Georg Tronnier (German 1873-1962). Oil on canvas signed “Georg Tronnier 1915”
32 cm by 32 cm
Georg Tronnier (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Nahrstedt) was born in Gifhorn, Germany in 1873 to Wilhelm Nahrstedt and Johanne Schulze. After his mother’s early death and his father’s emigration to America, he moved to Hamburg with his grandmother in 1888 and attended trade school. In 1891 after completing school he went to Munich where he received financial support from his aunt Louise Tronnier, wife of Johann Heinrich Tronnier. This support and the gratitude engendered, would later lead to him adopting the name Tronnier. Here he visited the drawing school of Heinrich Knirr which gained him entry in 1893, to the painting class of the historian Wilhelm von Lindenschmit. In 1894 he returned to Hamburg and established himself as a portrait painter in Hanover in the same year. He was strongly influenced by Wilhelm Leibl and Franz von Lenbach. Aside from portraits he designed posters for Bahlsen and Pelikan. In December 1904, according to the order of the “Department for Churches and Schools in Lüneburg”, he adopted the name Georg Tronnier. In the same year, he married Lucie Matthias an actress from Hamburg whom he met at the theatre. In 1911, their daughter Mirjam was born. After returning from the war in 1917, his style changed becoming freer, more colourful and less academic. In 1924 Tronnier separated from his wife. During the second world war, he continued to paint portraits and landscapes. Scenes of the destroyed Hanoverian old town in a late-Impressionist style are noted. He died in Hanover after a short illness in 1962 leaving behind an extensive œuvre.