Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer

Thormeyer was born in the Protestant Kreuzkirche parish, Dresden. He started to study painting in very early years at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts under Giovanni Battista Casanova, but changed to architecture in 1791. Friedrich August Krubsacius and Gottlob August Hölzer were his professors there. Since 1800, he belonged to the royal staff as Hofbaukondukteur. Thormeyer created some well known drawings depicting sights of Dresden and its surrounding, e.g. Dom Meißen, Schloss Pillnitz and Katholische Hofkirche (drawn 1807). Many of them were later etched by Christian Gottlob Hammer. Some neo-classical buildings arose in little towns and villages around Dresden, like the Vorwerk Kleindrebnitz. • Illustration — White gate Dresden. • Illustration — View to the river Elbe. • Illustration — Katholische Hofkirche. • Illustration — Dresden.

King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony appointed Thormeyer royal court architect in 1812. Afterwards, Thormeyer went on a study trip, which led him e.g. to Switzerland and Italy, thus avoiding direct involvement in the War of the Sixth Coalition. The portrait above was drawn by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein during Thormeyer's stay 1813 in Rome. Many of his works, however, are in close connection to this war: • 1812: Etching of the decoration on occasion of the visit of Napoleon to Dresden • 1814: Design of memorials for Jean Victor Moreau in Dresden and Theodor Körner in Wöbbelin • 1815 - 1818: Rebuilding of Bischofswerda, burned down during occupation by Napoleonic troops. • Illustration — Jean Victor Moreau memorial. • Illustration — Theodor Körner memorial. • Illustration — Town hall in Bischofswerda. • Illustration — Church Christuskirche in Bischofswerda.