Robert Reinick
1805–1852 · German painter and poet associated with the Düsseldorf school
Robert Reinick (Danzig, 1805 – Dresden, 1852) was a German painter and poet associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Although his name is often linked to literature, his work as a painter belonged to the German artistic circle of the first half of the nineteenth century, which gives him a place of his own in the history of painting.
Born in Danzig, today Gdańsk, Reinick worked within the German-speaking world and died in Dresden. His association with the Düsseldorf school places his output within German Romanticism, a movement that gave great weight to poetic subject matter, nature and feeling. The combination of painting and writing meant that each of his two practices fed into the other.
As a poet, Reinick is remembered above all for several texts that had a notable life in music. His poem Dem Vaterland was set by Hugo Wolf, and The Flight into Egypt served as the libretto for a cantata by Max Bruch. He also wrote the libretto for Schumann's opera Genoveva. These works show how far his literary output became part of the musical life of his time.
Reinick's legacy is that of a multi-faceted artist whose painting belongs to the Düsseldorf school and whose poetry reached important composers of the nineteenth century and later. His career helps illustrate the relations between the visual arts, literature and music in German Romanticism.