Gustav Heinrich Naecke was a German painter.
Naecke was the son of the Royal Saxon Court Councilor and Oberamtmann Johann Gottlieb Naecke, who was transferred to Dresden in 1785. His father actually wanted him to become a lawyer, but Naecke was able to enroll in the Dresden Art Academy in 1803. There he took private lessons from Cajetan Toscani (1742–1815). Others also noticed his talent, such as the teachers Joseph Grassi and Ferdinand Hartmann.
His first major exhibition was the Dresden Art Exhibition of 1808. In 1811 he also showed his work “Faust and Gretchen” in Dresden, with which he began a series of Faust paintings. In 1817 Naecke went to Italy with a royal grant, where he found himself in the circle of the painter Friedrich Overbeck. Here he painted frescoes in the Villa Massimi, with representations from Dante's Inferno. On behalf of Naumburg canon Immanuel Christian Leberecht von Ampach, the painting Christ, appearing to the disciples for the last time, was created in 1824/25, also peace be with you for the Christ cycle in Naumburg Cathedral.
Naecke returned to Dresden in 1825 to teach as a professor at the art academy. In the last years of his life he was confined to his room by a severe ailment, where he died in 1835.