Ludovico Seitz

Ludovico Seitz, or Ludwig Seitz (11 June 1844, Rome - 11 September 1908, Albano Laziale) was an Italian painter of German ancestry, who served as Director of the Vatican Galleries.

Ludovico Seitz (1899)
Christ, at Sant'Ivo dei Bretoni

Life and work

His father was the painter, Alexander Maximilian Seitz, a member of the Nazarene movement; originally from Munich. His mother, Gertrud née Platner, was the daughter of the painter and diplomat, Ernst Zacharias Platner.[1] King Ludwig I was his godfather.[2]

He initially studied art with his father, then with Friedrich Overbeck and, later, from Peter von Cornelius. In 1887, he became an Inspector (curator) at the Vatican Galleries, and was promoted to Director in 1894. He belonged to several Catholic artists' associations and produced numerous religious frescoes, mostly in Nazarene style, but also with hints of Historicism.

Perhaps his best known works are ceiling frescoes, commissioned by Pope Leo XIII, in the "Gallery of Candelabras" at the Apostolic Palace, which is npw a part of the Vatican Museums. He also created paintings at Sant'Ivo dei Bretoni, a French church, and the chapel at the Basilica della Santa Casa. Together with his father, he painted murals at Đakovo Cathedral in Croatia.[3]

Santa Maria dell’Anima, the German national church, has works by Seitz in the chapel dedicated to saints John of Nepomuk and Jan Sarkander, as well in the ceiling of the nave.

One of his students was the Bavarian church painter, Kaspar Schleibner. His successor at the Galleries was the Italian painter and art historian, Pietro D’Achiardi.

References
  1. Giovanni Milanese: Die Wandmalereien von Prof. Ludwig Seitz in der deutschen Kapelle der Basilika zu Loreto,. Benziger Verlag, Einsiedeln, 1909, pg.75; (Google Books)
  2. Adolf Smitmans: Die christliche Malerei im Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts: Theorie u. Kritik, 1980, pgs.170, 274, ISBN 3-88345-401-X; (Google Books)
  3. Dragan Damjanovic, "Nacionalne ideologije i umjetnost u 19. stoljeću na primjeru fresaka u apsidama đakovačke katedrale (National Ideologies and 19th Century Art on the Example of Frescoes in the Đakovo Cathedral Apses)", Društvena istraživanja (Social Research - Journal for General Social Issues), Vol. 18, Nr. 3 (101); pages 461-478 (in German)

Further reading
  • Hyacinth Holland (1891), "Seitz, Alexander", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 33, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 655–656
  • Rudolf Vierhaus: Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie Band 9, Saur, München 2008, ISBN 3-11-096502-X, S. 389 (Online)
  • Matthias Michel: Der deutsch-römische Maler Ludwig Seitz (1844-1908) und seine Ausmalung der Johannes Nepomuk-Kapelle in S. Maria dell'anima in Rom, Hausarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Magister Artium, (Online)
  • Dominik Bartmann: Anton von Werner: Jugenderinnerungen (1843-1870), Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-87157-165-2, S. 416 (Online)


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