Carl Philipp Fohr

Carl Philipp Fohr was born in Heidelberg in 1795. After initial drawing instruction he was invited to Darmstadt, where he was presented to Princess Wilhelmine Luise of Hesse, who would become his lifelong patron. On a trip to Baden-Baden he came to know the lore and sagas of the Black Forest, and he depicted the landscape and its legends in watercolours. From 1815 to 1816 Fohr attended the Munich Academy, where he was inspired by his fellow students, his art experiences and new landscape impressions. In 1815 he set out on a hiking trip through Tyrol, northern Italy, Venice and Salzburg, which he recorded in drawings and watercolours. Through his fellow student Sigismund Ruhl he was introduced to Romantic poetry and oil painting. Fohr developed a deeper interest in the art of the Dürer era, and in Heidelberg he was accepted by the circle of radical students. In 1816 Fohr began a journey on foot to Rome. There he eventually worked in the atelier of J. A. Koch and executed commissions from J. D. Passavant. He died in 1818 during a swimming contest in the Tiber.