The New International Encyclopædia/Fitger, Arthur Heinrich Wilhelm

FITGER, fĭt'gẽr, Arthur Heinrich Wilhelm (1840—). A German poet and historical painter, born at Delmenhorst (Oldenburg). He was a pupil of Cornelius and Genelli at the Munich Academy; later he studied at Antwerp, Paris, and Rome, and in 1869 established his studio in Bremen. As a painter he became known for his large decorative works, executed chiefly at Bremen. The motif of these is derived for the most part from the legendary or the purely fantastic, and elaborated with a wealth of coloring acquired from Rubens and the Venetians. They include a frieze (in monochrome), representing the development of German civilization, for the Rutenhof, Bremen; the frieze for the gallery of the Bourse in that city; fourteen pictures for the banquet hall of the ducal residence at Altenstein, Saxe Meiningen; “The Four Elements” for the Kunsthalle of Hamburg; the decorations for the salle-des-fêtes of the Bremen Künstlerhaus; and paintings for the Hamburg Town Hall. His publications include: Adalbert von Bremen, a tragedy (1873); Die Hexe (1875), a philosophical drama, marked by a considerable dignity of expression and skillful character drawing; Von Gottes Gnaden (1883), a political drama, stilted in expression and puppet-like in action; Fahrendes Volk (1875; 4th ed. 1894), and Winternachte (1881), volumes of poems. He also rendered into German (1886) Byron's Marino Faliero, and for the Denkmale der Geschichte und Kunst Bremens (1877) prepared a history of the local cathedral.