Dietrich / TheCarlAdolphMendeStudy

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The Carl Adolph Mende Study

The Carl Adolph Mende Study Attributed to Mende (sold at Auktionshaus Michael Zeller, Lindau am Bodensee, September 2006), Portrait of the Family Vonderbank of Aachen (Jean Gerard, his wife Catherina and their daughter Josephine; the book being Das gleichseitige Dreieck als Curvenzieher Geodolit by Jean Gerard Vonderbank, published in 1824; the painting, however, does not find mentioning in 19th century sources

This page will be dedicated to the life and times of German-born painter Carl Adolph Mende (1807-1857; spelling sometimes ›Karl‹; sometimes ›Adolf‹). I am interested in Mende for a number of reasons: besides my general interest in 19th century painting, and besides the challenge to put together, if not a catalogue raisonné, at least an informative page that also will be serving as a collecting point for informations relating to rather little known Mende, this page will also work as another supplement to my Morelli portrait. Because Mende, who got to know young Giovanni Morelli at Munich, did not only embark with Morelli on a grand tour throughout Italy, he is also to be considered as being an eye witness of the ›Five Days of Milan‹ uprising in 1848, in which Morelli (probably with Mende) did take part and fought. Moreover Mende stayed, if only for some time and later, at Basel, and all in all he is to be considered as a yet infortunate but nonetheless transnationally active and also artistically interesting painter of the 19th century. In brief: to study Mende does not mean exclusively to study Mende, but to study 19th century painting in general, not to forget 19th century political and cultural history. I am going to integrate visual materials into this virtual study, but for the moment every Mende attribution has to be taken with great caution. We will start from scratch (for basic biographical informations see here: http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz61534.html).

This page is to be seen as a work in progress; if you got informations as to Carl Adolph Mende please do not hesitate to contact me (Dietrich Seybold) under the following e-mail address:

D.Seybold@bluewin.ch

1807: Mende born at Lipsia as the son of a merchant; as probably destined to the study of the law Mende turned to painting; according to Fr. Pecht (ADB) he stayed at Dresden before turning to Munich

1809: Tyrolian Rebellion, which is going to be the preferred subject of Mende, if painting history

1813: 5-year-old Mende possibly witnesses the Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig

1821: Mende (according to Nagler) attends the Akademie der Künste at Munich (others have the more likely date of 1828)

1822: a genre picture by Mende is shown (other sources say – see Christiane Kerrutt, Atelierbilder, that it was shown on the Akademieausstellung of 1829, as No. 319), depicting a young artist drawing a peasant; Nagler mentions also an early picture showing a young mother with her baby, and several pictures of a Zillerthalerbub, betend vor seinem Mues und mit der Schalmei

1828 (or c. 1828): Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna wearing white dress, red shawl (sold at Sotheby’s, December 14, 1995; as to the sitter see: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_von_Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld)

1830: Mutter und Kind am Tisch (sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, November 17, 2007)

1833: Flöte spielender Bub am Berggipfel (sold at auction in 2006, apparently in Austria); Mönch zeigt bayerischen Landleuten seine Reliquien (according to Thieme-Becker kept by the Städtisches Museum Riga)

1834: Schusterwerkstatt (sold at auction in 2000, apparently in Germany); Meister mit Zwicker liest die Zeitung und beobachtet die Gesellen (sold at auction in 1999, apparently in Germany); Der Maler Heinrich Heinlein vor der Staffelei sitzend (sold at auction in 1999, apparently in Germany); Nagler mentions a ›Nachtstück‹, depicting a cleric coming back from the house of a dying man, shown in the Munich Kunstverein, as well as a politicising Schuster mit seinen Gesellen (compare the mentioned titles above), with the Schuster showing, according to Nagler an ›overwise physiognomy‹ and drawing all his wisdom from the Bayerischer Landbote in his hand; another ›Nachtstück‹ is mentioned by Nagler, showing a praying child, as well as the »Schlacht von Leipzig, welche Bauern von einem Dache aus beobachten« (according to Fr. Pecht Mende himself had thus witnessed the battle); Pecht mentions also Vertheidigung eines Engpasses von der Höhe herab durch Hofer, Speckbacher und Haspinger

