Biography

German painter. He was, like Böcklin, a German Romantic painter who came under the spell of Italy and Italian art (in his case, Raphael). He was trained in Germany, he received his first art lessons from the anatomical draughtsman at the University of Freiburg where his father, Joseph Anselm Feuerbach, lectured in Classical philology and archaeology. In 1845 he enrolled at the Düsseldorf Akademie where he studied under Wilhelm Schadow. In 1848 he moved to Munich where he made copies after Old Master paintings in the Alte Pinakothek. He went to Paris and worked in Couture's studio (1852-53); he was also simultaneously influenced by Delacroix and Courbet.

In 1855 he went to Italy and spent most of the rest of his life there except for three unsuccessful years (1873-76) teaching in Vienna. He painted some fine portraits, 16th-century Italian in feeling, especially those of Nanna, whose features obsessed him from 1860 to 1865. Karlsruhe has a whole room of his works and most German galleries possess examples.