Victor Müller
German realist with poetic, vivid color.
Victor Müller was a German painter. Beginning his artistic studies under Steinle at the Frankfurt art school, he continued them at Antwerp and ultimately went to Paris (1849), where he stayed for 11 years, diligently studying the methods and manner of Thomas Couture, Eugène Delacroix and Gustave Courbet. He became a follower of Courbet, whose technique, the reverse of Couture's, he adopted, and subsequently helped to promote in Germany. In 1858 he returned to Frankfurt, where he soon attracted attention with a series of pictures, thoroughly realistic in conception and of great coloristic charm, but scarcely understood by a public accustomed to the sentimental trend of the Düsseldorf school of that period. Therefore, he moved to Munich in 1866, where revolutionary departures from traditional treatment as the “Sleeping Wood-Nymph” (1863), or “Hero and Leander,” were more likely to be appreciated. For the castle of Kronberg in the Taunus, he painted a series of scenes from the history of Baron Hartmuth von Kronberg. He also produced his famous “Hero und Leander.” Following these works came “Hamlet mit Horatio auf dem Friedhof” (“Hamlet with Horatio in the Churchyard”), “Ophelia am Bach” (“Ophelia by the brook”), “Romeo und Julia”, and his last and unfinished work, “Faust auf dem Spaziergang” (“Faust on a Stroll”). Among his other works are “Waldnymphe” (“Wood nymph”), “Tannhäuser im Venusberg”, “Landschaftsszene aus Victor Hugos Les misérables” (“A landscape from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables”). His last finished picture was “Blumenmädchen” (“Flower Girl”). All of his works are distinguished by a certain literary or poetic character which appeals to the fancy like a strain of lyric music, although the coloring sometimes runs in its vividness to the verge of extravagance. He married Ida Scholderer, Otto Scholderer's sister in 1868.
Relationship Network
Master student
- Thomas Couture Master
- Eugène Delacroix Master
- Gustave Courbet Master
Influenced by
- Gustave Courbet Source
Artworks by this artist
- Abduction of a princess 1847
- Annunciation to the shepherds
- Cavalery battle
- Eine Frau mit einem Kinde kniet flehend vor einem Ritter, daneben andere Ritter und eine Burg
- Einer der Richard III. heimsuchenden Geister, mit erhobenem rechten Arm, mit der Linken rückwärts weisend
- Frau mit Leier spielendem Putto
- Frauenkopf, im Profil nach links 1851 [-] 1858
- Klagende Frau am Leichnam eines Mannes, rechts zwei Frauen in Waffen
- Kopf der alten Frau aus ‘Ritter Hartmut von Kronberg nimmt von seinen Angehörigen Abschied’ ca. 1866 [-] 1867
- Kopf des Romeo aus ‘Romeo und Julia’
- Kopf und Arme der Julia aus ‘Romeo und Julia’ ca. 1869 [-] 1871
- Männlicher Akt, kniend nach links, das rechte Bein stark gestreckt, den Oberkörper zurückgebeugt, den linken Arm sowie den Kopf erhoben
- Mountainous landscape with lake 1840
- Reiterin in Rüstung, vor einem Pferd stehend
- Sitzender männlicher Akt mit gekreuzten Beinen, die Hände um das linke Knie gefaltet
- Stehender männlicher Akt, die Rechte auf eine Brüstung gelegt
- Tanzender weiblicher Akt nach links
- The besieged beauty ca. 1855
- Titelblattentwurf für die Zeitschrift ‘Frankfurter Latern’; Ein Banner und eine Laterne tragende Putten
- Two fully flared sleeves