The Life and Art of Hermann Wislicenus
Born in Eisenach in the Thuringian Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Hermann Wislicenus was a German historical painter. He received his training at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Eduard Bendemann and Julius Schnorr. Following a stipend from the Grand Duke of Weimar, he traveled to Italy, where he lived in Rome from 1853 to 1857 and became a follower of Peter von Cornelius and the Nazarene movement. After returning to Germany, he settled in Weimar and opened his own studio. In 1868, he was appointed as a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy.
Wislicenus is particularly noted for his significant mural paintings within the Imperial Palace of Goslar. After winning a competition in 1877 for the decoration of the restored Goslar Kaiserpfalz, he and his pupils completed a series of 68 frescoes over twenty years. These works depicted a continuity of imperial rule from Charlemagne to the Prussian-led German Empire.
Notable Works and Collections
The artist's body of work includes various oil paintings, watercolors, and cartoons. Some of his notable pieces include:
- Abundance and Destitution, purchased by the Dresden Gallery in 1853.
- Myth of Prometheus (1862, Leipzig Museum)
- The Flood of Deucalion (1865, Weimar Museum)
- Night With Its Retinue, created for the Grand Duke of Weimar
- Brutus as Judge of his Sons and The Mother of the Gracchi, mural paintings in the Härtel Roman House at Leipzig
- Fancy Borne by the Dreams (Schaek Gallery, Munich)
- Angels Singing Psalms, a mural painting in the Grand-ducal chapel, Weimar
- The Four Seasons (1877, National Gallery, Berlin)
