Anselm
Feuerbach

d. 04.01.1880 in Venice

Son of Johann Anselm, philologist and archaeologist; nephew of Ludwig Feuerbach, philosopher. 1843 first drawing lessons with the anatomist of the university of Freiburg.

From April 1845 studies painting at the Düsseldorf academy under Wilhelm von Schadow, 1848 in Munich, 1849 works in the studio of Karl Rahl. 1850 in Antwerp, 1851 in Paris, where he studied the old masters in the Louvre. During a second stay in Paris between Nov. 1852 and May 1853 he worked in the studio of Thomas Couture. During a visit to his stepmother Henriette Heidenreich (1812-92) in Heidelberg in the summer of 1853 he received several portrait commissions through her mediation.

In 1855 he received a scholarship from Prince Regent Friedrich von Baden for a trip to Venice, Italy, which he undertook together with Victor von Scheffel. He extended his stay in Italy and travelled via Padua and Bologna to Florence. On 1.10.1856 he reached Rome, where he set up his own studio in the Palais Costa in 1857. In Rome he met the photographer and lithographer Julius Allgeyer, with whom he had a lifelong friendship and who later also wrote Feuerbach's biography. He became a member of the German Artists' Association.

1860 unsuccessful attempt to regain a foothold in Germany. From the end of 1862 support from his patron Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack, who acquired a total of twelve paintings by Feuerbach; the relationship ended in December 1868.

In 1867 Feuerbach moved into a large studio in Via S. Nicola da Tolentino. He remained in Rome until 1873, interrupted by study trips and stays with his stepmother in Heidelberg.

1872/73 Professor at the Vienna Academy of Arts as director and head of the master class for history painting, which he gave up in 1876 for health reasons, in the same year he moved to Venice.

On 1 July 1876 his stepmother Henriette moved to Nuremberg, where she lived at Spittlertorgraben 17 in 1878 and at Spittlertorgraben 33 in 1881. Feuerbach spent several summer months a year in Nuremberg until his death. The Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce commissioned him to paint the mural for its meeting room in the newly built Palace of Justice, "Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian Grants Privileges to Nuremberg Citizens", which he completed in 1878. King Ludwig II awarded him the Knight's Cross, First Class, for the painting. Feuerbach received a second commission from Nuremberg in 1878 for the history painting "The Entry of Emperor Maximilian I into Nuremberg" (not preserved). He was a member of the 'Künstlerklause' and the 'Künstlerverein'. The Bavarian state bought part of his estate.

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quoted from the Nuremberg Künstlerlexikon, edited by Manfred H. Grieb