Adolf Ulric Wertmüller

Adolf Ulric Wertmüller (February 18, 1751 - October 5, 1811) was a Swedish painter whose notable works include "Danaë receiving Jupiter in a Shower of Gold".

Wertmüller was born in Stockholm and studied art at home before moving to Paris in 1772 to study under his cousin Alexander Roslin and French painter Joseph-Marie Vien.cite book |title=History of the State of Delaware |author=Conrad, Henry Clay |year=1908 |page=1119 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=XKsGZAtHlDIC&pg=PA1118&lpg=PA1119] On July 30, 1784, Wertmüller was elected to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture.

Wertmüller was commissioned by Gustav III of Sweden for a portrait of Marie Antoinette, which is now in the Nationalmuseum at Stockholm. In 1787, he produced his masterpiece "Danaë", a work which proved controversial as one of the earliest female nude paintings exhibited in America. [cite journal |title=Venus on the Sofa: Women, Neoclassicism, and the Early American Republic |author=Winterer, Caroline |year=2005 |journal=Modern Intellectual History |volume=2 |pages=29-60]

Wertmüller first emigrated to the United States in May 1794 and continued his portrait work, most notably of General Washington,cite book |title=Heirlooms in Miniatures |author=Wharton, Anne Hollingsworth & Emily Drayton Taylor |publisher=J.B. Lippincott Company |year=1898 |page=145 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jMC59BgvyYoC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145] but in 1796 was called back to Sweden, eventually returning to Philadelphia in 1800.

Wertmüller was married to Elizabeth Henderson, granddaughter of noted early American painter Gustavus Hesselius, on January 8, 1801, and two years later retired to a plantation in Claymont, Delaware, where he lived the final years of his life.

References

External links

* [http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/artist/1427 Works by: Adolf Ulric Wertmüller]
* [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=992KPrqfnQwC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9 A Forgotten Artist: Adolph Wertmüller] by Franklin D. Scott
* [http://www.colonialswedes.org/Headlines/NSHCbrochure(2008).pdf Three New Sweden Artists: Gustavus Hesselius, Adolph-Ulrich Wertmüller & Paula Himmelsbach Balano]