Editing Philipp Veit

{{Short description|German Romantic painter}}

[[File:Veitself.jpg|thumbnail|Self portrait, 1816]]
[[File:Philipp Veit 003.jpg|thumb|''The Empyreum and Figures of the Celestial Spheres of Paradiso'' after Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', Casino Massimo, Rome, fresco, 1817–1827]]
[[File:Philipp Veit 004.jpg|thumb|''Paradiso'', Canto III: Dante and Beatrice speak to [[Piccarda]] and [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance of Sicily]], detail, Casino Massimo, Rome, fresco, 1817–1827]]
[[File:Catel, Franz Ludwig - Crown Prince Ludwig in the Spanish Wine Tavern in Rome - Neue Pinakothek München.jpg|thumb|left|Franz Ludwig Catel, ''Crown Prince Ludwig in the Spanish Tavern in Rome'', 1824]]
[[File:0 'Immaculée conception' - Philipp Veit - Trinità dei Monti à Rome.JPG|thumb|left|''Immaculate conception'', 1830, oil on canvas, Santa Trinità dei Monti, Rome]]
[[File:1819 Veit Religion anagoria.JPG|thumb|''Allegory of Religion'', 1819, oil on canvas, Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin]]
[[File:Philipp Veit 008.jpg|thumb|''[[Germania (painting)|Germania]]'', 1836]]
'''Philipp Veit''' (13 February 1793{{snd}}18 December 1877) was a German [[Romanticism|Romantic]] [[painting|painter]] and one of the main exponents of the [[Nazarene movement]]. It is to Veit that the credit of having been the first to revive the nearly forgotten technique of [[fresco painting]] is due.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Veit, Philipp|volume=27|page=973}}</ref>

==Biography==
Veit was born in [[Berlin]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]. He was the son of a banker, [[Simon Veit]] and his wife [[Dorothea von Schlegel|Brendel]], daughter of [[Moses Mendelssohn]]. After Veit's parents divorced in 1799, Veit initially stayed with his mother and lived with her and her new husband [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel|Friedrich Schlegel]] in [[Jena]], Paris, and Cologne. In 1806, he returned to his father in Berlin and finished his schooling in the [[Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster|"Graues Kloster"]]. From 1808 on, Veit received his first art education at the Royal [[Academy of Fine Arts|Dresden Academy of Fine Arts]], where he was taught by [[Friedrich Matthäi]] and [[Caspar David Friedrich]],<ref name="Suhr 2016">{{Cite web |last=Suhr |first=Norbert |date=2016 |title=Veit, Philipp |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118804111.html#ndbcontent |access-date=20 March 2022 |website=Neue Deutsche Biographie}}</ref><ref name="Philipp Veit">{{cite web|title=Philipp Veit|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/philipp-veit|publisher=Oxford Grove Art|access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref>  later in [[Vienna]]. Although a prodigious talent when it came to drawing, Veit was not comfortable with oil painting, for which reason in Vienna he took to the medium of watercolour. In Vienna, he made the acquaintance of Schlegel, and through him came to know several Viennese Romantics, one of whom was the poet and novelist [[Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff|Joseph von Eichendorff]].<ref name="Philipp Veit"/>  He was strongly influenced by, and joined, the [[Nazarene movement]] in [[Rome]], where he worked for some years before moving to [[Frankfurt]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1810, Veit converted to Catholicism together with his mother and his senior brother [[Johannes Veit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Die Mendelssohns |url=https://www.mendelssohn-gesellschaft.de/mendelssohns/biografien/philipp-veit |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref> While participating in the struggle against Napoleon in 1813–14 (the [[German campaign of 1813]] or [[War of Liberation|War of the Sixth Coalition]]), first as a ''Lützower Jäger'' and part of the [[Lützowsche Freikoprs|Lützow Free Corps]], subsequently as a member of the ''Kleistsche Armeekorps'', a corps led by [[Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf]], and returning to Berlin for a short period, Veit became closer friends with the mentioned above poet [[Joseph von Eichendorff|Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff]] and his own lieutenant [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]].<ref name="Suhr 2016"/> Beginning in 1811, Veit was more teaching himself and finished a couple of portraits ([[Julie Gräfin von Zichy|Zichy-Vásonykeő, Julie Gräfin]], lost; [[Franz Xaver von Baader]] and other members of Vienna's society and exponents of Romanticism). In 1815, he finished his first religious painting. ''Virgin with Christ and St John'', a votive painting for the church of [[Heiligenstadt St. James's Church|St James in Heiligenstadt]], Vienna. The painting shows already close ties to the Nazarene movement and thus was inspired by the style of [[Pietro Perugino]] and [[Raphael]].<ref name="Philipp Veit"/>

