A Baroque painter from Ovelgönne. Deaf, widely traveled and long forgotten. He painted for princes, kings and a pope.
We do not own any originals of his paintings. That is why we show what remains of him: his trail.
He is regarded as one of the most important northern German painters of the 17th century. Little is known about his life, and his work was long forgotten. Here is what we know for sure.
Thirty Years’ War, 1618 to 1648
“quite thoughtful and attentive”
His father was a fruit and grain clerk at the Oldenburg court. His path begins in the very place where our museum stands today.
In 1671, court chronicler Winckelmann called him “mute and deaf by nature.” Heimbach could read and write. He wrote three letters to Prince Ottavio Piccolomini, in 1651 and 1652, in Italian, Latin and German. He worked for the highest-ranking patrons.
Count Anton Günther of Oldenburg supported him. He probably continued his training in the Netherlands in the early 1630s.
It all begins in Ovelgönne. From here a path is painted through Europe, and again and again it leads back home. Scroll, and a golden line traces Heimbach’s stations. The rings show the straight-line distance from Ovelgönne.
This is where Wolfgang Heimbach was probably born, in a place with a manorial farm estate, a stud farm and a castle. Every trail begins here, and today our museum stands here.
Supported by Count Anton Günther, Heimbach is trained as a painter and probably goes to the Netherlands for further training. Where exactly is not documented. By 1636 at the latest he is back in Ovelgönne and paints portraits for Bremen citizens.
Around 1640 Heimbach sets out for the south. Via Vienna, where the “Nocturnal Banquet” and a portrait of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm were probably created, the route leads to Italy. Heimbach works in Naples, Rome and Florence, paints Pope Innocent X and converts to the Catholic faith.
After years abroad, Heimbach is back home by February 1652 at the latest, at first with his father in Ovelgönne. The return journey led via Bohemia and Prague, probably also via Nuremberg and Brussels. At the Oldenburg court he receives a trial contract.
For about eight and a half years, Heimbach is employed at the court of King Frederik III in Copenhagen, mainly as a genre painter. In 1660 he paints the Hereditary Homage, a wide cityscape, and shows himself at the edge of the picture, doffing his hat.
Heimbach returns home and paints Count Anton Günther, his old patron. A profile portrait from about 1664 serves as a model for Oldenburg coins. A new permanent position as court painter is not known. After the count’s death in 1667 he travels to Copenhagen once more, but the hoped-for position does not materialize. By 1669 he is back in Ovelgönne.
Prince-Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen hires him: 250 thalers a year, free housing, canvas and frames. Heimbach paints portraits of the bishop, including an equestrian portrait, and works in Münster and Coesfeld.
In 1678 in Osnabrück, Heimbach paints a portrait of Georg Ludwig, son of the local prince-bishop. At the end of April 1679 he dies in Osnabrück. On May 1 he is interred in the Catholic parish of St. Johann.
Schematic depiction on today’s map. Coasts and borders: Natural Earth (public domain). The distances are straight lines, calculated by us. The order of the stations is documented only where years are given. Prague, Nuremberg, Brussels, Florence and Naples are marked as light dots.
Heimbach’s paintings combine Dutch Baroque, Italian painting and Caravaggism. To explore: a laid table in the style of the period, modeled on the meal still life of 1670. Light it up with the lantern, and switch to the pure light-and-dark view.
Our own illustration, inspired by “Meal Still Life with a Maid behind a Window” (1670, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel): Roemer with wine, pewter pitcher, cheese and butter, ham, pewter tankard, bread, pears, a plate with a knife and a linen cloth on a red table. We leave out the maid at the window. It is not the painting.
One of the influences in Heimbach’s painting. In the early 1630s he probably continues his training in the Netherlands, supported by Count Anton Günther.
Heimbach works in Naples, Rome and Florence. His patrons include the Medici, Prince Piccolomini and Pope Innocent X.
