Wilhelm von Kobell was a German painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, printmaker and teacher.

Biography

Kobell was born in Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

, the son of Ferdinand Kobell

Ferdinand Kobell

Ferdinand Kobell was a German painter and engraver.-Biography:He was studying at the University of Heidelberg when the Elector of Bavaria, admiring a landscape, aided him to devote his entire time to painting. He became the pupil of Peter Verschaffelt. He next studied art in Paris...

, a landscape painter who cited Claude Lorrain

Claude Lorrain

Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, , dit le Lorrain) Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French...

 as his influence. Wilhelm's initial lessons were supplied by his father and his uncle, Franz Kobell

Franz Kobell

Franz Kobell was a German painter, etcher and draftsman.-Biography:The Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria sent him to Italy to study art and he remained there till 1785, working from nature and monumental buildings, mainly in Rome...

. He received further training under Franz Anton von Leydendorf and Egid Verhelst in the art of engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

 at the Zeichnungsakademie in Mannheim. He also studied the works in the galleries of Mannheim and Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

, especially those of Wouvermann, which he copied. During this time he practiced various styles, including 17th-century Dutch painting and 18th-century English art. In 1778, he went to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, was made court painter at Mannheim after his return, and afterwards followed his father to Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, where he became professor at the Academy in 1808. He was supported by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria

Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria

Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...

, who compensated him an annual sum of 500 florins

South German gulden

The Gulden was the currency of the states of southern Germany between 1754 and 1873. These states included Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Frankfurt and Hohenzollern....

 from 1792 until Theodore's death in 1799. In 1809, he visited Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, and in 1810 Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, to make studies for his battle pieces.

Works

His early paintings were landscapes, rural genre scenes, and animal pieces, of which the galleries of Bamberg, Weimar, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Berlin, Darmstadt, Frankfort, and Wiesbaden contain fine specimens.
Throughout his life Kobell traveled to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

but ultimately based his style on Dutch art.
He gained a reputation through clever work on battle scenes and horses, as well as his very fine etchings and his especially fine aquatint engravings after Wouverman, Berchem, Roos, Ruysdael, and others, in which he reproduced the peculiar style of each master with uncommon success. His battle pieces contain many portraits of famous contemporaries. The New Pinakothek in Munich contains “The Third Day of the Battle of Hanau” (1808), and the Banquet Hall of the Königsbau the “Surrender of Brieg,” “Cavalry Skirmish at Arnhofen,” and the “Battles of Eckmühl and Wagram.”