Background
He was born in Berlin, started his studies at the age of eighteen under Wilhelm von Schadow, whom he followed to Düsseldorf.
He was born in Berlin, started his studies at the age of eighteen under Wilhelm von Schadow, whom he followed to Düsseldorf.
He treated principally mythical and poetic subjects of a highly romantic character, and painted in the mechanically idealistic manner of the Düsseldorf school. He visited Italy (1830–1831) and adopted ideas from the works of the Venetians: Titian, Paolo Veronese, and Palma il Vecchio. In 1832, he was made professor in the Düsseldorf Academy, where he exercised an important influence.
Karl Ferdinand Sohn married on January 18, 1834 Emilie Auguste von Mülmann in Düsseldorf.
They had five children. The latter married Else Sohn-Rethel (1853–1933), daughter of the painter Alfred Rethel.
He painted at first biblical subjects, and then devoted himself to genre scenes, good in characterization and drawing and of great coloristic charm. Among these are: the Consultation at the Lawyer"s (1866, Leipzig Museum) and the Warrior of the Seventeenth Century (1869, Dresden Gallery).
Anselm Feuerbach
Marie Wiegmann
Amalie Bensinger
Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann
Heinrich Ludwig Philippi
Clemens Bewer.