Kersting, Georg Friedrich (1785-1847) - 1815 On Outpost Duty (National Gallery, Berlin)
He trained at the academy of art in Copenhagen from 1805 to 1808, adopting the clarity and brilliance characteristic of the Danish school. In 1808 he went to Dresden, where he associated with Caspar David Friedrich. Kersting was also a close friend of the painter Gerhard von Kügelgen. His first two portraits in individual interiors (a genre he was to make his own), Caspar David Friedrich in his Studio and Gerhard von Kügelgen in his Studio, attracted much attention on their exhibition at the Dresden Kunstakademie in 1811.
Kersting continued to produce works of this very appealing type, linking the sitter with his surroundings: they are an epitome of early Romantic interest in the spirit of the individual and point beyond the ephemeral, genre-like aspects of the subject to a symbol of the interaction between man and the space in which he works or lives. In 1812 Kersting painted The Embroiderer, The Elegant Reader and Man at a Desk. For the last of these, Kersting used the young painter Louise Seidler as a model. Seidler was instrumental in enabling Kersting to send several of his works to Goethe. who recommended that Grand Duke Charles Augustus buy The Embroiderer.
Kersting, Georg Friedrich (1785-1847) - 1815 On Outpost Duty (National Gallery, Berlin)
He trained at the academy of art in Copenhagen from 1805 to 1808, adopting the clarity and brilliance characteristic of the Danish school. In 1808 he went to Dresden, where he associated with Caspar David Friedrich. Kersting was also a close friend of the painter Gerhard von Kügelgen. His first two portraits in individual interiors (a genre he was to make his own), Caspar David Friedrich in his Studio and Gerhard von Kügelgen in his Studio, attracted much attention on their exhibition at the Dresden Kunstakademie in 1811.
Kersting continued to produce works of this very appealing type, linking the sitter with his surroundings: they are an epitome of early Romantic interest in the spirit of the individual and point beyond the ephemeral, genre-like aspects of the subject to a symbol of the interaction between man and the space in which he works or lives. In 1812 Kersting painted The Embroiderer, The Elegant Reader and Man at a Desk. For the last of these, Kersting used the young painter Louise Seidler as a model. Seidler was instrumental in enabling Kersting to send several of his works to Goethe. who recommended that Grand Duke Charles Augustus buy The Embroiderer.