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Adolf Seel (1829-1907)


Adolf Seel (1829-1907)

The German painter, Adolf Seel, became a specialist in architectural scenes, both with and without figures, and in both oil and watercolour. Once established, he became keen to broaden his range of subject matter, and travelled extensively around the Mediterranean, developing a particular passion for Orientalism.

Adolf Seel was born on 1 March 1829, in Wiesbaden, then in the Grand duchy of Hesse and the Rhine, one of the states of the German Confederation. In 1844, he moved northwest to Düsseldorf, in Prussia, to study at the Kunstakademie under Rudolf Wiegmann and Karl Ferdinand Sohn.

During his six years there, he specialised increasingly in landscape painting, and made friends with Andreas Aschenbach, Ludwig Knaus and Carl Friedrich Lessing. Following a long stay, and further study, in Paris in 1852, he returned to Düsseldorf, and spent the following decade gradually making his name as a painter of architectural subjects. He then began to travel, both in Europe and further afield, in order to broaden his range.

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