Heinrich Breling

Heinrich Christoph Gottlieb Breling (14 October 1849, Burgdorf - 6 September 1914, Fischerhude, near Ottersberg) was a German painter of historical and genre scenes. He was one of the founders of the Artists' Colony at Fischerhude.

Self-portrait with easel (c.1911)
The Feast (date unknown)

Life and work

He was the son of an estate overseer and spent his childhood in the vicinity of Fischerhude. From 1863 to 1869 he studied art in Hanover and later went to Munich, where he was a student of Wilhelm von Diez.[1] In 1883, he became a Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts there and the following year was appointed Court Painter for King Ludwig II,[1] executing many watercolors of the King and his "secret residences". He and the King developed a close working relationship. Breling went so far as to devise a portable shelter, so he could paint the King outdoors in any weather.[2]

After Ludwig's mysterious death, Breling returned to Hanover. For many years, he spent the summers in Fischerhude. He took his wife and six daughters there in 1908, setting up a home and studio in nearby Bredenau, which is still used by his grandchildren. His second eldest daughter, Louise, was the third wife of painter Otto Modersohn. In later years, he turned to impressionism, but his earlier paintings remained by far the most popular. His lack of financial success is apparent from a request for commissions he made to the local military district commander in 1911, describing himself as a "Hannoveraner Schlachtenmaler" (Hanoverian battle painter).[2] He died of heart failure in 1914.

References
  1. Katrin Bellinger Master Drawings Archived 2014-04-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Breling Retrospective at the Otto Modersohn Museum

Further reading/related books
  • Künstler in Fischerhude (ed. Jürgen Schultze, photographs by Lars Lohrisch), Bremen, Brockkamp Verlag (1984),
  • Jean Louis Schlim, Ludwig II. – Traum und Technik. MünchenVerlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-937090-43-6 (with watercolors by Breling).
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