'Scrovegni Chapel' by Carl Frederich Heinrich Werner, 1855, Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padua, Leipzig Academy

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Signed lower left 'C. Werner' for Carl Frederich Heinrich Werner (German, 1808-1894) and dated 1855.

Watercolorist Carl Werner studied first … Read more Signed lower left 'C. Werner' for Carl Frederich Heinrich Werner (German, 1808-1894) and dated 1855.

Watercolorist Carl Werner studied first with Veit Hanns Schnorr von Carolsfeld at the Academy Leipzig and, in 1829, studied architecture with Friedrich von Gärtner in Munich. Werner dedicated himself fully to painting and, in 1832, exhibited in Dresden where he was the recipient of a generous travel scholarship which allowed the artist to study in Venice, Bologna, Florence and Rome in 1833. Werner would predominantly live and work in Italy for the next twenty years, establishing a master studio for watercolorists in Venice in 1851, teaching artists including Ludwig Pasini. A member of the Society of German Artists from 1845, he became its first president. During this time, he also joined the Venice Academy and married Giuditta Wallis, daughter of the painter George Augustus Wallis.

In 1856, Werner returned to Germany and settled in Leipzig. He began organizing and exhibiting with the Berlin Artists' Association and later expanded his efforts, organizing the Berlin Academy exhibitions from 1861 and, from the 1870s, the Dresden Academy exhibitions. In 1882, Werner became a professor at the Leipzig Academy.

Werner took numerous art trips including to Spain (1856-7), Egypt and Palestine (1862, 1864), Greece (1875), Sicily (1877-8) and Rome (1891). On his 1864 trip to Palestine, the artist was granted access to the interior of the Dome of the Rock, a privilege few non-Muslims had. Werner made frequent trips to England and stayed there for extended periods of time. He exhibited in London from 1860-1878, one at the Royal Academy and frequently at the New Watercolour Society of which he was a member of until 1883. Werner was also a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours and the Saxon Order of Albrecht and the recipient of the Weimar gold medal for Art and Science. The work of Carl Werner can be found in the permanent collections of institutions including the National Gallery of Berlin, Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), British Museum, the Nasjonalmuseet (Norway) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London).

Reference:
E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 14, page 552; Gerald Schurr, Les Petits Maitres de la Peinture Valeur de Demain 1820-1920, Les Editions de l'Amateur, t. IV, Paris, 1979; Thieme-Becker Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zu Gegenwart, Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 35, page 404; The Orientalists, Painter-Travellers, 1828-1908, Lynne Thornton, ACR Edition Internationale, Paris 1983, page 150-151; Mallett’s Index of Artists, Daniel Trowbridge Mallett, Peter Smith: New York 1948 Edition, R.R. Bowker Company 1935, page 470; Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, Champlin, J. D., Jr., and Perkins, C. C., New York 1885-1887, Vol. 4, page 424; Allgemeines Kunstler-Lexikon, Muller, H. A., and Singer, H. W., Frankfurt am Main 1895-1922, Vol. 6, page 297; et al. See less