia, in Windsor Castle, the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and in the collection of the Duke of Cumberland.