Background
Friedrich Preller was born at Eisenach, Germany on the 25th of April 1804.
Friedrich Preller was born at Eisenach, Germany on the 25th of April 1804.
He became a pupil in the academy at Antwerp. From 1827 to 1831 he studied in Italy.
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 1836-1837 the landscapes with scenes from Oberon in the Wieland room in the grand-ducal Schloss at Weimar, and in 1836-1848 six frescoes on Thuringian subjects commissioned by the grand duchess.
In 1840 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.
Preller, who was also a successful etcher, died at Weimar on the 23rd of April 1878.
