Johann Joseph Achermann
Born in Escholzmatt (Switzerland) in 1790.
Died in Lucerne (Switzerland) in 1845.
Swiss · Swiss Early Romanticism · portrait, history and religious painting
A Swiss painter associated with Lucerne’s artistic milieu, Johann Joseph Achermann worked principally in portraiture, history painting and religious subjects. SIK-ISEA records him as a painter of saints, historical compositions and portraits, while the works currently identified add a rare landscape component to this body of work.
His career unfolded across several European artistic centres. A seascape signed “J. Akermann München” documents his connection with Munich; in June 1827, he was also recorded in Salzburg as a painter arriving from Vienna.
The Louvre’s documentation notes frequent stays in Paris, while biographical sources later place him once again in Lucerne.
The documented works reveal a more varied practice than his limited critical reception might suggest. The portrait of Maria Buchmann, painted in oil on panel and dated 1813, attests to his early activity as a portraitist. A rocky island in a stormy sea, signed in Munich, belongs to an early Romantic context, while the 1831 Holy Family with Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John represents the religious aspect of his production.
A central episode in Achermann’s reception concerns the Head of an Old Woman with a Bonnet and Fur Collar, acquired by the Louvre in 1837 as a work by Balthasar Denner and now catalogued under Achermann’s name. The attribution history of the painting, held by the Department of Paintings as INV 1209, was examined in the museum’s “Tableau du mois” presentation from December 2004 to January 2005. The case demonstrates his ability to assimilate the conventions of earlier Northern European portraiture with considerable effectiveness.
The portrait of Maria Buchmann sold for CHF 220 at Schuler in December 2022 against an estimate of CHF 200–300. Signed and dated 1813 on the reverse, the work provides an auction reference documented directly by the auction house.
SIK-ISEA lists 1790 and marks the alternative date 1794 with a question mark. This discrepancy concerns the biographical dates of the same painter.
