F. (FERDINAND) HEILBUTH

Biography

F. (FERDINAND) HEILBUTH
1826 Hamburg (Germany) - 1889 Parijs (France)

Ferdinand Heilbuth was born in 1826 and predestined to become a rabbi like his father. For his rabbinical schooling he traveled to Rome, Munich, Antwerp. Halfway through his studies he left for Paris to become a painter. He studied under Hippolyte Delaroche and Charles Gleyre and later under Edouard Manet. Heilbuth became a naturalized French citizen in 1878. His earlier work included traditional elaborate history pieces. The change to landscapes and elegant beau monde subjects came later. He had exhibitions at the Paris Salon, the Royal Academy, Grosvenor Gallery and the Boston Atheneum. Ferdinand Heilbuth was very successful and was a highly recognised and decorated artist of his time. Heilbuth died in Paris in 1889. Vincent van Gogh wrote to his friend Anthon van Rappard in a letter in January 1883: “You know the work of Percy Macquoid, of Heilbuth, of Tissot, when one sees that it seems as if it’s the nonplus ultra of elegance and soft, delicate feeling.”