page_title: Edgar Meyer (painter)
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Edgar Meyer (painter) / Life
caption_attribution_description: English: A watercolour of Welfenstein Castle by Edgar Meyer
context_page_description: Edgar Meyer was an Austrian painter who built himself a castle and engaged in politics.
context_section_description: Professor Edgar Meyer was born on 5 September 1853 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. His parents were Martin Meyer (1821–1897),(a prosperous businessman, painter, poet and compiler of folksongs) and Theresia Megucher (1826–1905). He studied at the Akademie der Bildenkünste in Munich and from 1874 to 1877 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under the direction of Eugene Dücker. He extended his studies by visiting Rome and Venice. In Düsseldorf between 1880–1881 he was a member of an association of artists and academics called Malkasten (also known as Paintbox). He lived in Weimar and was also Professor at Charlottenburg-Berlin.
  Meyer's preferred medium was watercolour and his impressionist styled landscapes, mountain scenes and castles were popular, particularly in Germany where they sold well. Meyer's paintings can be found at the Tiroler Landesmuseum (Ferdinandeum), Innsbruck and in private collections around the world. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the progression of Revolutionary Art caused his work to lose favour and he returned to the Tyrol.
  He bought the medieval ruins of Welfenstein Castle near Sterzing in South Tyrol. During the period 1893–1897 he rebuilt the castle transforming it into a romantic edifice complete with numerous towers, ramparts and battlements. Meyer furnished the castle with antiques and works of art collected from throughout the Tyrol. In November 1918 a devastating fire burnt down the castle destroying most of its contents including a collection of forty thousand books.
  In 1910 Meyer co-founded the Tiroler Volkskunst museum (Museum of Tyrolean Folk Art).
  He died at Aldrans near Innsbruck on 21 February 1925, aged 71.
caption: Meyer's painting of Welfenstein Castle
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