Friedrich Bloch

Does anyone know any facts about the painter Friedrich Bloch? Google isn't bringing up much by way of what I want.

Firstoff, I am reading a book of short stories by Jeffrey Archer - fiction, naturally. However, one of his stories is about the life of Friedrich Bloch and his patron, Hans Julius Grebenar. They lived in Hertzendorf in the Bavarian hills.

So much of what Jeffrey Archer was writing sounded like more than fiction that I set out to see if these people actually existed. So far, all I have found is that Friedrich Bloch did indeed exist and did paint a picture of The Last Supper - along with many other outstanding works. According to the story, all except The Last Supper were destroyed when the local museum burned down. The Last Supper was eventually sold at a New York auction house for $42,000,000. Jeffrey Archer quotes the headline from New York Times.

That is as far as I have gotten. So, Friedrich Bloch did exist - and had a rather rough life - but are the other "facts" in the story correct?

Does anyone know? Thanks.

I have just googled Grebenar and Bloch because I am reading those same short stories and am in the middle of the last one concerning these two people! One of the first links was to this page.

I haven't reached the end of the story yet (I'm reading it in braille) but Jeffry Archer does write a very good story, doesn't he!

I wonder why there were no further posts on this thread?

I think Hazel may have confused the apparently fictional Friedrich Bloch with the real artist Carl Bloch^WP, who painted many scenes from the life of Christ, including The Last Supper, but who lived much later (1834-1890).

SpitfireIX said:

I think Hazel may have confused the apparently fictional Friedrich Bloch with the real artist Carl Bloch^WP, who painted many scenes from the life of Christ, including The Last Supper, but who lived much later (1834-1890).

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Thank you - much appreciated. By the time I finished the story yesterday evening, I realised that it must be fiction but, probably like Hazel, I thought the name was somewhat familiar. I will follow those links later.