The Landesmuseum names Caravaggism as an influence. Generally known: painting in the wake of Caravaggio relies on strong light-dark contrasts. Light falls deliberately on figures and things, the rest sinks into shadow. Try it out on the left with the lantern.
For about eight and a half years Heimbach paints for the Danish King Frederik III. Portraits appear from the very beginning: in 1636 the portrait of Christina Graevaeus, in 1660 his self-portrait, in 1664 the miniature of Count Anton Günther.
A table as if someone had just left the meal: cheese, ham, bread, pears and wine. Behind a broken window a maid looks in. 69.5 × 84.5 cm, oil. Signed in Coesfeld, 1670.
In Heimbach’s time there was no paint tube; it was only invented in the 19th century. Painters bought pigments as powder and ground them with oil into paint. Reach into the shelf, make your own oil paint and paint with it.
General information on Baroque pigments. Which of them Wolfgang Heimbach used is not documented. Lead white and vermilion are toxic and are no longer used today as they once were.
Circle over the slab with a mouse or finger. The glass muller grinds powder and oil into a smooth paste. The finer the pigment is ground, the purer the color glows.
Tap a color to paint with it. With “Mix” you combine several colors into a new tone.
Simplified simulation. Grinding with linseed oil is general craft knowledge; we will add the source for it later.
Wolfgang Heimbach traveled through half of Europe, and his paintings did the same. Today they are carefully kept in major institutions, and we are grateful for that. We own no original, but we know where they are at home. Four of them hang here, with notes on where you can meet them.
The paintings hang behind curtains. Press and hold a picture or pull the cloth aside.
Image: © Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Photo: Monika Runge
A richly furnished kitchen full of plates and utensils. A man in black counts money, probably for the peaches that a girl takes from the basket. On the right a chicken roasts at the fireplace. The catalog gives Rome as the place of origin, with a question mark.
Image: © LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster / Hanna Neander
Heimbach portrays himself. A rare look at a painter about whom we otherwise know little.
Wolfgang Heimbach, Portrait of a Young Man, © The National Gallery, London. Bought, 1888. Photo: Photography and Imaging, The National Gallery, London. License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, image unchanged.
A young man in a black coat and a broad hat stands before a column and a red curtain, with a city by the water behind him. On the balustrade are a monogram and the year 1662. The picture was made during Heimbach’s years at the Danish court; the signature points to Copenhagen. Who is portrayed is not known.
Image: © Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel
A laid table with cheese, ham, bread, pears and wine, as if someone had just left the meal. Behind the broken pane a maid looks at the table and at you. Heimbach combines still life and genre painting. The catalog of the 2022 exhibition reads the scene as a view of social order and of the exclusion of individuals. Signed in Coesfeld, 1670.
All details follow the linked pages of the holding institutions and the catalog of the 2022 exhibition. Distances are straight lines from Ovelgönne.
A painter for princes, kings and a pope.
Contemporary sources call Heimbach “deaf and mute.” Whether he was deaf from birth is unclear. He may have had some residual hearing.
In 2022, in the exhibition “Wolfgang Heimbach: Ungehört” (“Unheard”), the Landesmuseum Oldenburg asked how his deafness influenced his life and work and how his time dealt with disability.
Die Reportage ansehenWolfgang Heimbach is more than one page can tell. These four offerings from other institutions lead you further, in the order we recommend: from the introduction to the individual painting. We thank all institutions that share their knowledge so openly.
All four pages belong to the institutions named and open in a new tab. The content was summarized as of the state of our research.
Wolfgang Heimbach is one of the notable figures from Ovelgönne remembered in our permanent exhibition. Come by and discover the Singers’ Room (Sängerzimmer) on the upper floor.
The next digital station is dedicated to the women writers from Ovelgönne, with books and letters from our collection.
All information on this page is based on the following sources. We show images of paintings only with credit to the holding institution and the photographer. The rights lie with the museums and will be cleared before publication.
