Daniel Cornelius Gesell (German, 1822-1889)
Daniel Cornelius Gesell (German, 1822-1889)
Daniel Cornelius Gesell (German, 1822-1889)
Daniel Cornelius Gesell
German, 1822-1889
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Daniel Cornelius Gesell, also Daniel Gsell, nicknamed Kreidemayer by his fellow students, was a German painter and lithographer.
Gesell was the son of a leather merchant. He visited the Mannheim Gallery and studied from 1843 for two and a half years at the Düsseldorf Academy, where he also learned the technique of lithography. Initially, he was a student in the architecture class of Rudolf Wiegmann, then he went with the career goal “portrait painter” in the 2nd painting class of Karl Ferdinand Sohn. After that, he attended the Antwerp Academy for a year and a half. By drawing “pub pictures”, he cultivated close relationships with student fraternities such as Corps and Burschenschaften, and in 1848 he took part in the Baden Revolution. As a lithographer, he created many group portraits of Heidelberg and Freiburg corporations. After attending the universities of Heidelberg, Freiburg, Gießen, Marburg and Würzburg, he came to Lenzkirch in 1854.
There he received the commission to paint the Lenzkircher Rösslewirt and straw hat manufacturer Johann Georg Tritscheller and his family. During his frequent summer stays in Lenzkirch, he painted portraits of wealthy straw hat manufacturers, watch and glass dealers. An eye problem forced him to give up his precise drawing style.
In 1879 he was appointed curator of the Wessenberg Gallery in Constance, where he worked from 1879 to 1888. From 1887/1888, a heart disease prevented him from carrying out his official duties.
