Friedrich Bury
Portrait of Charlotte Catherine Jacobine Leonhard as a Child Portrait of Carl Caesar Leonhard as a Child with a Rose Portrait of Johann Friedrich Leonhard as a Child with an Apple
Oil on canvas (the portrait of Johann Friedrich Leonhard relined). Each 38-39 x 33.5 cm.
Friedrich Bury was the first pupil of the Düsseldorf Academy, beginning his studies in 1780 just two year's after the academy's founding. He resided in Italy from 1782 to 1799 where he lived with Goethe at no. 18 on the Via del Corso (today the "Casa di Goethe"). Alongside Goethe, with whom he remained aquainted throughout his life, Bury also met Johann Gottfried Herder, Duchess Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Prince Augustus Frederick - a son of the English king George III - and numerous other illustrious personalities whilst in Italy. Following his return to Germany his patrons included Queen Louise of Prussia, Queen Wilhemine of the Netherlands and the later Electoress Auguste of Hesse-Kassel.
The present portraits of children were painted just after the artist's return from Italy to Hanau in 1799. The works depict children of his relations and have remained in family ownership up until the present day.
Provenance
From the property of the artist's descendants.
Literature
Exhib. cat.: „Der Maler Friedrich Bury (1763-1823). Goethes ‚zweiter Fritz‘“, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Schiller-Museum und Historisches Museum Hanau Schloss Phillippsruhe 2013, Berlin and Munich 2013, p. 214, cat. rais. no. G10, G9 and G8, illus. p. 32 (full page) and 187.
Exhibitions
Der Maler Friedrich Bury (1763-1823). Goethes „zweiter Fritz“, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Schiller-Museum und Historisches Museum Hanau Schloss Phillippsruhe 2013, no. 64-66.