Daniel Chodowiecki place of death Berlin
Family
He was born in the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in Poland, and in a letter “in typical Berlin humor” wrote “that he moved to Berlin, Germany, which shows for sure, that he is a 'genuine Pole'.” He kept close to the Huguenot scene, due to his ancestry.
According to Chodowiecki himself, his Polish nobleman paternal ancestor Bartłomiej Chodowiecki lived in the 16th century in Greater Poland, though thus is not confirmed by independent records. Gottfried Chodowiecki, Daniel's father, was a tradesman in Danzig and his mother, Henriette Ayrer, of Swiss ancestry, was a Huguenot. Daniel's grandfather Christian was also a Danzig tradesman, who had moved his business there from Toruń. When his father died, both Daniel (aged 16) and his younger brother Gottfried Chodowiecki went to live with their uncle in Berlin, who offered to educate them. In Germany Daniel received artistic training from the painter Haid in Augsburg. His brother also became a painter.One of his most popular books is the "Journey from Berlin to Danzig" (German: "Die Reise von Berlin nach Danzig", 1773) with many illustrations. He purchased a horse rather than going by stage coach. This was his first return after 30 years absence and he went specifically to see his elderly mother and sisters in Danzig again. He made only one more trip to Danzig afterwards, to his mother's funeral. He describes and illustrates towns and people in Pomerania and Prussia on the way.
Chodowiecki is buried at the Französischer Friedhof cemetery in Berlin.
A short animation entitled "Chodowiecki", based on Chodowiecki's life and work, was produced in 2020 by Polish director Jakub Pączek. All the scenes in the film were composed of graphics by Chodowiecki, digitized, processed and animated for this sole purpose. The film is available free of charge at www.Chodowiecki.com.
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