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Kobell [Kobell, von; Kobel] (i).
German family of artists. They were originally from Frankfurt am Main and were active in Mannheim and Munich in the 18th and 19th centuries. Balthasar Kobell, a treasury official from Mannheim, had two sons who were artists: (1) Ferdinand Kobell and Franz (Innocenz Josef) Kobell (b Mannheim, 23 Nov 1749; d Munich, 14 Jan 1822). Ferdinand was primarily a landscape painter and was profoundly influenced by 17th-century Dutch painting and the work of Claude Lorrain. Nevertheless, he intimated a new approach to the genre that would be typical of the 19th century. Franz was a painter, draughtsman and etcher who lived in Rome from 1779 to 1784 and became influenced by the heroic, classical landscapes of Claude and Poussin; thereafter, he lived and worked in Munich. He rarely dated his works and produced few oil paintings, preferring instead to execute watercolour sketches and ink drawings of classically composed landscapes (e.g. Bay of Naples with Mt Vesuvius, Munich, Staatl. Graph. Samml.). Ferdinand’s two sons (2) Wilhelm von Kobell and Egid von Kobell (b Mannheim, 7 April 1772; d Munich, 17 June 1847) were also artists. Wilhelm developed his father’s style of landscape painting as well as producing a number of battle pictures. Egid was primarily a draughtsman and dilettante whose principal occupation was Privy Councillor in the Bavarian government. The majority of his works are landscapes in sepia, pencil or ink. The Dutch branch of the family (see KOBELL (ii)) was related through Balthasar Kobell. The following members have entries:
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