1835: in Munich Mende portraits 19-year-old Giovanni Morelli (the dated and signed ink drawing is kept by the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo); Count Raczynski mentions, in his 1836-41 Histoire de l’art moderne en Allemagne, that the Kunstverein bought, in 1835, a painting showing une jeune fille assise devant une maison et lisant dans un vieux livre in-folio; Raczynski sees also another painting in the Kunstverein, showing possibly des Bedouins; (painter Christian Christoph) Ruben is further named as being the owner of un jeune pátre assis prés du feu sur un tertre; Dirndl mit Andachtsbuch vor der Hütte (sold at auction in 2001, apparently in Germany); a letter by Mende as of the year of 1835 and sent to an unknown recipient is kept by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek of München

1836: according to Friedrich Pecht (Geschichte der Münchener Kunst im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, p. 149) Mende painted the ›Verteidigung eines Hauses‹ (see on the left the reproduction after the later lithography) in 1836

1837: Count Raczynski sees un enfant couché enfoncé dans ses coussins, et qui s’endort en tenant entre ses mains un petit tambour; Mende, according to the 1867 article by Erwin Förster on Die Insel-Republik deutscher Künstler (published in: Die Gartenlaube, has joined the Malerkolonie auf Frauenchiemsee: »Weiter berichtet die Chronik von ihm, daß er Anno 37 sich drei Viertel Jahre auf Frauenchiemsee aufhielt, ›also daß unter den Eingebornen eine arg Hungersnoth entstand, sintemalen vorbemeldeter Mende ihren ganzen Vorrath aufgezehrt hatte‹.

1838: Studienkopf aus Rom (possibly collection of Carl Schiller (1807-1874)); The Joy of Motherhood (sold at Dorotheum, Vienna, June 9, 2011); Mädchen mit besticktem Schal (sold at auction in 2004, apparently in Germany); a ›Szene aus dem Tirolerkriege‹ or a version of the Verteidigung eines Hauses (see 1849) is shown at the Kunstverein of Regensburg (see Kunstblatt 1839, No. 17, p. 66f., also for a lengthy description); Mende is said to have painted the picture ›am Chiemsee‹, and it apparently did take him two years; in 1838 or 1839, and perhaps at Frankfurt, Mende is portrayed by Andreas Achenbach (see small picture on the left to the header, which is kept by the Kupferstichkabinett of the Städel of Frankfurt a.M.)

1839: Young Woman Praying (sold at Allgäuer Auktionshaus, Kempten, April 19 2001); Vor Bildstock knieendes Dirndl im Hochgebirge (sold at auction in 2001, apparently in Germany); December: Mende, who is also in touch with Giovanni Morelli’s Munich-based friend Bonaventura Genelli, has read Morelli’s youthful satirical play Kunstkenner (which up to the present day remains unpublished, although it might be extant)

1840: Andreas Hofer mit Knaben auf verschneitem Gipfel (sold at auction in 2006, apparently in Germany); according to Pecht Mende turned to Leipzig to (unsuccesfully) paint portraits (he also mentions an Amor, der die Nachtigallen füttert); Eugen Napoleon Neureuther renders Mende »als Marx Sittig von Hohenems« (see Wolfgang Hartmann, Der historische Festzug, No. 32, and picture on the right); according to Bonaventura Genelli (letter to Giovanni Morelli as of August 1) Mende is settled in a cloister nearby Grafrath and Wildenroth, goes much hunting and is making studies after clerics and peasants

1842: Johann Michael von Söltl writes (in his Die bildende Kunst in München) on Mende: https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_FaAZAAAAYAAJ#page/n205/mode/2up

