FRIEDRICH

See also:

• FRIEDRICH PRELLER (1804–1878)
• PRELLER, LUDWIG (1809–1861)

PRELLER (1804–1878)  , German landscape-painter, was born at Eisenach on the 25th of April 1804 . After studying drawing at Weimar, he went in 1821, on Goethe's advice, to Dresden, where in 1824 he was invited to accompany the grand duke of Weimar to Belgium . He became a pupil in the academy at Antwerp . From 1827 to 1831 he studied in Italy, and in 1831 received an appointment in the Weimar school of art . In 1834–1836 he executed in tempera six pictures on subjects taken from the Odyssey in the " Roman House " at Leipzig, in 1.836–1837 the landscapes with scenes from Oberon in the Wieland room in the grand-ducal palace at Weimar, and in 1836–1848 six frescoes on Thuringian subjects commissioned by the grand duchess . In 184o he visited Norway and produced a number of easel works, some of which are preserved at Weimar . In 1859 he revisited Italy, and on his return in 1861 he completed for the grand-ducal museum the frescoes illustrative of the Odyssey, which are held to constitute his chief claim to fame . Preller, who was also a successful etcher, died at Weimar on the 23rd of April 1878 .