Frommel, Karl Ludwig

Karl Ludwig Frommel was born in the family of the famous architect Wilhelm Frommel. From 1805 he studied painting and engraving in Karlsruhe under Philip Jacob Becker and court engraver Christian Haldewang. In 1809 he went to Paris, where he received an order from Empress Josephine for a cycle of large landscape watercolors of twelve paintings.

Pittoreskes Italien , 1840

From 1813 he lived in Italy: some time in Rome, then went to Sicily. By 1817 he returned to Karlsruhe and on his return he was 28 years old and was appointed professor of painting and copper engraving at a local art school, soon receiving wide fame for his work. In 1818 he became one of the founders of the Art and Industry Society of the Grand Duchy of Baden.

In 1824, he went to London, where he studied the metal engraving technique, first used in 1820 by Charles Heath, and on his return began to promote its popularization in Germany. From 1829 until his retirement in 1858, he was the director of the picture gallery of the Grand Duchy in Karlsruhe, organizing her move to a new building in 1829 and significantly expanding her funds. After retirement he left for Baden-Baden.

As an artist, he gained fame primarily for his engravings made with a chisel and etching. The most famous of them are “Italian landscape with shepherds playing on pipes”, from C. Lorrain, views of Etna, Arichcha near Rome, Florence, Naples, Palermo, Rome and Villa d'Este in Tivoli. Quite a lot of Frommel landscapes painted in oils were exhibited in the Karlsruhe Art Gallery.

• Frommel, Karl Ludwig // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Article in ADB (him.)