{"id":6009,"date":"2026-10-22T12:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/?page_id=6009"},"modified":"2026-10-22T12:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:44:12","slug":"parents-portrait","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/parents-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"The Parents\u2019 Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"rs-seite\" data-bild=\"rechts\">\n<style>.rs-seite .rs-zwei{display:grid;grid-template-columns:minmax(0,629fr) minmax(0,548fr);column-gap:112px;align-items:start}.rs-seite .rs-zwei--bildlinks{grid-template-columns:minmax(0,548fr) minmax(0,629fr)}.rs-seite .rs-zwei figure{display:block!important;margin:0!important}.rs-seite .rs-zwei figure img{display:block;width:100%;height:auto}.rs-seite .rs-zwei>div>*:last-child{margin-bottom:0}.rs-seite .rs-zwei .rs-hinweis,.rs-seite .rs-zwei .rs-facts{margin:0}@media (max-width:1024px){.rs-seite .rs-zwei,.rs-seite .rs-zwei--bildlinks{column-gap:48px}}@media (max-width:820px){.rs-seite .rs-zwei,.rs-seite .rs-zwei--bildlinks{grid-template-columns:1fr;row-gap:32px}}<\/style>\n<h1 class=\"rs-h1\">The Parents\u2019 Portrait<\/h1>\n<p class=\"rs-sub\">Philipp Otto Runge \u00b7 1806 \u00b7 Original and copy<\/p>\n<figure><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Runge_Bildnis-der-Eltern_1806_Hamburger-Kunsthalle.jpg\" alt=\"Philipp Otto Runge, The Artist\u2019s Parents, 1806: the parents in their Sunday best in front of their house, beside them two small children at a fire lily\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1805\" loading=\"eager\"><figcaption>Philipp Otto Runge, The Artist\u2019s Parents, 1806. Hamburger Kunsthalle. Photo: Hajotthu \/ Wikimedia Commons, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Runge\u2019s largest painting shows his parents in front of their house in Wolgast. The original belongs to the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Wolgast has a copy from 1906 \u2013 and it is being restored right now.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"rs-btn\" href=\"#restaurierung\">To the restoration<\/a><a class=\"rs-btn rs-btn-leer\" href=\"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/rungehaus\/\">The Rungehaus<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>The painting<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rs-zwei\">\n<div>\n<p>Because of the tense political situation in Hamburg, Runge moved to his family in Wolgast in April 1806. That summer he painted his parents there, Daniel Nikolaus and Magdalena Dorothea Runge. They stand arm in arm in their Sunday best in front of their house, looking straight at us. The mother holds a rose, the father his hat and walking stick. In the background are the shipyard where the father worked, and ships.<\/p>\n<p>Beside the grandparents two grandchildren play at a tall fire lily: Otto Sigismund, Runge\u2019s son, and Friedrich, the son of his brother Jacob. Old and young, two generations in one picture \u2013 for Runge an image of the cycle of life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<dl class=\"rs-facts\">\n<dt>Title<\/dt><dd>Bildnis der Eltern des K\u00fcnstlers (The Artist\u2019s Parents)<\/dd>\n<dt>Date<\/dt><dd>1806<\/dd>\n<dt>Technique<\/dt><dd>Oil on canvas<\/dd>\n<dt>Size<\/dt><dd>196 \u00d7 131 cm<\/dd>\n<dt>Original<\/dt><dd>Hamburger Kunsthalle, acquired 1904<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<h2>The Wolgast copy<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rs-zwei\">\n<div>\n<p>A hundred years after the original, in 1906, a copy of the parents\u2019 portrait was made. It is attributed to the painter Julius von Ehren (1864\u20131944). It is owned by the Town of Wolgast and has until now been on display in the Rungehaus.<\/p>\n<p>Original and copy show the same scene but tell different stories: one of Runge\u2019s work and his path to Hamburg, the other of how this picture remains present in Runge\u2019s home town. What does a picture tell when it lives on in two places?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rs-hinweis\"><p><strong>The painting is not in Wolgast at the moment.<\/strong><\/p><p>Since October 2026 the copy has been in the restoration studio. The Rungehaus is closed for conversion from 1 November 2026.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"restaurierung\">The restoration<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rs-zwei\">\n<div>\n<p>For Runge\u2019s 250th birthday the Wolgast copy is being restored. On 19 October 2026 the conservator Jenny Louise Heymel took the painting down in the Rungehaus, packed it and brought it to her studio. There she first recorded the condition of the painting in detail.<\/p>\n<p>The planned work includes cleaning, removing the old varnish, stabilising the canvas, retouching and reworking the ornamental frame. Every step is documented in photographs and in writing. We will report on the progress here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<dl class=\"rs-facts\">\n<dt>Conservator<\/dt><dd>Jenny Louise Heymel (Dipl.-Restauratorin), S\u00fcderholz<\/dd>\n<dt>Collected<\/dt><dd>19 October 2026<\/dd>\n<dt>Completion<\/dt><dd>planned for April 2027<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"rs-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/newsletter\/\">Subscribe to the newsletter<\/a><a class=\"rs-btn rs-btn-leer\" href=\"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/veranstaltungen\/\">Programme 2027<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"rs-klein\">Information on the original after Hamburger Kunsthalle, online collection (inv. HK-1001).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Parents\u2019 Portrait Philipp Otto Runge&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6009","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6009"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6012,"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6009\/revisions\/6012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runge-in-wolgast.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}