Ernst von Liphart

Baron Ernst Friedrich von Liphart (1847–1932), russified as Ernst Karlovich Lipgart and also referred to in English as Earnest Lipgart, was a painter, a noted art expert and art collector from what is now Tartu in Estonia. After living for a time in Florence, he moved to France and then to Russia, where he was a curator at the Hermitage Museum. Life Liphart was born in Kambja Parish in Tartu County in 1847. His father, Karl Eduard von Liphart, came from a noble Baltic German family that was based at Raadi Manor in what is now Estonia. His family were members of the national intelligentsia and owned a significant art collection. Travels in Spain and Italy Liphart accompanied his father on his travels, starting in 1860. In 1862, they moved to Florence because of Liphart's weak health. His father continued his interest in art, which was financed and supported by Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I. Ernst studied painting under Franz von Lenbach before travelling to Spain with him to study paintings from 1866 to 1868. This trip was funded by Lenbach's patron Count Schack. Paris Liphart was disinherited by his father in 1873 after he converted to Roman Catholicism to marry Luisa Juan, a Florentine, before they moved to Paris. He studied under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre at the Académie Julian whilst illustrating the leading magazines La vie élégante and La vie moderne.