Unergründlich (The Unfathomable), 1874

Ludwig Thiersch (April 12, 1825 – May 10, 1909^[1]) was a German painter, primarily of mythological and religious subjects and especially of ecclesiastical art, also influential in Greece. April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway 1825 (MDCCCXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Painting by Rembrandt self-portrait Detail from Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, in which the painter portrayed himself at work For the computer graphics program, see Corel Painter. ... Botticellis The Birth of Venus (c. ... Sacred art is imagery intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual. ... In Christian theology, ecclesiology is a branch of study that deals with the doctrines pertaining to the Church itself as a community or organic entity, and with the understanding of what the church is —ie. ...

Early life

Thiersch was born in Munich, the son of classicist and philhellene Friedrich Thiersch, and brother of surgeon Karl Thiersch and theologian H. W. J. Thiersch. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich to study sculpture, but after a few years turned to painting, in which he became a student of Heinrich Hess, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, and Karl Schorn. After the Academy, he painted a depiction of Sakuntala (1848) and a scene of Camisards, and then traveled to Rome, where he sketched scenes from daily Italian life and painted Hiob unter seinen Freunden.^[1] Coordinates: Time zone: CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country: Germany State: Bavaria Administrative region: Upper Bavaria District: Urban district City subdivisions: 25 borroughs Lord Mayor: Christian Ude (SPD) Governing parties: SPD / Greens / Rosa Liste Basic Statistics Area: 310. ... Classics, particularly within the Western University tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the language, literature, history, art, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture during the time frame known as classical antiquity. ... Philhellenism (the love of Greek culture) was the intellectual fashion at the turn of the 19th century that led Europeans like Lord Byron to lend their support for the Greek movement towards independence from the Ottoman Empire. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (June 17, 1784 - February 25, 1860), was a German classical scholar and educationist. ... The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (German: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) was founded 1808 by Maximilian I of Bavaria in Munich as the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 1946, the Academy was merged with the schools for arts-and-crafts and... A sculpture is a three-dimensional object, which for the purposes of this article is man-made and selected for special recognition as art. ... The wedding at Cana, 1820. ... Shakuntala, a painting by Raja Ravi Varma In Hindu mythology Shakuntala was considered to be the mother of Emperor Bharata and wife of Dushyanta who was founder of Paurav vansha. ... After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a revolt by the Camisards (Occitan camisa, smock or shirtsleeves) broke out in 1702, in the rugged and isolated Cevennes region of south-central France, the traditional heartland of religious heterodoxy (see Cathar). ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban...

In Athens, 1852–1855

In 1852, he traveled with his father to Athens, where he replaced Rafaello Ceccoli at the Athens School of Fine Arts and became interested in Byzantine art.^[1][2] He painted several frescoes in Greek churches, and was at the forefront of a movement to "modernize" Byzantine art by introducing elements from Western art such as naturalistic perspective and anatomy.^[3] In this, he is sometimes credited with discovering Byzantine art for the world of modern art,^[4] but such reform was controversial in Greece, finding fierce opposition from those opposed to what they saw as attempts to replace longstanding Greek traditions with foreign ones.^[3] Several newspaper editorials opposed Thiersch's appointment as Professor, and continued to oppose his receipt of commissions to paint church frescoes. However, Westernizing reforms were favored by the Bavarian monarchy of King Otto, as well as by Lysandros Kaftantzoglou, a prominent architect and head of the Athens Polytechnic, and so his opponents were largely unsuccessful. Nickname: City of Athena or Cradle of Democracy Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area    - City 38. ... The Athens School of Fine Arts (Ανώτατη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών), is Greeces premier art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students. ... The most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople - the image of Christ Pantocrator on the walls of the upper southern gallery. ... Fresco by Dionisius representing Saint Nicholas. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... A Youthful Portrait of King Otto of Greece King Otto of Greece, (Greek: Όθων, Βασιλεύς της Ελλάδος) also Prince of Bavaria (June 1, 1815 - July 26, 1867) was made the first modern king of Greece in 1832 under the Convention of London, whereby Greece became a new independent kingdom under the protection of the... Front entrance The National Technical University of Athens (Greek: Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο, National Metsovion Polytechnic), sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institutions...

