HILDEBRANDT, EDUARD. 1817-68, b. Germany; an artist who commenced life as apprentice to his father, a house-painter at Dantzie. At the age of 20 he went to Berlin, and attracted the attention of Krause, a painter of sea-pieces. His early works betray timidity, and are characterized by great and, had he remained under the influence of German artists, it is questionable whether his genius would ever have tri umphed as it did; lint, after fleeing the French pictures exhibited it) Berlin, lie was seized with such an enthusiasm for the style lie recognized in them, that lie set out at once for Paris, and devoted himself to mastering the mysterious secrets of effect, in AvIlich the artists of that nation excel. The pictures painted by ldin upon his return to Germany are impressed with the stamp of the French school, but at the same time reveal the keen active spirit winch was quick to render momentary changes of uunts r1iere.hed tone. Humboldt's influence led hint to travel, and in 1864-65 he accomplished
a tour round the world. In his anxiety to produce rapidly, his facility of hand dimin ished the value of his works for those who regard composition and harmony of tone as the essentials of a picture. His course may be compared to that of a comet, breathlessly rapid and brilliant. Ile excelled in producing picturesque and startling effects. both hy contrast and by his faculty of seizing and reproducing natural phenomena. Fantasies in brilliant colors, views of vast extent, as from the Himalayas and Andes, narrow crowded streets in Suez or Cairo, panoramas, and tortuous lanes and alleys, all served as material for his genius. He died young. and his pictures are scattered throughout Germany; a few of the best being in various collections in Berlin.