1843: Mende travels with Giovanni Morelli to Genoa (March), Naples (April) and Palermo; in August they return to Bergamo; Mende, on occasion of this trip, had twice the occasion to draw the nobleman Gino Capponi, one of Morelli’s fatherly mentors

1844: Mende, who has also finished a portrait of Giovanni Morelli’s 49-year-old mother Orsola (née Zavaritt), stays with Morelli; a ›Scene aus den Tyrolerkriegen‹ by Mende is shown at the Vienna Kunstausstellung (see: Kunstblatt 1844, p. 255)

1845 (c.): according to worldcat.org Bettina von Arnim sends a letter to Mende (who most likely has been recommended to her by Giovanni Morelli who had met and stayed with Bettina in 1838): »In a detailed letter to Karl Adolph Mende, von Arnim comments favorably on his recent lithographs and gives a pessimistic report of the arts in Berlin and the taste of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, focusing particularly on the interior decoration of the re-opened opera house (rebuilt in 1843 after its destruction by fire in 1842). In addition to her criticism of the opera house’s Rococo eclecticism, she regrets the lost opportunity to create a decorative scheme in a more classical style. She frequently cites the work of the painter Cornelius whom she dislikes, describing his work as barren and ashengrey.«

1847: 40-year-old Mende stays with Morelli at Lago di Pusiano (where Mende, according to Morelli, also is hunting ducks)

1848: Milan Uprisings (Five Days of Milan) and First Italian War of Indepencence; Morelli, who is sent to Frankfurt by the provisional Milan government to ›explain‹ the Lombardian ›revolution‹ to the elected members of the German national assembly of the Paulskirche, travels with Mende to the lake of Constance where they split, with Morelli turning to Frankfurt and Mende probably to Lipsia; Mende apparently supports Adolf Heinrich Lier in his decision to turn to painting

1849: Verteidigung eines Hauses in Schwaz im Tirol 1809 (sold in 2006, apparently in Switzerland; compare also the notes to 1836 and 1838); Nagler says (probably as to this picture, or/and as to the one mentioned in 1838/39): »Die Handlung geht im Innern des Hauses vor; Männer schiessen durch das Fenster auf die Feinde, Weiber und Kinder sind in Angst und Erwartung, und den Mittelpunkt nimmt der Priester mit dem Sacramente ein, welches ein Sterbender empfängt. J. Wölfle hat dieses schön componirte Bild lithographiert, und der Maler dedicirte das grosse Blatt dem Könige von Sachsen.«; according to Pecht, who also describes the picture at length, Mende did gain some reputation with this picture, based on the stylistic principles of the Cornelius school; Pecht mentions also humoristic pictures by Mende (besides the politicising Schuster also a Vorbereithung auf das Kirchweihfest in einem Kloster

1851: Mende stays at Basel where, as Morelli gets to know, he does not feel comfortable; a Baseler Stillleben depicts a gambling party in a Basel hotel at Freie Strasse

See also: http://query.staatsarchiv.bs.ch/query/detail.aspx?ID=565611

1852: Bewaffnete Schmuggler im Hochgebirge (sold at auction in 2000, apparently in Germany)

1854: Mende is seemingly recommended (by a letter, dated Januar 17 and sent from Osterode) to archivist and collector Georg Kestner (1774-1867)

1857: Mende drowns in the river Weser at Achim

***

1876: Josef Maillinger, in his Bilder-Chronik, vol. 2, p. 120, assembles some works by and after Mende (see: http://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht/?PPN=PPN74935691X&PHYSID=PHYS_0132 and http://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht/?PPN=PPN74935691X&PHYSID=PHYS_0266)

1898: Friedrich von Boetticher, Malerwerke II/1, with a list of works by Mende on p. 13: https://archive.org/stream/malerwerkedesne01boetgoog#page/n22/mode/2up

See also my The Giovanni Morelli Monograph

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