Karl Friedrich Lessing

Painting of Karl Friedrich Lessing by Julius Hübner

He was born near Breslau, and was a pupil of Heinrich Anton Dähling at the Berlin Academy. He first devoted himself to landscape. In this period of his artistic career Lessing was influenced by the landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich: his themes he depicted were castle ruins, forgotten cemeteries, rugged rock formations, which he inhabited with figures of monks, knights and thieves. In 1826 obtained a prize with his Cemetery in Ruins. He accompanied Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow to Düsseldorf, where he continued his studies, devoting himself to historical paintings. In 1830, when Schadow went to Italy, Lessing occupied his place as director of the academy, exercising great influence on the Düsseldorf school of painting. His picture Das trauernde Königspaar (Mourning Royal Couple) brought him great popularity. In 1837, he received a gold medal at Paris; he was a member of the Berlin Academy and was the recipient of several orders. In 1858 he was appointed director of the gallery at Karlsruhe, where he continued his activity as a painter until his death in 1880.[3]

• Selected works by Karl Friedrich Lessing
• 
  Carl Friedrich Lessing, Klosterhof im Schnee (Monastery in Snow)
• 
  Romantische Landschaft mit Klosteranlage, 1834
• 
  The Hussite Sermon, depicting Hussites
• 
  Last Crusader
• 
  Waldkapelle
• 
  The Robber and His Child

• Karl Friedrich Schinkel
• Romantic movement

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Lessing, Karl Friedrich" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. This work in turn cites:
  • Wilhelm Jordan, Ausstellung der Werke Karl Friedrich Lessings (Berlin, 1880)