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.
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.
Eduard von Gebhardt was a talented and prolific painter whose religious works and portraits were marked by many awards from different European countries, including Germany, France and Italy. The most notable of them was the gold medal at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition (Große Berliner Kunstausstellung) in 1918.
Besides, as a professor, Eduard von Gebhardt taught such famous painters as Wilhelm Döringer, Wilhelm Eckstein, Aloys Fellmann, Ants Laikmaa, Kristjan and Paul Raud. The German-Brazilian painter Wilhelm Techmeier was also among his notable pupils.
Gebhardt's artworks were exhibited at the Kunsthalle zu Kiel art gallery and at the Christian-Albrechts University, both in Germany. His painting, 'Study of a Head', was sold for $9,648 in 2011 within the auction in Lempertz, Cologne.
Eduard von Gebhardt was proclaimed an Honored citizen of Düsseldorf. One of the streets in the German city Essen is named after the artist.
The Raising of Lazarus
Portrait of a Woman
Estonian Peasant
Portrait of a Bearded Man (Head of an Apostle)
Lazarus and the Rich Man
Man Reading
Let the Little Children Come Unto Me
A Young Woman with a Wineglass
Christus und Die Jünger Von Emmaus
Study for the Head of Christ in a Crucifixion
Portrait of a Man with Beret
Bildnis eines Malers vor der Staffelei
Estonian Peasant
Portrait of an Old Man
Männlicher Charakterkopf
Study of a Head
Portrait of a Man
