653 - Eduard von Gebhardt, Self-Portrait in a Painter’s Smock, oil painting, c. 1870, in its original frame

Eduard von Gebhardt, Self-Portrait in a Painter’s Smock, oil painting, c. 1870, in its original frame Franz Karl Eduard von Gebhardt, 1838 Sankt Johannis, Estonia - 1925 Düsseldorf, German-Baltic painter and professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. He is regarded as a leading exponent of portraiture and historical painting within the ‘Düsseldorf School’, shown here: a half-length portrait of the artist in his painter’s smock with his distinctive ‘Prince Valiant’ hairstyle in his younger years, a delicately washed oil painting on wood, 15 x 17 cm, signed on the right, in its original period frame (overall: 42 x 41 cm)About the artist: Eduard von Gebhardt studied for three years at the renowned St Petersburg Academy of Arts from the age of 16, and then spent two years partially travelling and partially in Karlsruhe, where he attended the art school. In 1860 he came to Düsseldorf, where he became a pupil of Wilhelm Sohn, who provided him with sustained support. Eduard von Gebhardt decided to remain in Düsseldorf and became a direct neighbour of Wilhelm Sohn. A few houses further on, the painters Ernest Preyer, Otto Rethel, Ernst Bosch and Heinrich Mücke had their homes and studios. Gebhardt was appointed professor at the Düsseldorf Academy in 1873; in 1905, he was admitted as an associate member of the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (Classe des Beaux-Arts). To mark his 70th birthday, the Galerie Eduard Schulte in Berlin organised a major exhibition of Gebhardt’s work. At the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1918, Gebhardt was awarded a gold medal; in 1925, he was honoured with a memorial exhibition, and the city of Düsseldorf conferred upon him honorary citizenship.