Scene from the Gospel. (1910s) Oil on wood 49 x 62

Eduard von Gebhardt, a professor of the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, was born in the village of Järva-Jaani in Estonia.

Eduard von Gebhardt started his education at the Arts Academy of Saint Petersburg at the age of sixteen and graduated from it in 1858.

Then, Gebhardt had travelled for two years and studied during the trip at Karlsruhe Art School.

After, Eduard pursued his training at the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf) which he entered in 1860 and where he was taught by a German genre painter Wilhelm Sohn.

During his life, along with the multiple religious paintings, Eduard von Gebhardt created several murals, the most notable of which were Scenes from the Life of Christ made for the Lutheran monastery Loccum Abbey (Kloster Loccum) in Germany from 1884 to 1891. Some of Gebhardts’ frescos are now in the North Cemetery Church in Düsseldorf.

Gebhardt combined his painting activity with teaching duties. So, in 1873 he occupied professor’s post at his alma mater, the Düsseldorf Arts Academy.

Eduard von Gebhardt was a talented and prolific painter whose religious works and portraits were marked by many awards from different European countries, including Germany, France and Italy. The most notable of them was the gold medal at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition (Große Berliner Kunstausstellung) in 1918.

Eduard von Gebhardt was proclaimed an Honored citizen of Düsseldorf. One of the streets in the German city Essen is named after the artist.