Biography of Clara von Rappard

18th May 1857, born in Wabern/Bern. Daughter of Albertine von Rappard née Engell, and Conrad von Rappard.

1864 first sketch book.

1868 first lessons in drawing at Meran, followed by daily lessons in drawing and history of art in Venice.

1869 first still life in oil. In April visit of a drawing school in Berlin.

1870 modelling with sculptor Eduard Lürssen in Berlin, in summer learning sepia technique and painting in oil. In autumn and winter extended study of old masters in Italy. From November drawing lessons with Heinrich Dreber in Rome. Copies and studies of landscape. Illustration of her own stories.

1871 trip to Naples, study of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Illustrations to poems by Paul Heyse and Alfred Tennyson. Acquaintance with Adolf Menzel in Berlin.

1872 trip to Naples.

1873 to Interlaken via Florence. First portrait in tempora. In autumn stay at Hannover and daily lessons with Friedrich von Kaulbach and Llly Wallenhausen: anatomy, copies, portraits, nude drawing and various artistic techniques.

1874 studying in Antoine Volkmar’s studio in Berlin, first self-portrait. First portrait of her father under the guidance of Kaulbach in Hannover. Travelling through the Orient with numerous great impressions. Return by Athens.

1875 study of nude in a Berlin school for ladies. Many charcoal and chalk portraits during a summer stay in Interlaken. Now historical painting is the declared goal. Autumn in Hannover and Berlin, criticism by Kaulbach of the portraits; he advises against a professional painting career. Crisis, only diminished by application to Carl Gussow’s ladies’ class at the Berlin academy. First life sized studies of heads in oil.

1876 study of anatomy at the Museum of Arts and Craft, nude studies at the ladies’ art school. Discussion of the admittance of women to the universities of art. Increase of rate of painting. Breakdown and rest cure at Bad Elster. Visit of the Art and Industry Exhibition in Munich, where she comes across the moderns. Back in Interlaken, Clara feels herself «Destined for art» and sees motifs classified by light, shadow and colours. Visit to the Stuttgart Art School where men and women study together. Then in Carl Gussow’s studio of masters in Berlin, first of all study of nude and portrait. The ladies’ class is «mad with ambition». In December Gussow declares the independence of our artist. At the New Year’s Eve party she tries in vain to gain access for women to the anatomy course at the academy.

1878-79 summer and winter in Interlaken.

1880 Munich, Prague, Vienna. Stay in England. Beginning of open-air painting.

1881 death of Conrad von Rappard. Würzburg and studies in Tiepolo, enthusiasm for Böcklin.

1882 Stay at the North Sea. Decoration of Villa Rugen with travel motifs. Winter in Berlin, staying at Countess Oriolla’s, Clara takes part in the court ceremony of the successors’ silver wedding anniversary, critical attitude.

1884 15 illustrations to Albertine von Rappard’s alpine tale Vreneli.

1885 London and Paris, full of enthusiasm for Reynolds and Landseer. Identifies herself with the moderns at the Paris salon. In Interlaken acquaintance with the Grimm and Menzel couples. Menzel praises her nature studies. Winter in Munich, lessons at the sculptor Johann Christoph Roth’s school for women. Numerous drawings in charcoal.

1886 contact with the Munich artists’ cooperative, publishes a children’s book with Feodor Flinzer.

1887 England, Antwerp and Amsterdam. Enthusiasm for Rembrandt. In summer at Böcklin’s, to whom she shows her painting «The Soul», which is favourably accepted. Böcklin introduces her to his range of colours.

1888 Venice and Trinidad.

1889 Munich, Paris World Exhibition, Cologne, Italy, in Rome drawings of the inside of a mental asylum, at Carl Stauffer’s in Bern.

1891-92 visit of Menzel’s studio in Berlin, to whom she shows various illustrations in charcoal. Her preference of nature over the Old Masters increases. Second gold medal at the «German Exhibition» in London.

1893 increasing headaches and heart pains. Travels through Germany. Clara Schumann moves to Interlaken, friendly contacts.

1894 Cure in Montreux, winter in Berlin. Two panels in tempora on the light and the tragic side in music.

1895 painting of the staircase in Dr. Leo Gans’s villa in Frankfurt-on-the-Main. Increasing phases of exhaustion.

1896 the symptons get worse: trembling, headaches, pains in her arms and legs, Visit at Eugène Burnand’s, the landscape painter. An artists’ friendship begins. Feverish artistic activiy alternates with nervous exhaustion.

1897 publication of a portfolio «Studies and Fantasies», printed drawings at Münchner Bruckmann-Verlag.

After 1900 restricted artistic activity, cures in Montreux. Great gold medal at the «Women’s International Exhibition» in London. Member of the Berlin Women Artists’ Association, co-founder of the Bernese chapter of the «Swiss Society of Women Artists». Offer to sale of numerous works at various exhibitions. Artists’ friendship with Emil Werner Engel.

12th January 1912 death by pneumonia at the Victoria Hospital in Bern.

Biography of Conrad von Rappard

19th August 1805 Born in Unna, Germany.

1823-1827 Studies law.

1827-1834 Lawyer in Potsdam, Zehdenick and Posen.

1838 Acceptance into the poets’ circle «Tunnel over the Spree River».

1838 and after Country magistrate and governor in Altlandenberg/Berlin, great commitment to surface mining of brown coal. Acquisition of the two manors Glambeck and Ostdorf near Berlin. Marriage with Franziska Richter, three sons. Divorce in Switzerland.

1848 Member of the liberal-left group «Westendhalle», deputy at the Frankfurt Parlament, also of the Rumpfparlament in Stuttgart.

1849 Arrest warrant for treasonable activities, flight to Switzerland. Citizen of Gerlafingen/Solothurn.

1850 Purchase of the Mariafeld estate near Zurich, nature studies. Investigation of the «Synapta Rappard» from the South Sea, Sci. D. Foundation of the «August Menzel und Co.» Institute for Microscopy.

1855 Purchase of the Giessbach Hotel, which becomes a world famous tourist attraction on account of the bengal lights and the falls. Attempt to introduce steamers on the Lake of Thun; the project fails because of technical shortcomings.

1856 Foundation of the «Engell Institute for Slide Preparations» and a school for microscopy. Marriage with Albertine Engell. 1857 birth of daughter Clara.

1858 Alteration of Rugen into a scenic park with ring-way, pump room and scenic points. Project of a large compound for cures. Building of Villa Rugen on the south slope.

1866 and after Responsibility for various mines and pits in the Bernese Oberland.

1871 Retrieve by the emperor Wilhelm I, then member of the Prussian Reichstag. Manager of a foundry and various pits in the Ruhr area.

17th June 1881 Heart attack and death in Interlaken.