Caspar Jele

Caspar Jele (5 Jänuary 1814 in Freitzberg - 17 December 1893 Innsbruck) was an Austrian artist.

Life

Caspar Jele was born as a farmer's son in Freitzberg above Ried im Oberinntal in simple conditions. Since he showed his artistic talent at school, at the age of twelve he became an apprentice to the peasant painter Hieronymus Schatz. On the impetus of Josef Duiles, who saw a picture of Jeles, during a visit to Ried, he came in 1831 as a student to Gebhard Flatz in Innsbruck. From 1834 to 1838, he attended the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts thanks to a state scholarship, where he studied among others with Johann Ender and Josef Redl the Younger. He was particularly influenced by Leopold Kupelwieser and Joseph von Führich.

From 1856 to 1884 he was drawing teacher at the Realschule Innsbruck, from 1864 to 1876 he also taught at the attached to the Realschule Gewerbeschule. In his free time he worked as a painter. In addition to portraits, genre paintings and designs for glass paintings he created mainly religious images in the style of the Nazarenes, including altarpieces for 26 churches in Tyrol, but also those in Vorarlberg, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Carinthia and the United States. From several members of the imperial family, among them the empresses Karolina Augusta and Maria Anna, he received orders for portraits. On the occasion of his retirement, in 1884 he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit with the crown.

On April 21, 1839, Caspar Jele married Anna Kretschmer from Fulnek in Vienna. The couple had 8 children, including the art historian Albert Jele (1844-1900), who became director of the Tiroler Glasmalereianstalt in 1874.

References

• Jele, Kaspar. In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Band 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1965, S. 96.