Peter Janssen

File:Peter Janssen der Ältere.gif

Portrait of Peter Janssen

Johann Peter Theodor Janssen (12 December 1844, Düsseldorf – 19 February 1908, Düsseldorf) was a German historical painter.

Biography

Janssen was born in Düsseldorf, son of the engraver Template:Ill (1817–1894), by whom he was first instructed before studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Karl Ferdinand Sohn and Eduard Bendemann. He is principally known through a series of decorative works whose monumental style and sound naturalism won him a reputation as one of the foremost historical painters of his time. He became a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1877 and its director in 1895, and was elected a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1885. In Berlin, he worked also for Emil Hünten.

He was the brother of sculptor Karl Janssen, whose works include the Template:Ill in Düsseldorf, and "" ("Stonebreaking Woman"), which is owned by the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

Janssen's grandson Template:Ill (1906 – 1979) was also a painter.

Works

Janssen's significant murals include:

• "" ("Colonization of the Baltic Sea Provinces by the Hansa. 1201."), in the New Exchange in Bremen (1872)
• "" ("The Myth of Prometheus"), 11 (possibly 12) part mural sequence, in what was formerly named the "second Cornelius Room" (Template:Langx) of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1874 – 1876)
• Six large and three smaller murals of scenes from the history of Erfurt, in the (ballroom) of the Template:Ill (completed in 1882)
• A group of frieze and ceiling paintings: "" ("Human Life"), "" ("Imagination"), "" ("Beauty"), and "" ("Nature"), in the (auditorium) of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1886 – 1896)
• Seven part mural sequence of scenes from the legend of Otto der Schütz (Otto the Archer) and the history of Marburg, in the (auditorium) of the University of Marburg's (Old University) building (1895 – 1903)

Some of Janssen's significant oil paintings:

• "" ("The Denial of Peter"), completed in 1869,Template:Efn was once owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
• "" ("The Childhood of Bacchus)", completed in 1882,Template:Efn was displayed at the "" ("International Art Exhibition") held in Munich in 1883.
• "" ("Walther Dodde and the Peasants of Berg at the Battle of Worringen"), completed in 1893, was first exhibited in the Template:Ill, and is now displayed in the Template:Ill. The New International Encyclopedia described it as "a composition of great dramatic power, containing many life-size figures". In 1893 it earned Janssen a "great gold medal" at the first (Great Berlin Art Exhibition).

Selected paintings

• Script error: No such module "Lang". ("The Victorious Advancing Hermann") — Krefeld, completed in 1873[3]
  
  ("The Victorious Advancing Hermann")
  — Krefeld, completed in 1873
• Submission of Henry the Lion to Frederick Barbarossa — Erfurt, completed in 1882
  Submission of Henry the Lion to Frederick Barbarossa
  — Erfurt, completed in 1882
• Script error: No such module "Lang". ("Walther Dodde and the Peasants of Berg at the Battle of Worringen") — displayed in Düsseldorf, completed in 1893
  
  ("Walther Dodde and the Peasants of Berg at the Battle of Worringen")
  — displayed in Düsseldorf, completed in 1893
• Script error: No such module "Lang". ("Emperor Friedrich II Dismisses Teutonic Knights Moving to Prussia 1236") — Marburg, 1895 – 1903
  
  ("Emperor Friedrich II Dismisses Teutonic Knights Moving to Prussia 1236")
  — Marburg, 1895 – 1903

External links

• Janssen's life and art
• Entry in the 6th edition of Template:In lang