Porträt Friedrich (von) Schiller (1759-1805)

Portrait of Friedrich Schiller. The German writer, who was born in the year of Georg Friedrich Händel’s death, is presented here as a chest image to the left. He holds his head at a slant and lowered, his gaze resting at a point on the bottom left, as if he were singing a little. Instead of wig, he wears his natural hair. In addition there are simple clothes: a coat and a neck binder or jabot. The effigy is framed rectangular. Friedrich Schiller should be known to everyone. Besides Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, he is one of the most important poets in the German-speaking world. Schiller’s breakthrough was achieved in 1782 with the performance of his actor “Die Räuber.” His patron was Christian Gottfried Körner, whom he once visited in Leipzig. Then he went to Weimar and met Christoph Martin Wieland and Johann Gottfried Herder in addition to Goethe. Together they shaped the Weimar Classics. In 1802 he was ennobled. The leaf was cut as a steel engraving by the native of Nuremberg eraser Albrecht Fürchtegott Schultheiß (1823-1909). His template was a painting of 1793/1794 by the German painter Ludovika Simanowitz (1759-1827). She also portrayed Schiller’s father, mother and wife and was friends with Schiller’s older sister, Christophine. Other copies of the paper are in the University Library of Leipzig and the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The Gleimhaus in Halberstadt even owns two specimens of the leaf. Signature: acc. v. L. V. Simanovicz. d. A. Schultheiss. Publisher of Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. Print from F. A. Brockhaus. Caption: Fr. of Schiller. (Stiftung Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)