Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig Krevel, or Louis Krevel, was a German portrait painter of the Biedermeier period. He was born on September 19, 1801 in Braunschweig (Lower Saxony). He took his first art lessons from his father, Johann Hilarius Krevel (1776-1846), art dealer and portrait painter, and then from the portrait and landscape painter Justus Krauskopf (1787-1869), himself a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. Encouraged by his teacher, the young Krevel went to Paris where he was immediately influenced by the works of the painter Ingres. In 1827, one of his portraits was accepted for the Salon and the following year, he opened his own studio.
In 1830, he returned to Germany and appears to have worked in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1836, he worked in the Saar region and, four years later, exhibited at the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. The majority of its clients were from the prosperous new bourgeoisie created by the industrialization of Saarland. However, as most of his paintings remained in the families of customers, his popularity quickly faded, despite being one of the best portrait painters of his time.
Sometime around 1845, he settled in Cologne and in 1856 he took part in another exhibition at the Prussian Academy. In 1865, discouraged by the growing popularity of portrait photography, he retired from painting and moved to a small house in Freiburg im Breisgau. He suffered a stroke in 1873 and resettled again, this time in Trier in the care of his widowed sister, where he died on May 14, 1876.
Portrait of Christine Wilhelmine Faber (1772-1858), wife of Jean Guillaume Hillemacher (1784-1867), poet and fabulist, knight of the French Legion of Honour and director of the Compagnie des Quatre Canaux, a company created in 1821 that would build several important canals in central and western France. This company was among the first listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. This portrait was until recently in the hands of Mr. Hillemacher’s descendants.
Source: Eva E. Schmidt - Kultur des Biedermeier - Des Maler Louis Krevel - Saarland Museum Saarbrücken.
Artist: Louis Krevel (1801-1876).
Signed and dated 1827.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Excellent condition. Recently professionally restored.
Dimensions: 27 x 22 cm / 10 x 8 1/2 in.
Frame: 40 x 34 cm / 16 x 13 1/2 in. Original, gold leaf on wood, French Restoration period.
Origin: France.