Ferdinand Hartmann

Christian Ferdinand Hartmann (14 July 1774, Stuttgart – 6 January or June 1842, Dresden) was a German portrait and Classical history painter.

He was the youngest son of the Ducal finance councilor, Johann Georg Hartmann [de] and his wife Juliane Friederike née Spittler (1736–1799), daughter of the Mayor of Cannstatt.

His father's home was also a literary salon, frequented by many notable writers, including Goethe, Schiller and Hölderlin.

He spent the years 1794 to 1798 in Rome, on a study trip, where his choice of style was influenced by Asmus Carstens.

It has been suggested that their friendship helped inspire Kleist to write Das Käthchen von Heilbronn, as Hartmann's only sister, Henriette (1762-1820), had married the lawyer (and amateur artist), Friedrich Christoph Mayer [de], whose family had a long history in Heilbronn.