Among Thiersch's pupils during his years in Athens were Nikolaos Gyzis,^[5] who would become one of the best-known Greek painters of the 19th century, and who would manage to engage Western traditions while still producing art seen as authentically Greek.^[6] Thiersch's most notable fresco in Athens is in the Church of St. Nikodimos.^[7]

Vienna, Rome, Saint Petersburg, Bavaria, and London

Through the rest of his life, Thiersch traveled from city to city, being employed alternately to paint church frescoes and to produce oil paintings for private patrons. His church art is particularly notable, and together with Ludwig Seitz and Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin, he is considered to have led a revival in western European ecclesiastical art.^[7] Mona Lisa, Oil on wood panel painting by Leonardo da Vinci La donna velata, painted in 1516, Oil on wood panel painting by Raphael Oil painting is done on surfaces with pigments that are ground and mixed into a medium of oil — especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. ... Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (March 23, 1809 - March 21, 1864), French painter, was born at Lyons. ...

In 1856, Thiersch was appointed to a position in Vienna, where he continued to paint church frescoes.^[1] During this period Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, a Danish-Austrian architect who had also spent time in Greece and taken up an interest in Byzantine art, was rebuilding Vienna's Fleischmarkt Greek Church in a neo-Byzantine style, and Thiersch was commissioned along with Karl Rahl to supply frescoes for the interior.^[8] Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Theophil Edvard Freiherr von Hansen (original Danish name: Theophilus Hansen) (July 13, 1813 in Copenhagen - February 17, 1891 in Vienna) was a Danish architect. ... Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia. ...

Following the position in Vienna, Thiersch was employed in Rome by Simon Sinas, a Greek philanthropist, for whom he produced a number of works on mythological and religious subjects, including Charon als Seelenführer, Bakchos' Einzug in den Hain von Kolonos, and Thetis' Klage um Achilleus.^[1]

In 1860, he went to Saint Petersburg, where he painted frescoes and icons in the chapels of Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Michael, and in the Protestant Church of St. Catherine.^[1][7] Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia (October 13, 1832 - December 18, 1909) was the fourth son and seventh child of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. ... Protestantism is one of three main groups within Christianity, whose beliefs are centered on Jesus. ...

After his return to Germany, Thiersch painted Auferweckung der Tochter des Jairus und Christus in Gethsemane (1866) for the Stiftskirche in Kempten, as well as Predigt des Paulus auf dem Areopag, and in the following years a number of other works, including Christus am Teich Bethesda, Ceres, die ihre Tochter sucht, Christus in der Wüste, Alarich in Athen als Sieger gefeiert, and Kreuztragung Christi.^[1] Kempten is the capital of Allgäu, a region in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. ...

Some years later, Thiersch painted the icons in the iconostasis of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia in London (consecrated 1882).^[7][9] 17th-century iconostasis of Prophet Elias church, Yaroslavl. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Notes

References

• Bianco, Don. "Treasured Offerings: The Legacy of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Sophia, Moscow Road", Friends of West Norwood Cemetery Newsletter, No 45, September 2002.
• Danos, Antonis (2002). "The Culmination of Aesthetic and Artistic Discourse in Nineteenth-century Greece: Periklis Yannopoulos and Nikolaos Gyzis". Journal of Modern Greek Studies 20 (1): 75–112. 
• (German) Kyriakos, Anastasios Diomedes (1902). Geschichte der orientalischen Kirchen von 1453-1898. Digital edition by Google Books. 
• (Greek) Lydakis, Stelios (1976). Istoria tis Neoellinikis Zographikis (History of Modern Greek Painting). Athens: Melissa. 
• Pollali, Aggeliki (1998). "An Overview of Greek Painting in the 19th c.". Anistoriton E984. 
• (German) "Thiersch". Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (4th edition) 15: 654–655. (1890).
• (German) "Wien (Kirchen, Profanbauten)". Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (4th edition) 16: 604. (1890).