Germany. 1780 End of the 18th century. Canvas, oil Height: 57 cm Length: 67.5 cm
Description The German scientist Johann Ernst Heinsius (1731-1794) is known as a portrait painter and author of pictorial allegories. Johann Ernst is the son of the artist Johann Christian Heintz and the brother of the painter Johann Julius Heinsius. I.E. Heinsius probably received his artistic education in his father’s workshop and worked mainly in Thuringia. He began his independent career in 1756 at the court of Hildburghausen. From 1761 he served as a courtier and "cabinet minister" of Prince Johann Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. In the 1760s, the artist worked mainly in the portrait genre, creating portraits of members of the princely families in Rudolstadt. Since 1772, I.E. Heinsius lived in Weimar, where he served as court artist and curator of the Picture Gallery of the Grand Duke of Weimar Karl August, friend and patron of I.V. Goethe. Until 1788, Heinsius taught at the new drawing school established in Weimar.
The artist's paintings are kept in museums in Germany, in Altenburg, Arnstadt, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Jena, Kassel, Nuremberg, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Weimar, and in Heidexburg Palace in Rudolstadt. The painting has museum value, has high artistic value and significant antique interest.