==Rome==
Rome was at that time of fundamental importance not only to artists of all stripes but—as the religious centre of Christianity—especially to artists prepared to re-create a spiritually inspired art, seeking for inspiration in the art of the [[Middle Ages]] and of the early [[Renaissance]] and living a nearly monastic existence similar to the medieval artist's workshop (with almost entirely Christian patrons), a reason why the artists' group was named according to the medieval [[Guild of Saint Luke|guilds of painters]] or ''Lukasbund ''(Brotherhood of St Luke). In 1816, Veit joined the brotherhood which inhabited—or had occupied—the abandoned monastery of [[Sant'Isidoro a Capo le Case|Sant'Isidoro]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Locher |first=Hubert |title=Deutsche Malerei im 19. Jahrhundert |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=2005 |isbn=9783534162963 |location=Darmstadt |pages=16–18, esp. 17 |language=de}}</ref> Since 1815, [[Johann Friedrich Overbeck]], [[Peter von Cornelius]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow|Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow]], and later Veit frescoed a room in the "Casa Bartholdy" called [[Palazzo Zuccari, Rome|Palazzo Zuccari]] on the [[Pincian Hill]], which at that time was owned by [[Jakob Salomon Bartholdy]], the Prussian Consul-General. The commission was given to Schadow and his young compatriots with the selected subject of Joseph and his brethren. While ''The Bloody Coat'' and ''Joseph in Prison'' were conferred to Schadow, Veit executed ''[[Potiphar's wife]]'' and the ''Seven Years of Great Abundance'' (in 1867, the frescoes were sold by the Zuccari family to the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin). In 1817, Veit received the commission for a fresco in the Museo Chiaramonti (part of the [[Vatican Museums|Vatican]], set out in the long loggia which joins the Palace of Belvedere with the Vatican) with the allegorical subject of ''The Triumph of the Religion''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macchi |first=David |date=22 October 2014 |title=Vatican Museums – Chiaramonti Museum |url=http://romapedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/vatican-museums-chiaramonti-museum-old.html |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Romapedia}}</ref> A simultaneous replica (executed in oil on canvas) was exhibited in 1819 in the Palazzo Caffarelli on the [[Capitol Hill]] and is today part of the collection of the National Gallery in Berlin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Suhr |first=Norbert |title=Philipp Veit (1793–1877): Leben und Werk eines Nazareners. Monographie und Werkverzeichnis |publisher=VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH |year=1991 |isbn=978-3527177097 |location=Weinheim |pages= 244|language=de}}</ref> Among the frescoes in the [[Villa Giustiniani Massimo|Casino Massimo]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019–2021 |title=Giustiniani palace at the Lateran - Massimo Lancellotti Casino |url=https://www.culturalheritageonline.com/location-4306_Villa-Giustiniani-Massimo---Casino-Massimo-Lancellotti.php |access-date=29 March 2022 |website=CulturalHeritageOnline}}</ref> the second renowned example of composite work of Nazarene art in Rome, Veit executed scenes, e.g., of the ''Paradiso'', at the ceiling of the Dante room, after [[Dante Alighieri|Dante Alighieri's]] [[Divine Comedy]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Novotny |first=Fritz |title=Painting and Sculpture in Europe 1780–1880 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1995 |location=New Haven, CT |pages=114 |language=en}}</ref> At the same time, around 1824, Veit was commissioned by the canon [[Immanuel Christian Leberecht von Ampach|Christian Leberecht von Ampach]] to execute a painting with the subject of ''Christ at the Mount of Olives'' (''Christus am Ölberg'', finished 1825) for the Chapel of the Three Magi (Dreikönigskapelle) at [[Naumburg Cathedral]] in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Suhr |first=Norbert |date=2016 |title=Veit, Philipp |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118804111.html#ndbcontent |access-date=3 April 2022 |website=Neue Deutsche Biographie}}</ref> In 1821, Veit had married a young girl, Carolina Pulini (1807–1890), the daughter of his landlord, the sculptor Gioacchino Pulini (1777–1857).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Noack |first=Friedrich |date=2006 |title=Schede Noack: Künstler in Rom |url=http://db.biblhertz.it/noack/noack.xql?lang=de&id=7789 |access-date=1 May 2022 |website=Bibliotheca Hertziana Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte}}</ref> Carolina gave birth to five children: 1822 Dorothea, 1824 Theresa, 1826 Franziska, 1828 Maria Benedetta, and 1830 Friedrich.

