Background
Carl Constantin Heinrich Steffeck was born on 4 April 1818, in Berlin, Germany, to a well-to-do family. The boy inherited his love for art from his father, who was a great lover of art himself.
Arnim Palace, the Prussian Academy of Arts building, where Steffeck sat in on classes
Arnim Palace, the Prussian Academy of Arts building, where Steffeck sat in on classes
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Carl Constantin Heinrich Steffeck was born on 4 April 1818, in Berlin, Germany, to a well-to-do family. The boy inherited his love for art from his father, who was a great lover of art himself.
Steffeck began his artistic training, while he was still in the Gymnasium. During that time he sat in on classes at the Prussian Academy of Arts. In 1837, he entered the master class of horse painter Franz Krüger and later continued his education, working in the studios of Carl Joseph Begas. He also studied art with Paul Delaroche and Horace Vernet in Paris, and later - in Italy.
At the beginning of his artistic career, Carl Steffeck chose hunters and animals as the main characters of his works. But later he shifted primarily to horses, sports and rest. Still he kept painting portraits, historical paintings, lithographs and etchings. He even executed several animal sculptures in bronze. In 1848 he finished his "Albrecht Achilles im Kampf mit den Nürnbergern um eine Standarte" that was acquired by the Nationalgalerie in 1864. His history painting "Der Sieger von Königgrätz" was completed in 1869 and bought by emperor Wilhelm I.
Steffeck began his academic career in the early 1850s. In 1859 he was appointed a professor at the Prussian Academy, shifting to the Kunstakademie Königsberg in 1880 as the establishment’s Director.
Among his students, one of the most prominent was Max Liebermann.
Carl Steffeck is particularly known for his paintings of horses and dogs, such as White Horse, Boy and Dog, Sitting Spitz, and Pug Lady with Puppies. Among his best-known non-animal works are The Execution of Robert Blum in Brigittenau and a cycle of scenes from Prussian history for the Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Königsberg.
Italian shepherd family
1841A Good Friend
Riding Gypsy Boys
Portrait of the lawyer Ernst Lau
Ride of the Artist
1857Entering of the Knights in the Marienburg
1884Friedrich Wilhelm III in Conversation with Stone and York
1888Playing Dogs
1850Queen Luise with Her Sons in the Park
1886Portrait of the physicist Franz Neumann
1886Portrait of the Painter Baron Jessenack von Bela
Beatrice
Monk in the Campagna
Portrait of a Horse
Family Ride
Three Riders in the Field
Sitting Spitz
1880Pug Lady with Puppies
Rider
The Ride of Princess Karl von Preussen and Her Husband in the Park of Glienicke
The Naughty Dog
Red Deer
A Papillon and a Pug
Max Liebermann was a German painter and printmaker, who founded the German impressionist school and coordinated its development with the modern movement in Paris. The artist still remains a prominent figure within the pantheon of modern European artists.
