Johann Wilhelm Preyer

• Name — Johann Wilhelm Preyer • Born — 19 July 1803 • Birthplace — Rheydt, Germany • Died — 20 February 1889 • Place of death — Düsseldorf, Germany • Known for — still lifes • Spouse — Emilie Preyer née Lachenwitz • Illustration — Johann Wilhelm Preyer by G. & A. Overbeck (firm), c. 1868

Born in Rheydt, Germany, Johann Wilhelm Preyer grew up in the old town area of Eschweiler. His father was a merchant. He had a sister, Louise, and a brother Gustav, who was also a painter. Both he and his brother were very small-statured, and in his youth Preyer occasionally took advantage of this by dressing as a child to play pranks. Beginning in 1882, Preyer studied art at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Peter von Cornelius and became a master student of Wilhelm von Schadow. He continued his studies in the Netherlands, Munich, northern Italy, and Switzerland between 1835 and 1843. He returned to Düsseldorf in 1844.

Preyer painted mainly still lifes of flowers and fruit, and is today considered one of best artists in the genre in the 19th century, known for his minute and careful detail work. He is also one of the earliest of the group now known as the Düsseldorf school of painting. Much of his work is in the United States, although there are representative works in the Berlin National Gallery and elsewhere in Germany. Preyer was one of the founding members of the Association of Düsseldorf Artists (1844). He occasionally took private students, one of whom was the American still life painter Helen Searle. • Illustration — Fruit and a Goblet, 1854, Victoria and Albert Museum • Illustration — Garden Bouquet in a Pitcher, 1831, Alte Nationalgalerie

• Illustration — Emilie, painted by Johann Peter Hasenclever in 1842. Around 1844, Preyer married Emilie Lachenwitz, the sister of painter Siegmund Lachenwitz. They had a daughter, also named Emilie, and a son, Paul, both of whom also became painters.

The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. The same evidence establishes that johann Wilhelm Preyer is recorded with the occupation painter. It is also recorded that johann Wilhelm Preyer is recorded as a citizen of Kingdom of Prussia. Recorded with the gender male. Born on 19 July 1803. The register further records that johann Wilhelm Preyer died on 20 February 1889. Preyer worked at Düsseldorf.

• Eschenbrücher, Ralf. Der Stillebenmaler Johann Wilhelm Preyer (1803–1889). Stadtarchiv, 1992. ISSN 0175-4793. • Weiss, Siegfried, and Hans Paffrath (eds.). Preyer: Johann Wilhelm 1803-1889 und Emilie 1849-1930: Mit den Werkverzeichnissen der Gemalde von Johann Wilm und Emilie Preyer. Cologne: Wienand Verlag, 2009..