The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kobell, Ferdinand

KOBELL, Ferdinand, German painter and engraver: b. Mannheim, 7 June 1740; d. Munich, 1 Feb. 1799. He studied first at Heidelberg when the Elector of Bavaria, admiring a landscape, aided him to devote his entire time to painting. He next studied art in Paris and became on his return, painter to the Cabinet and was appointed director of the Mannheim Gallery (1798) but died before entering on his duties. He specialized on landscapes, following the style of Berchem, and his work shows a jealous study of natural effects. His oil painting are in a number of German galleries, but his work as an engraver has more importance. His etchings (about 300) were published by Frauenholz, in Munich (1809), as ‘Œuvres complètes de F. K.,’ another of 179 pages were published by Kugler (Stuttgart 1842). Consult Von Stengel, Baron S., (Nuremberg 1822), for his biography.