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Video: Living portraits of Christian Seybold - an artist whose biography was lost in the mists of time
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Unfortunately, history has decreed that almost no information has reached our time about the lives of some artists. But their picturesque masterpieces, painted many centuries ago, eloquently testify to them. And it should be noted that they will still talk about their creators for more than one coming century. One of these miracle masters lived and worked in the first half of the 18th century. And his name - Christian Seybold.
About the artist
The artist Christian Seybold (1690-1768) is an Austrian portrait painter of German origin, about whose childhood and youth almost nothing is known. Historians reliably state only that his father was from the German city of Oberursel, in the Prussian province … and that Christian was one of 11 children of a large family.
The artist spent his youth in the city of Soden, where, presumably, he received his primary art education, although according to some sources, Christian was self-taught. At the age of 20, the young man moved to Vienna and got married, but, alas, his family happiness did not work out. Less than two years later, his beloved wife died, and after marrying again, the artist buried his second wife, who died during childbirth with the child.
Christian devoted all his work to writing amazingly realistic portraits. At the age of 52, the artist was appointed court painter of King August III and went to live in Dresden. Another seven years will pass, and the artist will be invited to Vienna to take the position of court painter at the court of the Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and wife of Franz I Stephen of Lorraine, Maria Theresa, who cared about the prosperity of various sciences and arts. By the way, during her reign, she established several universities and academies and laid the foundation for the education of the common people. In the same year, Seybold was honored to become a member of the Vienna Academy of Arts.
The amazing manner of writing naturalistic portraits of Christian was developed by the artist under the influence of the painters of that time - portraitists Balthasar Denner and Jan Kupetsky. It was completely different from the manner in which the court painters of those times worked, clearly idealizing those who paid generously to artists for their images.
Portrait of an Elderly Woman in a Green Scarf
One of the most impressive female portraits in world painting by Seybold is the portrait of an Old Woman in a Green Scarf. Looking into the eyes of this woman, we see how much liveliness and intelligence they have! In all likelihood, she was very beautiful, pleasant and intelligent in her younger years.
Due to the fine details such as hair and wrinkles, the artist is believed to have used a magnifying glass in his work.
The artist's creative heritage
Today, the artist's works are in the collections of the Louvre, the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, the Dresden Gallery, the National Museum in Nuremberg, the State Museum of Mainz, the Liechtenstein Museum of Fine Arts, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
And what is noteworthy, Christian Seybold's paintings came to the Hermitage thanks to the Prussian diplomat and art dealer who traded in silk and porcelain - Jan Gotskovsky, who sold 317 paintings by European artists to Catherine the Great, which laid the foundation for the Hermitage collection. But, unfortunately, most of them were lost or taken away as war spoils.
Amazing canvases Frans Snyders - a Flemish artist who managed to revive still lifes, also occupy an entire hall in the State Hermitage of St. Petersburg and amaze the viewer with their realism.
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