Eduard von Gebhardt was a Baltic German painter who worked on historical themes. Most of his paintings were inspired by religious events and feelings of the characters were shown with an exceptional expression.
Background
Eduard von Gebhardt was born on June 13, 1838 in a borough Jarva-Jaani which was the part of the Russian Empire by the time (now it is in Estonia). He was a son of Ferdinand Theodor von Gebhardt, a Protestant clergyman, and Wilhelmine von Gebhardt.
Gebhardt had three sisters and one brother, Peter Bernhard Ferdinand von Gebhardt, who became a clergyman, like his father.
Education
Eduard von Gebhardt started his education at the Arts Academy of Saint Petersburg at the age of sixteen and graduated from it in 1858.
Then, Gebhardt had travelled for two years and studied during the trip at Karlsruhe Art School.
After, Eduard pursued his training at the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf) which he entered in 1860 and where he was taught by a German genre painter Wilhelm Sohn.
During his life, along with the multiple religious paintings, Eduard von Gebhardt created several murals, the most notable of which were Scenes from the Life of Christ made for the Lutheran monastery Loccum Abbey (Kloster Loccum) in Germany from 1884 to 1891. Some of Gebhardts’ frescos are now in the North Cemetery Church in Düsseldorf.
Gebhardt combined his painting activity with teaching duties. So, in 1873 he occupied professor’s post at his alma mater, the Düsseldorf Arts Academy.