Karl Wilhelm Wach

Karl Wilhelm Wach (* September 11, 1787 in Berlin, † November 24, 1845 ) was a German painter.

Life

Wax studied art at the Academy of his native town, where he was a pupil of the painter Karl Kretschmar. Through the intercession of wax was already twenty years the contract to create an altarpiece for the village church Paretz'and; it was 1807 "Christ with four apostles ".

Four years later managed to watch with his portrait of Queen Louise his artistic breakthrough. After the campaigns of 1813-1815 wax retired with the rank of militia officers from the army and settled in Paris.

He made ​​friends with Wilhelm Hensel, and the two were students of the painter Antoine -Jean Gros and Jacques Louis David. 1817 undertook wax a longer study trip to Italy to study especially the artists of the Quattrocento there. The strongest influence - in their own words - but resulted in Raphael.

After two years of wax in 1819 returned to Berlin and settled there as a freelance artist. The first major task was the design of the royal theater. Wax created for a ceiling painting with the nine Muses; ( the engraver Joseph Caspar created in 1877 of which a well-known engraving).

By order of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. was placed a large hall with apartment available, in this then set up his studio wax. Due to his influence and his many students, this studio was soon to a school. Until 1837 he had nearly seventy students, almost all of which as an artist made ​​careers later.

His work as a teacher did not affect his art in the least. Wax was soon honored with the title Professor and in 1820 appointed by the Academy as a member. On the occasion of his fortieth birthday became court painter to the royal guard official. The Academy convened in 1845 to guard its Deputy Director; this office he held until his death.

The official art criticism, but also the audience appreciated wax mainly as a portraitist. It would be an exaggeration to see him as the successor to Raphael, though he tried to imitate his works quite well. Wax can not be seen as a brilliant creator of new ideas, but rather as an eclectic.

Wilhelm Wach was, like his sister Henriette Paalzow, buried in the Friedrichswerder Cemetery in Berlin -Kreuzberg. The family grave is, however, no longer obtain.

Works (selection)

  • The Last Supper and the Resurrection of Christ ( in the Protestant St. Peter and Paul church in Moscow )
  • Madonna with child " ( begun in 1825 as a wedding gift the city of Berlin for the Princess Louise of Prussia, completed in 1827 as " allegory. Stiftung of the Christian Church " )
  • The three heavenly virtues ( 1830 Friedrichswerder Church in Berlin)
  • Christ with his disciples
  • Surprised psyche of Cupid
  • A life-size nymph
  • John in the Desert ( 1838)
  • Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1838 )
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