Rudolf Hirth Du Frênes

Place: Gräfentonna

Born: 1846

Death: 1916

Biography:

Rudolf Hirth du Frênes was a German painter born on July 24, 1846 in Gräfentonna, near Gotha, Germany. He was the son of a notary and adopted his mother's maiden name for professional use. At the age of fifteen, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, and later transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, where he became a pupil of Hermann Anschütz. He then joined a class at the studios of Arthur von Ramberg and worked there until the latter's death in 1875. In 1869, he met Theodor Alt, Johann Sperl and Wilhelm Leibl, with whom he shared a studio in Munich and formed the core of the Leibl-Kreis (Leibl Circle). He traveled extensively in Holland, Belgium and France between 1880 and 1885, and settled in Dießen am Ammersee. He was heavily influenced by Leibl and Gustave Courbet, and his work was less inspired after the dissolution of the Leibl-Kreis. He supported himself by painting portraits and died in Miltenberg, Germany, on May 1, 1916. Many of his works can be seen in the Municipal Museum of Miltenberg.