Karl Ferdinand Sohn

{{short description|German painter}}

{{expand German|topic=bio|date=October 2016}}

Image:Karl Ferdinand Sohn.jpg]]

Karl Ferdinand Sohn (10 December 1805 in Berlin – 25 November 1867 in Cologne) was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting.

Biography

File:Schattenseiten der Düsseldorfer Maler, Portrait of Karl Ferdinand Sohn (1805-1867).JPG

He was born in Berlin and started his studies at the age of eighteen under Wilhelm von Schadow, whom he followed to Düsseldorf. He focused on mythical and poetic subjects of a highly romantic character, and painted in the idealistic manner of the Düsseldorf school.

He visited Italy (1830–1831) and adopted ideas from the works of the Venetians; Titian, Paolo Veronese, and Palma il Vecchio. In 1832, he was named a Professor at the Düsseldorf Academy, where he exercised an important influence.

On 18 January 1834, he married Emilie Auguste von Mülmann in Düsseldorf. They had five children. His two sons Paul Eduard Richard Sohn (1834–1912) and Karl Friedrich Rudolf Sohn (1845–1908) also grew up to be painters. The latter married Else Sohn-Rethel (1853–1933), daughter of the painter Alfred Rethel. Clara, his eldest daughter, was married to the German composer and conductor Albert Dietrich. His daughter Marie married the painter Karl Hoff (1838–1890). His youngest daughter, Emilie, married his nephew, the painter Wilhelm Sohn (1830–1899), thereby making him his nephew and son-in-law.

File:Emma Elwin by Luise von Martens 1853 - Private Collection Germany.jpg and Emma Elwin (née Neussel). The present portrait of Emma Elwin was done by Martens when both were in their mid-twenties. It is probably the only surviving portrait of Emma Elwin (private collection Germany).]]

Later, He painted biblical subjects, and then devoted himself to genre scenes, well characterized and of great coloristic charm. Among these are: the Consultation at the Lawyer's (1866, Leipzig Museum) and the Warrior of the Seventeenth Century (1869, Dresden Gallery).

At the age of nearly sixty-two Karl Ferdinand Sohn died on 25 November 1867 during a visit to his friend Ferdinand Hiller in Cologne.

Notable students

Selected paintings

File:Rinaldo und Armida, Karl Ferdinand Sohn 1828.JPG|alt=Rinaldo and Armida|Rinaldo and Armida, 1828

File:Carl Ferdinand Sohn - Torquato Tasso and the Two Leonores - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=Torquato Tasso and the Two Leonores|Torquato Tasso and the Two Leonores, 1839

File:Mathilde Wesendonck by Karl Ferdinand Sohn, 1850.jpg|Mathilde Wesendonck

File:Karl Ferdinand Sohn - Minstrel and two listening Ladies - NG.M.00188 - National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.jpg|alt=|Minstrel and Two Listening Ladies, 1849. Depicting Torquato Tasso, Eleonora d'Este, and Leonora Sanvitale.

File:Carl Ferdinand Sohn - Die beiden Leonoren. Um 1834.jpg|alt=|The Two Leonors, circa 1834

File:Emilie Auguste geb. von Mülmann Gemälde vom Gatten Carl Ferdinand Sohn (1867).jpg|alt=|Portrait of Emilie Auguste Sohn by her husband

Sources

  • {{Cite ADB|34|544|546|Sohn, Carl|Max Georg Zimmermann|ADB:Sohn, Carl}}
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

{{Düsseldorf school of painting}}

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Category:19th-century German painters

Category:19th-century German male artists

Category:German male painters

Category:1805 births

Category:1867 deaths

Category:Academic staff of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf

Category:Düsseldorf school of painting

Category:Painters from the Kingdom of Prussia