Adolf Friedrich Harper

Adolf Friedrich Harper
1783 portrait by Jakob Christian Schlotterbeck
Born	October 17, 1725 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	June 23, 1806(1806-06-23) (aged 80) Berlin
Nationality	German
Occupation	Landscape painter

Adolf Friedrich Harper (born 17 October 1725, Berlin — d. 23 June 1806, Berlin) was a German landscape painter.

Biography

Italian Landscape, painted in 1798

Harper was the son and student of the Swedish-born Prussian cabinet painter Johann Harper. After his father's death, Harper visited France and Italy, where he studied landscape painting under Richard Wilson. Harper first found employment in Württemberg in 1756. Three years later, he was made court painter to Duke Charles Eugene, who also made Harper the director of his Academy of Fine Arts at the Karlsschule in 1761. In 1798, Harper retired from court and spent his last years in his hometown, Berlin.

Like Reinhard Heinrich Ferdinand Fischer and Nicolas Guibal, and other young artists sponsored by Charles Eugene, Harper had many commissions to fulfill and was constantly behind on them. Harper, whom Goethe called a "born landscape artist", was tasked with painting overdoors, studies of fruits and flowers, theater decorations, and frescoes with Guibal.

Since the presidency of Christian Wulff, Harper's Italian Landscape has hung on the wall behind the desk of the President of Germany.

See also

• Reinhard Heinrich Ferdinand Fischer
• Nicolas Guibal

References

• Wintterlin, August (1879). Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Vol. 10. Duncker & Humblot. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Berckenhagen, Ekhart (1996). "Harper, Adolf Friedrich". Neue Deutsche Biographie. Vol. 7. Duncker & Humblot. ISBN 3-428-00188-5.