Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Brandt, Carl Ludwig

BRANDT, Carl Ludwig, artist, b. near Hamburg, in Holstein, Germany, 22 Sept., 1831. His father and grandfather were eminent physicians in Hamburg. His father taught him drawing at the age of seven, and he subsequently studied in the principal galleries of Europe. He served in the war of 1848-'50, between Germany and Denmark, and came to the United States in 1852. He painted several portraits previous to 1864, and in that year built his studio in Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y., but lived in Europe from 1865 till 1869. He was chosen a national academician in 1872, and in 1883 was elected director of the “Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Savannah, Ga., where he resides in winter. Among his works are “A Dish of Alpine Strawberries”; “The Fortune-Teller” (1869); “Return from the Alps” (1874); “Monte Rosa at Sunrise”; “Bay of Naples during Eruption of Vesuvius in 1867”; “Etna from Taurinino, Sicily”; “Resignation”; and “The Golden Treasures of Mexico.” The numerous portraits painted since his return from Europe include likenesses of John Jacob Astor the elder; Mr. and Mrs. William B. Astor; Dr. John W. Draper; George S. Appleton; Gen. Henry R. Jackson; and a full-length figure of his wife. The last was shown at the academy exhibition of 1882 and the international exposition at Munich in 1883. Dr. F. Pecht, in his Modern Art at the International Exhibition," says of it: "The most skilful of all these ladies' portraits is the one in full figure by Carl L. Brandt, in fact, a most charming picture, a masterpiece good enough for a Netcher." Mr. Brandt has also done some work as a sculptor, and has nearly ready (1886) a colossal bust of Humboldt.