Balthasar Denner facts for kids
Balthasar Denner (born November 15, 1685 – died April 14, 1749) was a German painter. He was very famous for painting portraits of people. He usually painted people from the waist up, or just their heads and shoulders. He also painted a few family group portraits inside homes.
Denner was special because he painted faces with incredible detail. He could even show tiny, almost invisible hairs on smooth skin! Other painters often helped him with clothes and other items in his paintings. He is especially known for his amazing portraits of older men and women.
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Denner's Early Life and Training
Balthasar Denner was born in a city called Altona. Today, Altona is part of Hamburg, Germany. But back then, Altona was part of the Danish kingdom. It was known for being a place where people of different religions could live together peacefully.
Denner's father, Jacob Denner, was a Mennonite minister and a dyer (someone who colors fabric). Balthasar had seven sisters and was the only boy. When he was eight years old, he had an accident that made him walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
While he was recovering, Denner started to draw. He copied paintings by famous artists like Berchem and Bloemaert. His first art teacher was a Dutch man named Frans van Amama. From 1698 to 1700, Denner practiced oil painting in Danzig, where his family lived for a short time.
In 1701, his family moved back to the Hanseatic town (Hamburg area). Balthasar worked as a clerk for his uncle, who was a merchant. But he kept painting! In 1707, he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin.
Becoming a Famous Portrait Painter
Denner started his career painting very small pictures called miniatures. In 1709, he painted tiny portraits of nine-year-old Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and his sister. He was then invited to Gottorp Castle. There, he even painted himself in the background of a group portrait of the duke's family!
In 1712, Denner got married. The next year, he moved to Hamburg because Altona was destroyed during the Great Nordic War. He traveled a lot to paint important people. He visited Amsterdam in 1714, London in 1715, and Copenhagen in 1717. In 1720, he visited the royal courts in Wolfenbüttel and Hanover.
The Famous Old Woman Portrait
While in Hanover, Denner was invited to England. But first, he met with another painter, Adriaen van der Werff. Denner showed him his painting of an old woman. Van der Werff was so amazed that he said the painting could only be compared to the famous Mona Lisa!
When the painting arrived in London, it caused a lot of excitement. It was even sent to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Denner was paid a huge amount of money for it – 5875 guilders! In 1725, he was asked to paint an old man to go with the old woman's portrait, for the same high price. In 1728, he left London because of the heavy smog (a type of air pollution) and sailed back to Hamburg.
Life After London
After leaving London, Denner continued to travel and paint. In 1729, he visited royal courts in Blankenburg and Dresden, and then went to Berlin. In 1730, his sister Catharina married his student, Dominicus van der Smissen.
Denner visited Amsterdam again in 1730, and then Braunschweig and Salzdahlum in 1734. He even rented a house in Amsterdam in 1734. But he was very busy painting for Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg in Schwerin, so he moved there in 1736.
He painted a wealthy Dutch banker named George Clifford III. Clifford loved collecting plants and had even invited the famous scientist Carl Linnaeus to live on his estate. In 1739, Denner left Amsterdam.
Around 1740, he painted the twelve-year-old Peter III of Russia in Kiel. He had to make several copies of this portrait. These copies were sent to royal families all over Europe. One was even sent to Russia, hinting that Peter might become the next ruler. In 1742, Denner was offered a great job in Saint Petersburg, but he chose not to move there. When people sat for their portraits, Denner's children would often play music for them.
In 1743, he painted Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden. Around 1745, he lived in Altona again. Sadly, three of his children were buried there. Denner was so sad that he didn't paint for a whole year.
Balthasar Denner died in Rostock at the age of 63. When he passed away, there were 46 paintings in his studio that he hadn't finished. The Staatliches Museum Schwerin now owns 75 of his portraits. His famous portrait of Georg Frideric Handel (painted in 1733) is in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Denner also painted the children of Barthold Heinrich Brockes, a poet from Hamburg. Denner became friends with Johan van Gool, who was a writer, and sent him his life story.
In 1837, a painter from Switzerland managed to trick the experts at the Louvre museum. He used one of Denner's paintings, Head of an old woman wearing a bonnet, to make them believe it was by a different artist. This shows how good Denner's paintings were!
See also
- List of German painters
