Kügelgen, Wilhelm von (1802 – 1867). Jaakobi ja Raheli kohtunine (1820 – 30s)

Graphite on gray paper by Wilhelm Georg Alexander von Kügelgen, a renowned German portrait and history painter. This piece titled “Jaakobi ja Raheli kohtunine (1820 – 30s)” exemplifies Kügelgen’s masterful technique. The artist has an illustrious background; not only was he a painter but also a writer, chamberlain at the Court of Anhalt-Bernburg, and most notably, he has left behind posthumously published memoirs. Following in the artistic footsteps of his father, portrait and history painter Gerhard von Kügelgen, Wilhelm’s childhood home in Dresden is now the famed Kügelgenhaus Museum. His academic journey took him to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. By 1833, he earned the title of Court Painter at the Anhalt-Bernburg summer residence in Ballenstedt, where he spent the rest of his life, and later served Duke Alexander Karl as a personal chamberlain.