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Huber, Johann-Rudolf
(b Basle, 1668; d Basle, 28 Feb 1748). Swiss painter. He was probably a pupil from 1682 to 1683 of Conrad Meyer in Zurich and then from 1684 to 1685 a student at the academy founded by Joseph Werner II in Berne. He spent the years 1687 to 1693 in Italy, first in Milan, with Tempesta, then with Giandomenico Tiepolo in Venice and finally with Carlo Maratti in Rome. Back in Basle, in 1694 he executed portraits of various members of the family of Frederick V, Margrave of Baden-Durlach. In 1696 he carried out decorations (destr.) in Stuttgart, at the residence of Eberhard-Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg. Like many artists of Swiss origin, he went to a number of cities and countries in search of work. He became the portrait painter to the patrician families of Basle, Zurich and, in particular, Berne, where he lived from 1702 to 1718. In all he probably painted more than 400 portraits of the Bernese aristocracy, though he claimed to have painted more than 5000, some of which are recorded in his Register der Contrafeit, so Ich nach dem Leben gemahldt habe (Berne, 1683–1718). At the end of the 17th century and during the first part of the 18th, portraits by Hyacinthe Rigaud and Nicolas de Largillière were well known in Switzerland, some having been brought back by high-ranking Swiss officers serving in France. Nevertheless, portraiture in the German-speaking cantons in eastern Switzerland remained archaic and austere in style, except, perhaps, in Berne, where the influence of the Enlightenment was felt. Huber’s portrait of Hieronymus von Erlach (1725; Berne, Stadt- & Ubib.), for example, shows his receptiveness to the new ideas, though retaining a degree of severity. In this work the Bernese magistrate and patrician is represented by Huber in front of a table laden with the symbols of his office. Numerous portraits by Huber exist, mainly in private collections, some of them less conventional in character. Huber was also a painter of miniatures and historical subjects and executed in addition some flower and animal paintings.
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