Balthasar Denner

Balthasar Denner (Nov 15, 1685 - Apr 14, 1749) was a German painter, highly regarded as a portraitist. He painted mostly half-length and head-and-shoulders portraits and a few group portraits of families in interiors. Usually Denner concentrated on the face; clothes and paraphernalia were done by other painters or later his daughter. His chief peculiarity consisted in the fineness of his mechanical finish, which extended to depicting even the almost invisible furze of hair growing on smooth skin. He is particularly noted for his heads of old men and women.

Balthasar Denner grew up in Altona, about two kilometers west of Hamburg Altona (1710) was the second largest city in the Danish state after Copenhagen (1710) with about 12,000 inhabitants and was particularly distinguished by his freedom of religion from his father Jakob Denner (1659-1746 ) Was a well-known preacher of the Altona Mennonites, by profession Blaufarber His mother was Catharina Wiebe (1663-1743) Balthasar was the oldest of seven siblings and the only son

When Balthasar was eight years old, he suffered an accident that caused him to linger all his life. He spent the time of protracted healing with drawing, showing himself unusually clever in copying pictures with great precision

At the age of eleven he was taught by the Dutch painter Franz van Amama When his father worked for a while in Gdansk as a Mennonite pastor, Balthasar received lessons in oil painting

In 1701, the family moved back to Altona Balthasar, now 16, entered the company of an uncle in Hamburg to study the profession of the merchant. He worked there for the next six years. In his spare time, he continued to practice painting

In 1707, at 22, Balthasar was admitted to the Prussian Academy of Arts, which a few years earlier, in 1696, had been founded by the later King Friedrich I (Prussia). Many artists and scholars were present in Berlin under his rule The school was considered one of the best in Europe

In 1709, at the age of 24, Balthasar Denner received his first important commission: he painted the portraits of Christian August (uncle and guardian of Karl Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf) and his sister Marie Elisabeth, the later Abbess of Quedlinburg The client was so impressed by the result that he invited Denner to Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig to paint other portraits. In 1712 Denner realized a large group portrait (178 × 138 cm) showing 21 persons from the duke's court It is now in the castle Rastede This large image justified the reputation of Balthasar Denner as a portrait painter who spread very quickly

In addition to the dukes and their families, the Danish kings Friedrich IV (Denmark and Norway) and Christian VI, King August II ( Poland), Czar Peter III (Russia) and King Adolf Friedrich (Sweden)

Evidently, Denner sometimes confined himself to introducing a portrait of his own specialty in a picture and to have the rest, for example, of figure, clothes, background, finished by another painter, and occasionally by one of his gifted children, The Three Children of the Ratsherrn Barthold Hinrich Brockes, from 1724, bears an inscription on the back of the book, showing the people involved: Denner painted the heads of the children in Hamburg, Jacob van Schuppen later in Vienna the bodies and costumes, the background is from Franz de Paula Ferg (1689-1740) , The flowers in the hands of the children painted Franz Werner Tamm (1658-1724)

In 1712, at the age of 27, Denner was already a made man and was able to marry. With his wife Esther Winter he had six children, five girls and a boy. From 1712 until his death in 1749 Denner traveled to his clients in Schleswig -Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Hanover, Dresden, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and London. He was at different times every year, sometimes taking several journeys a year, taking the whole family with them. The children were musically gifted and entertained the great personalities , Who had to sit still for her portrait, with musical performances The daughter Catharina, who was trained in music and painting, who died in 1744, was particularly talented. She lived in London from 1721 to 1728, and in Amsterdam from 1736 to 1739

The fact that Denner was acquainted with many Englishmen in Hanover and was invited from there to London is reminiscent of the close connection between the two countries: King George I (Great Britain) came from Hanover and also remained as the British king Elector of Hanover and Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg

Effect:
The fact that Denner was greatly sought and valued during his lifetime is evident from the list of his clients. The rich and noble of all Northern Europe wanted to be painted by him

A portrait also served as a documentary, had a prestige, helped to communicate marriages, or manifested political claims. In 1740 he painted ten copies of the twelve-year-old Peter III (Russia) in Kiel. One of them was sent to the court of Petersburg, As a discreet reminder of the claim to the Tsarenthron

The portrait of an old woman brought great enthusiasm to the public in Rotterdam and London Contemporary critics presented it to the Mona Lisa The most praiseworthy accuracy in detail with which every skin fold, every hairs was held, is said to be his portraits Study the magnifying glass

The portraits of Balthasar Denner have been used in the theory of art since the late eighteenth century as the negative example of a merely meticulously portraying painting, which is, therefore, unspiritual and artistic. Corresponding expressions are given by Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Johann Georg Sulzer, August Wilhelm Schlegel or Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel German biography of 1877 criticized: "However, anyone who is still looking for an ideal moment in the concept of a true work of art and is not content with the slavish transcripts of nature, such images will not touch pleasantly. There is absolutely no spirit in these heads, they speak Not, and the smooth, soft color still enhances the impression of the wax-like "

Arno Schmidt said in a radio interview of 1952 with Martin Walser that the writer had the task to reproduce the thought process of the people of his time with "Balthasar Dennerscher accuracy"

In the Hamburg district of Barmbek-Nord, a street is named after him
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