Theodor von der Beek

Theodor von der Beek was born on March 21, 1838, in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth. He was a German portrait and genre painter of the Düsseldorf school. Initially employed in the business of his father, a brewer, von der Beek entered the elementary class of Andreas Müller at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1856. In 1859, he moved to the painting class of Karl Ferdinand Sohn and was in the master class of Eduard Bendemann from 1862–66. In addition to portraits, including numerous self-portraits, he created many-figure compositions in the countryside or rural milieus and interiors, the works of Ludwig Knaus, Benjamin Vautier, Karl Wilhelm Hübner, The Bridal Shoes, A pawn game or Panic horror. Travels took him to southern Germany and Spain in the 1890s, inspiring him to new pictorial themes, including, The Royal Tobacco Factory in Seville or Arabian Dance. He participated in many exhibitions, also outside of Düsseldorf, such as in Berlin, Dresden, Glasgow, London, Munich, Hamburg, Salzburg and Vienna. His most successful pictorial creations appeared as wood engraving reproductions in illustrated magazines, such as Panic Terror, Pilgrims at the ferry and a duet and a pawn game. Von der Beek was a member of the artist association Malkasten. Theodor von der Beek died on March 15, 1921 in Düsseldorf, Germany.