Swiss, 1723-1786, Swiss painter, draughtsman and engraver. In 1741 he moved to Berne, where he took drawing lessons with Johann Grimm (1675-1747), whose school of drawing he took over in 1747. He visited the Bernese Oberland with Emanuel Handmann, Christian Georg Schetz (1718-91) and Friedrich Wilhelm Hirt (1721-72) in 1759 and in the same year travelled to Paris with Adrian Zingg (1734-86). This was his only trip abroad, but it determined him to work exclusively as a landscape painter. After nine months he returned to Berne, where his landscape views became popular, particularly with foreign travellers, enamoured of 'Nature' and keen to retain souvenirs of their travels. He was one of the first artists to portray the beauties of the Swiss countryside; his favourite subjects were the Aare Valley and views of Swiss lakes (e.g. View of Erlach on the Lake of Biel; Berne, Kstmus.). He invented a technique known as the 'Aberli style', which consisted of watercolour washes added to an image in which slightly smudged outlines were achieved through a combination of engraving and etching. The prints were made from drawings taken from nature and finished in the studio. His style was characterized by delicate execution, an intimate narrative approach, refined colours and the ability to convey a light and vaporous atmosphere. Aberli's success was such that he had to employ assistants and pupils to aid him in the coloration process; his pupils included Erasmus Ritter, Johann Jakob Biedermann, Marquard Wocher (1760-1830), Gabriel Ludwig Lory the elder (1763-1840) and Peter Birmann. From 1773 to 1775 Aberli also painted a series of costumes in response to tourist demand.   Related Paintings of Johann Ludwig Aberli :. | Title leaf of the album 12 landscapes | Seen Vevey | Kehrsatz in Bern view of north | Fall d-eau apellee Staubbach in the Vallee Louterbrunen | Fall d-eau apellee Staubbach in the Vallee Louterbrunnen |
Related Artists:
Miereveldt, Michiel Jansz. van
Dutch, 1567-1641
Joseph Karl Stieler
(1 November 1781 - 9 April 1858) was a German painter. Born in Mainz to a family of engravers and die-cutters, Stieler received some artistic training from his father, August Friedrich Stieler (1736 - 1789). Stieler began his career as a painter of miniatures. His portrait style was most especially shaped during his work in the Parisian atelier of Francois Gerard, a student of Jacques-Louis David. In 1808, he established himself as an independent portraitist in Frankfurt am Main. He traveled through Italy in 1810. In 1816, he traveled to Vienna to paint the portrait of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Between February and April 1820, he worked on his portrait of Beethoven, which is probably the most well-known representation of the composer today. Stieler worked mainly in the service of the Bavarian court. His painted likenesses in Schloss Nymphenburg, Schönheitengalerie, the so-called Gallery of Beauties, were commissioned by King Ludwig I. Stieler also painted the portraits of Goethe, Amalia of Greece, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, Johann Ludwig Tieck, and Alexander von Humboldt. The most distinguishing feature of Stieler's portraits is his utter focus on the sitter. Decorative additions are left out, and there is nothing that distracts the viewer's scrutiny. Stieler accomplished this concentration through deliberate light - dark contrast, which above all highlights the accurately characterized facial features. He died in Loytown.
Jakob Smits
Jakob Smits or Jacob Smits (Rotterdam, 9 July 1855 - Achterbos (Mol), 15 February 1928) was a Dutch-Flemish painter. He was born as son of a decorator. Jakob studied in Rotterdam at the academy and helped its father in the decoration business. From 1873 up to 1876 het studied at the Academy in Brussels, and afterwards also in Munich (1878-1880), Vienna (1880) and Rome (1880). In 1882, Jakob married his cousin Antje Doetje Kramer. They settled in Amsterdam, where Smits worked as a painter. He carried out, among other things, tasks for the museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Out of the marriage of Jakob and Antje two children, Theodora and Annie, were born. In 1884, the couple divorced. Jakob Smits moved to Blaricum and in Haarlem becomes director of the Nijverheids- en Decoratieschool (E: Industry and Decoration school). He gets to know Albert Neuhuys, a painter of the The Hague School, and together they make excursions to Drenthe and the Campine in Belgium. Jakob Smits becomes impressed by the Campine landscape and he establishes himself in 1888, definitively in Achterbos (Mol). He pays 2,000 Belgian francs for a small farm which he develops to his Malvinahof. In the same year he marries Malvina Dedeyn, the daughter of a Brussels lawyer, who is disinherited because of this marriage. Smits lives in poverty while he works tirelessly for what he will call my simple work, symbolic, poetic and real. In 1897, he received a gold medal for his exhibitions of large water-colour paintings on a gold background in Munich and Dresden. He also paints a lot of portraits, especially of Malvina and of their children Boby, Marguerite and Kobe. In 1899 destiny strikes: in a few days time he loses his daughter Alice and his wife. In 1901, Smits marries with Josine Van Cauteren. In the same year he holds his first individual exposition in Antwerp. There he obtains much praise of colleagues and critics but finds no buyer for his work. The exhibited work De vader van de veroordeelde (E: the father of the convict) was acquired later that year by the Museum of Brussels. Smits financial situation improved somewhat, but his family was put heavily on the test. In 1903 both his parents were ruined by a robbery and as a resulthe now had nine family members to maintain. At the request of the municipal authorities of Mol, Smits in 1907, arranged an international exhibition of artists who came to paint landscapes in Mol and its surroundings. The artist Paula Van Rompa-Zenke belonged to the arranging committee. There were no less than 68 painters participating, with Germans, Dutch, and Americans coming to Mol. The term Molse School was born. In 1910, Smits published an album with 25 engravings, which was dedicated to Queen Elisabeth. In 1912, the young Dirk Baksteen became a student of Smits. In 1914, Smits stopped with the production of art work. He became President of the Comite voor hulpverlening en voedselvoorziening van het canton Mol (E: Committee for assistance and food supplies of the canton Mol). After World War I he continued his work with a totally new vision and style as engrave and painter.