Johann Baptist Kirner
German portrait and genre painter
Johann Baptist Kirner was a German portrait and genre painter. He was one of seven children born to the shoemaker, Johann Kirner (1772-1835). For financial reasons, he initially had to learn art through apprenticeships with a coach painter in Freiburg and a decorative painter in Villingen. His older brother, the portrait painter Lukas Kirner [de], was had served similar apprenticeships, was admitted to the Augsburg art school (today Augsburg University of Applied Sciences) in 1822, at age of twenty-eight. In 1824, Johann was finally able to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Three years later, he received funds from a scholarship established by Marie Ellenrieder; awarded to him by Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden. At first, he focused on works with religious themes, but soon turned to secular subjects; creating some humorous pictures based on the poems of Johann Peter Hebel. After 1829, he was a free-lance artist in Munich. He was awarded another scholarship from the Grand Duke in 1832, which enabled him to study in Italy. He lived in Rome from 1832 to 1834, sharing a studio with his friend, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, who was also from the Black Forest region. He also spent some time in Naples. In 1837, he left Italy and established himself in Vienna. By 1839 he was back in Furtwangen, and was appointed a Court painter for the Grand Duchy of Baden in Karlsruhe. He moved there in 1842, and given an annual pension of 400 Gulden, on the condition that he provide at least one painting for the Grand Ducal gallery every two years. He was apparently unhappy there, as he went back to Munich in 1844, periodically requesting leave from his duties. In 1856, he became an honorary member of the Munich Academy. In 1865, he retired to his hometown, where he died the following year. His gravestone was designed by one of his relatives; the sculptor Adolf Heer. A street in Freiburg's Waldsee district has been named after him.
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Artworks by this artist (106 total)
- Bäuerin und Kind, am Tisch in einer Schwarzwälder Bauernstube sitzend
- Schwarzwälder Bauernstube mit Bett und Sitzbank am Kachelofen
- Nach rechts stehender Mann mit Hut und roter Jacke 1832-1836
- Erschossener Eber
- Italienischer Küstenweg ca 1832-1837
- Children at play 1838
- Grand ducal hunting party before 1842
- Injured shepherd boy 1844
- Grotte
- Robbers Attacking Travellers 1836
- Zwei Hotzenwälder Bauern, der linke auf einem Holzstuhl sitzend, rechts dahinter der zweite stehend
- Grand ducal hunting party with shot deer (preparatory sketch) before 1842
- Junger Handwerker, mit Pfeife und Schirmmütze am Tisch sitzend ca 1850
- Sitzender Pilger 1832-1836
- Fünf Schwarzwälder Bauernkinder
- Esel 1832-1837
- Italienisches Mädchen mit roter Kopfbedeckung, die Hände über den Knien gefaltet 1832-1837
- Zwei junge Mädchen und ein Kind vor einer Landschaft
- Italienerin, Rückenansicht
- Badischer Freischärler in Schaftstiefeln mit Degen und Gewehr