Today, the collection of paintings of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation houses more than three hundred portraits. Among them, the portraits created by the Baltic German painter Julius Gottfried Siegmund (July 1, 1828, Riga–January 2, 1909, Riga) are widely represented: a total of thirty-seven oil paintings. 

J. G. Siegmund was a member of the Riga Art Society Council and a sought-after portrait painter: his paintings attracted attention both among general public of his time as well as art critics. J. G. Siegmund painted prominent contemporaries and also specialized in making historical portraits based on older paintings by replicating images of 17th-19th centuries’ nobility, church officials as well as intellectuals. The set of historical portraits also includes J. G. Siegmund’s mass group portrait (1899), “Ceremonial Launch of Dismantling the Riga Fortification Ramparts on November 15, 1857”, in which prominent citizens of Riga are depicted against the city background.

The works of J. G. Siegmund were highly valued in the Riga and the Baltics and acquired an outstanding cultural and historical significance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when about fifty portraits of his paintings arrived in the Dom Museum (now the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation) and some of them were permanently exhibited in the Museum’s Portrait Gallery. Many of these portraits had been commissioned by individual local Baltic nobles and also by the Vidzeme Knightage, to be later donated to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity. Today, a large part of these portraits is still preserved in the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation: some pictures are on display in the museum’s permanent exhibition. However, this virtual exhibition is designed to provide a broader insight into J. G. Siegmund’s creative heritage.

The virtual exhibition is on view on the virtual exhibition platform of the Joint Catalogue of the National Holding of Museums:

https://www.nmkk.lv/Exhibitions/ExhibitionForm.aspx?id=588

https://www.nmkk.lv/Exhibitions/ExhibitionItemList.aspx?id=588

Read more about the painter J.G. Siegmund in the National Encyclopaedia, entry “Julius Gottfried Siegmund”, authored by Inga Karlštrēma, manager of the art collection at the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of Heinrich von Ulenbrock (1562–1641), Mayor of Riga. 1895. The painting is based on a watercolour in the legend book of the Ulenbrok family. Oil on canvas. 38.4 x 33.5 cm.

In 1895, Heinrich von Ulenbrock’s heirs donated this portrait to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity. The painting was originally housed in the Dom Museum. Collection of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of Landrat Weinhold Georg von Völkersahm (1678–1736). 1893. Freehand copy of a portrait by an unknown artist in the Rādi Manor. Oil on canvas. 71.5 x 56.6 cm.

In 1892, the Vidzeme Knightage donated this painting to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of Jochann Christoph Schwartz, mayor of Riga (1722–1804). 1892. Based on the image in an ivory locket. Oil on canvas. 69 x 54 cm.

In 1892, J. G. Siegmund donated this portrait to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of the Landrat senator Friedrich Wilhelm von Sivers (1748–1823). 1892 The portrait is based on a marble bust in the Vidzeme Knightage House. Oil on canvas.73 x 58 cm.

In 1892, members of the Sivers family donated this painting to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of the Landrat Ludwig August Count von Mellin (1754–1835). Around 1891. Based on a lithograph. Oil on canvas. 73 x 58 cm.

In 1891, the, Count August von Mellin, owner of the Ozoli manor (1835–1908), donated this painting to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of the writer and publicist Garlieb Helwig Merkel (1769–1850). Before 1897. Painted on the example of older graphic portraits. Oil on canvas. 33.5 x 26 cm.

In 1897, J. G. Siegmund donated this portrait to the Riga Society for the Research of Antiquity.

The painting is on view in the museum’s permanent exhibition.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of Robert Büngner, burgomaster and mayor of Riga (1816–1892). 1890s. Oil on canvas. 41.5 x 33.5 cm.

The painting is on view in the museum’s permanent exhibition.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Portrait of three Elders of the Small Guild: Johann Christoph / Christian Friedrich Meinhardt (1801–1885), Friedrich Brunstermann (1822–1911) and Wilhelm Jacob Taube (1804–1886). 1887. Based on a photograph taken in 1881 by Robert Borchardt (1830–1910). Oil on canvas. 104 x 89 cm.

The painting was originally located in the Small Guild.

Julius Gottfried Siegmund. Ceremonial Launch of Dismantling the Riga Fortification Ramparts on November 15, 1857. 1899. Oil on canvas. 92 x 128 cm.

The painting was donated to the Dom Museum in 1901 by Consul Johann Eugen Leo Grimm (1840–1902).

The painting is on view in the museum’s permanent exhibition.