Wietzer Berg

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Ancestral home of the Swartsell family in America. Matthias Swartsell came to America in 1751 and became an adjutant to General George Washington during the American Revolution. Baron Von Schwertzell, who retains the origin of the family name, lives here still in Schloss Willinghausen, the ancestral family home. The Von Schwertzell family traces back to 1300 in the German state of Hesse, being granted domain over two regions of Hesse in the Middle Ages. Gerhardt Willhelm Von Reutern Attended the school of the Lutheran Church of St Peter and St Paul in St Petersburg (1806–09), studied drawing under Carl Adolf Senff (1810) and military sciences at Dorpat University (1810). Joined the Empress Alexandra Hussars Regiment (1811) and fought in the Patriotic War (1812), losing his right arm at the Battle of Leipzig (1813). Took up drawing while recuperating with relatives at Schloss Willingshausen in Hesse (1814). Adjutant to Field Marshal Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (1815). Met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Weimar (1814), Heidelberg (1815) and Jena (1817) and advised by the writer to take up art professionally (1818). Resigned from the Russian army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel and taught himself to paint with his left hand (1819). Visited Naples, Pompeii, Ancona, Bologna and Venice (1820). Married Charlotte von Schwertzell at Schloss Willingshausen (1820), he is the founder of the oldest artist colony in Europe, still located in Willinghausen