Friedrich August von Kaulbach

Friedrich August von Kaulbach (2 June 1850 in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria – 26 July 1920 in Ohlstadt, Germany) was a German portraitist and historical painter.

Friedrich August von Kaulbach
Kaulbach in 1907; photograph by Frank Eugene
Born	4 June 1850 Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
Died	26 July 1920 Ohlstadt, Germany
Nationality	German
Education	Kunstgewerbeschule
Known for	portraitist, historical scenes
Notable work	Spanish Dancer, Girl in the Woods, Girl with her dog
Spouse	Frida Scotta
Children	3

Along with Franz von Lenbach and Franz von Stuck, he was known as one of the "Malerfürsten" (Enghlish: painter princes) and was one of the highest paid portrait painters in Germany. His works were commissioned by the uppermost social circles there and in America.^[1]

Career

Friedrich August von Kaulbach was born on 2 June 1850 in Munich to a family that included several well known artists. His brother, Sigmund (1854–1894), was also a painter, as were his half-siblings, Anton and Antonie [de]. His half-sister, Isidore [de], was a novelist. Friedrich himself began his studies with his father, Friedrich Kaulbach.

Von Kaulbach then attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, where he studied with August von Kreling and Karl Raupp. He transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, in 1871 and worked with Wilhelm von Diez. In 1883, he became a teacher there himself.^[2] Several stays in Paris followed. In 1886, he was appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and was ennobled.^[1] He was also a member of the Prussian Academy of Art in Berlin.

Personal life

In 1872, he married Anna Johanne Wilhelmine Lahmeyer (1849–1925), though the couple later divorced.^[3] On 15 May 1897, he married Frida Scotta, a famous Danish violist whom he had met while she was touring in Germany. He an Frida had three daughters: Doris (1898–1950), Henriette (1900–1992), and Mathilde (1904–1986).^[4] Henriette, or Hedda, became a renowned painter in Munich and Amsterdam.^[5] Their youngest daughter, Mathilde, became a singer and married a painter, Max Beckmann. Mathilde and Max stayed at the family villa in Ohlstadt frequently during the 1920s and 30s, where Beckmann used von Kaulbach's former art studio.^[4]

The Kaulbach Villa in Ohlstadt, built in 1893

In 1893, the Kaulbach Villa was built in Ohlstadt according to his designs. The villa served as the family's second summer residence and was his primary residence from 1910 until his death in 1920.^[6] Since 1997, it has been a museum, showing thirty of his paintings, a number of drawings, and his studio which is maintained in its original state.^[7]

Selected paintings

• 
  Children's Carnival (1888), depicting the five children of mathematician Alfred Pringsheim, including Katia Pringsheim (far left)
• 
  Portrait of the actress, Hanna Ralph
• 
  Frieda Kaulbach, geb. Scotta, die zweite Frau des Künstlers, 1900
• 
  Studie zu einem Bildnis der Sängerin Geraldine Farrar, 1906
• 
  Porträt der Familie des Künstlers, featuring von Frida and his three daughters, c. 1907
• 
  Rosario Guerrero als Carmen or The Spanish dancer, c. 1908

See also

• List of German painters