Albert Hertel

Early Life and Artistic Training

Albert Hertel was born in Berlin on April 19, 1843. His early years were spent in the city where he would eventually return to teach. He began his formal training at the Berlin University of the Arts, working as a student of the Kunstakademie Berlin. These early lessons provided the foundation for his technical development before he moved toward the more expansive landscapes that would define his practice.

At the age of twenty, Albert Hertel left Berlin for Rome. He remained in the Italian city for almost four years, a period spent studying the masters and observing the light of the Mediterranean. During this time in Rome, he took lessons from Heinrich Dreber, focusing his attention on the nuances of landscape painting. This period of study allowed him to move beyond the classroom and engage directly with the natural world.

Artistic Career in Berlin and Düsseldorf

After returning to Berlin in 1867, Hertel sought further instruction. He moved to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf to study under Oswald Achenbach. This period of study helped shape his focus on the landscape. He eventually returned to his home city, where his professional standing grew within the academic circles of the time.

By 1875, he held a position as a lecturer at the Berliner Kunstakademie. His role was specific; he was placed in charge of the landscape painting studio. He spent two years in this teaching capacity, guiding others in the study of natural scenery. Following this tenure, he transitioned into working as a free-lance artist, moving away from the structured environment of the academy to pursue his own subjects.

Technique and Artistic Style

Hertel’s approach to the landscape was rooted in direct observation. He spent much of his time working en plein air, setting up his easel to capture the immediate light and atmosphere of the natural world. This practice allowed him to translate the specificities of a scene onto canvas with a draftsman's precision. His work often focused on the subtle shifts in terrain and the way light settles across a vista, whether he was looking at a lake or a mountain range.

While the outdoors provided his primary subject matter, his studio work revealed a different kind of focus. He moved between the broad scale of a landscape and the controlled environment required for still-lifes and genre pieces. In these smaller compositions, the hand of the draftsman is evident in the careful arrangement of objects. He also applied his skills to illustration, translating narrative ideas into visual form through drawing and painting.

His technical range extended beyond oil on canvas to include watercolor and tempera. This versatility allowed him to adapt his method to the scale of the task, from intimate sketches to larger, more structured compositions. His ability to handle various media reflects a disciplined study of how different pigments interact with different surfaces.

• Bei Nizza
• Blick auf den Luganer See
• Blick auf das Esterel-Gebirge, 1879
• Badestrand, 1894
• Hofgarten in Berlin, 1897
• Strauß mit Pfingstrosen

Major Commissions and Religious Works

In 1902, Hertel presented draft designs for thirteen paintings intended to adorn the Imperial Staircase at the Berlin Cathedral. These works were executed in tempera, a medium that required careful application for such large-scale surfaces. The commission included nine square murals that depicted the life of Jesus, alongside four oval ceiling panels focused on Biblical parables. These designs received approval from Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The work on these murals and panels continued until they were completed shortly before the Cathedral opened in 1905. Through these large-scale religious scenes, the artist moved beyond the smaller landscapes and still-lifes of his earlier years to engage with the monumental architecture of the city. The tempera paintings remained a central part of the cathedral's interior decoration upon its completion.