Natives of Hessen, the Tischbeins were the most famous and largest family of craftsmen and artists in central Europe in the 18th century. August Anton Tischbein was born in Rostock (MeckIenburg) on October 9, 1805, while his brother Paul (who was born in 1820 and also painted landscapes and architectural views) was the youngest representative of the dynasty. They were the last to maintain the profession with which their surname was so intimately associated over three generations. Wilhelm Tischbein, the painter and antiquarian who accompanied Goethe during his trip to Italy, was their uncle. Like many of the Tischbeins, August Anton travelled throughout Italy. However, unlike other family members, he was the only one to establish his studio south of the Alps. From 1838 until his death after 1867 he lived in Trieste, at that time under Austrian control. This city was a noted artistic centre during the Restoration.
Grandson of Johann Jacob Tischbein, who painted landscapes and animals, and son of August Albrecht Christian Tischbein, portraitist and genre painter, the artist received his initial artistic training in his father's studio. When he was 19 years old he started his studies at the Berlin Kunstakademie continuing from 1826 at the Dresden Academy. In early 1829 he travelled for the first time to Rome. Friedrich Noack mentions him as a founding member of the Deutscher Künstlerverein in Rome, an association which did not in fact become firmly established until the 1840s. Tischbein worked with his father in Rostock for the next few years, but in 1832 set out on a journey that took him to the Netherlands, England, the cities on the Rhine, Switzerland and finally Munich, where he continued his studies in 1833. From Munich he frequently travelled to the Bavarian Mountains, the Tirol, and northern Italy, regions that he frequently depicted in his landscapes and genre paintings. During the summer of 1837 he remained in Rome, where August Kesther painted his portrait. Later Tischbein travelled around the north and south of Italy, finally reaching Venice where he stayed from 1838 on, marrying there in 1839.
Tischbein took part in the annual exhibition of the Vienna Kunstakademie in at least 1842, 1843, 1846 and 1867. It is also likely that he participated in the exhibitions of the Società  Filotecnica of Trieste and the Circolo Artistico. Although he also painted portraits, the principal genres in which he worked were view paintings and genre works.

Javier Arnaldo

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