Still in Rome in 1824, Veit was depicted as a member of German artists' circles in [[Franz Ludwig Catel|Franz Ludwig Catel's]] famous group portrait ''Crown Prince Ludwig in the Spanish Wine Tavern in Rome''; Veit is said to be the person sitting between the two standing figures of von Wagner and Dr. Ringseis on the right side of the table.  In 1829–30, Veit executed a [[Immaculate Conception|''Maria Immaculata'']] for the Capella Orsini (a northern chapel) of [[Santa Trinità dei Monti]], moreover the last work of his Roman period, with clear stylistic impact of Raphael and Perugino.

==Frankfurt==
In October 1830, Veit arrived in Frankfurt on Main together with his wife Carolina and their five children. In Frankfurt on Main, where his most important works are preserved at the [[Städel]], he was active from 1830 to 1843 as director of the art collections and as professor of painting. Among his most renowned pupils are [[Alfred Rethel]] and [[Eduard von Steinle|Edward von Steinle]]. Around 1832, Veit decided for the first time to depict subjects of ancient mythology (e.g. ''Shield of Achilles'') on the ceiling of one of the Städel's "Antikensäle". Other decorations for the old Städel building were the frescoes ''Die Einführung der Künste durch das Christentum in Deutschland'' (The Arts Being Introduced to Germany by Christianity) with the allegories of [[Germania (painting)|Germania]] and ''Italia''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Digital Collection |url=https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/en/work/the-arts-being-introduced-to-germany-by-christianity |access-date=23 May 2022 |website=Sammlung Städelmuseum}}</ref> Originally, the three-parted fresco adorned the old premises of the Institute in Neue Mainzer Straße. Actually, it displays a conversion scene (through the sermon of [[Saint Boniface]]) in the centre-panel while the allegories of ''Germania'' and ''Italia'' on the side panels represent secular and spiritual power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=Monika |title=Allegorie und Geschichte. Ausstattungsprogramme öffentlicher Gebäude des 19. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland |publisher=Ernst Wasmuth Verlag |year=1989 |isbn=3803019087 |location=Tübingen |pages=92–93; ill. 35 |language=de}}</ref> It was removed in 1877 and transferred into the new building. On the occasion of the national assembly of 1848, for which [[Saint Paul's Cathedral]] of Frankfurt on Main was used as an assembly hall, Veit executed a second version of the ''Germania''-painting (oil on canvas) which hung in full view on the wall above the chair people as an appeal to all German states to create a unitary constitution during the first all-German Parliament.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=Monika |title=Allegorie und Geschichte. Ausstattungsprogramme öffentlicher Gebäude des 19. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland |publisher=Ernst Wasmuth Verlag |year=1989 |isbn=3803019087 |location=Tübingen |pages=93; ill. 34 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=23 May 2022 |title=Objektkatalog |url=http://objektkatalog.gnm.de/objekt/Gm608 |access-date=23 May 2022 |website=Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg}}</ref> Between 1840 and 1852, four so-called portraits of German rulers (which were, actually, pictures of Holy Roman emperors) were painted by Veit: ''Friedrich II.'' ([[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]]), ''Heinrich VII.'' ([[Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor]]), ''Otto der Große'' ([[Otto the Great]]) and ''Karl der Große'' ([[Charlemagne]]) as donation for the "Kaisersaal" (Emperor's Hall) in the City Hall of Frankfurt.

From 1853 till his death in 1877 he held the post of director of the municipal gallery in [[Mainz]]. 
Like his fellow Nazarenes he was more [[Technical drawing|draughtsman]] than painter, and though his sense of colour was stronger than that of [[Johann Friedrich Overbeck|Overbeck]] or [[Peter von Cornelius|Cornelius]], his works are generally more of the nature of coloured cartoons than of paintings in the modern sense.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Among Veit's other principal works is his ''Assumption'' in the Frankfurt Cathedral, while the [[Alte Nationalgalerie]] of Berlin has his painting of ''The Two Marys at the Sepulchre''.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Veit died in Mainz.

== Paintings by Philipp Veit ==
<gallery class="center" widths="155" heights="185">
File:Philipp Veit - Allegory of Russia - WGA24350.jpg|''Allegory of Russia'', 1840s, oil on canvas, 121 x 91&nbsp;cm, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
File:Bildnis der Freifrau von Bernus.jpg|''Marie Freifrau von Bernus, geborene du Fay (1819–1887)'', ca. 1838, oil on canvas, 128,6 x 97,2&nbsp;cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt
File:Portrait of MARIA VON MORL.jpg|''Maria von Mörl (1812–1868)''
</gallery>

{{Commons category|Philipp Veit}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Mendelssohn family}}{{Romanticism}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veit, Philipp}}
[[Category:19th-century German painters]]
[[Category:19th-century German male artists]]
[[Category:German male painters]]
[[Category:Jewish painters]]
[[Category:19th-century German Jews]]
[[Category:Painters from Berlin]]
[[Category:Mendelssohn family]]
[[Category:1793 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:Nazarene painters]]