Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, Generalsuperintendent, Lithograph, circa 1840

An original lithographed portrait of the theologian Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, signed below in facsimile "K. G. Bretschneider" and lettered in script "Oberconsistorialrath und Generalsuperintendent." The imprint reads "Verlag von Gustav Schaarschmidt in Leipzig," the printer's line at lower left names E. Pönicke und Sohn in Leipzig, and a monogram followed by "lith." is drawn on the stone at lower right.

Bretschneider is shown half length, turned slightly to the right, with dark curling hair, a lively, slightly smiling face and a high white collar and stock above a double breasted coat. The portrait is drawn in crayon on the stone and fades softly into the paper around the figure, in the vignette manner of German portrait lithographs of the period.

Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider (1776 to 1848) was a Protestant theologian and scholar who served from 1816 as general superintendent at Gotha, the senior churchman of the duchy, a post matched by the lettering on this sheet. He wrote widely on the New Testament and on doctrine, and in 1834 founded the Corpus Reformatorum, the great edition of the writings of Melanchthon and the other Reformers.

Leipzig was the center of the German book and print trade, and portrait lithographs of churchmen, professors and public figures were issued there in large numbers in the 1830s and 1840s, often with a facsimile signature and the sitter's titles lettered beneath, as here.

The sheet will interest collectors of German church history, of the Reformation tradition and of Biedermeier portraiture, and the strong head reads well framed with a wide mat.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.