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ART “4”
“2”-DAY 29 May |
| BIRTH:
1840 MAKART |
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Died on 29 May 1695: il cavaliere Giuseppe
Recco, Neapolitan still-life
painter born on 12 June 1634. — He was the outstanding member of a family of artists. He specialized in pictures of fish, painted in an impressively grand style, but more austere than those of Ruoppolo, with whom he ranks as the most distinguished Italian still-life painter of his period. He may have visited Lombardy and may have been influenced by Baschenis, but his works are all in the Spanish realist tradition of the Bodegón painting — some have been attributed to Velázquez — which goes back to Caravaggio. He died in Spain. Three of the family members, Giacomo, Giovanni Battista and Giuseppe, used the monogram G R which causes problems of attribution. Giacomo Recco [1603- before 1653] was the eldest, and was the father of Giuseppe, the most famous of the family. Giovanni Battista Recco [1615-1660] may have been Giuseppe's brother but was more likely his uncle. — Giuseppe Recco was the most celebrated Neapolitan still-life painter of his day. He began in the tradition of his father and (probable) uncle Giovanni Battista Recco, painting naturalistic arrangements of flowers, fish, game and kitchen scenes. There are many signed and dated works which chart the development of his style. The Bodegón with a Negro and Musical Instruments (1659), the Bodegón with Fish (1664) and the Kitchen Interior (1675) are close to the art of Giovanni Battista Recco. The fish and kitchen still-lifes are typically Neapolitan, yet Giuseppe’s art is distinguished by the intensity with which he observes light and surface texture and by the clarity of the composition, based on a careful balance of horizontals and verticals. He moved toward a more Baroque and decorative style, and the unfinished Still-life with Fruit, Flowers and Birds (1672) and the Still-life with Fruit and Flowers (1670) are mature, more theatrical works that suggest the influence of Abraham Breughel [1631–1680] and Giuseppe Battista Ruoppolo. — LINKS — Still-Life with Fruit and Flowers (1670, 255x301cm; 866x1030cm, 158kb) _ This monumental still-life, placed in a landscape with rich vegetation, is a late work of the artist. — Still life with fish (600x965pix _ ZOOM to 1400x2251pix) — Still life with fish and oysters in a cave (600x841pix _ ZOOM to 1400x1962pix) — Still life with open book (600x900pix _ ZOOM to 1400x2100pix) — Dead Game (984x820, 116kb) — Still-life with the Five Senses (1676, 770x1087pix, 111kb) — Flowers and Game (250x335cm) — Raie sur un chaudron et poissons dans un panier — Still life of fish and lobster (1650, 48x64cm; 594x800pix, 70kb) — Kitchen Still-Life with Turkeys (1675, 182x129cm image cropped to 182x124cm, 645x441pix, 84kb _ ZOOM to 1400x957pix) |
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Died on 29 May 1858: Johann
Moritz (or Juan Mauricio) Rugendas,
of a heart attack, German painter born on 29 March 1802, noted particularly
for his drawings and paintings of Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Son of engraver Johann Lorenz Rugendas II [1775–1826]. — {He never
considered titling a painting Rug end as Jo-Anne more eats} — He was taught first by his father, the engraver Johann Lorenz Rugendas II, and in 1817 went on to further study under Lorenzo Quaglio [19 Dec 1793 – 15 Mar 1869] at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. He went to Brazil in 1821 as draftsman with the Russian diplomat Baron de Langsdorff’s scientific expedition. However, instead of remaining with the expedition for the whole trip, he preferred to discover on his own the different Brazilian provinces, recording types, costumes, and landscapes in Romantic visions full of contrasts, action and exoticism. On his return to Europe in 1825 he brought with him an extraordinarily rich collection of drawings, some hundred of which were reproduced as lithographs and published in Paris by Godefroy Engelmann as Voyage pittoresque au Brésil (1827–1835) with a text by Colbery in French and German. Encouraged by the German scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt [14 Sep 1769 – 06 May 1859], Rugendas left for Latin America again in 1831, living until 1845 in Mexico and Chile with shorter stays in Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. In each of these countries he made numerous paintings and drawings. He returned to Bavaria, where nearly 3000 drawings and paintings were acquired by the local government, but he then went back to live in Brazil between 1845 and 1846. He took part in exhibitions in Rio de Janeiro and painted the portrait of Peter II (1846) and other members of the Brazilian imperial family. The interest aroused by his work led to the re-use in 1830 of some of the plates from Voyage pittoresque au Brésil as a panorama sold commercially as wallpaper by the Zuber company of Rixheim in Alsace. Decoration inspired by his scenes of the Brazilian jungle was also used on several pieces of a porcelain dinner-service commissioned by Louis-Philippe, King of France, from the Sèvres factory. — Juan Mauricio Rugendas vivió veinte años en México y Sudamérica. Es considerado el pintor que ha reflejado Latinoamérica de forma más concluyente y polifacética; sus cuadros nos muestran paisajes, seres humanos, escenas de género, plantas y animales. La relación con Humboldt habría de marcar la vida y obra del pintor. Rugendas plasmó de forma gráfica las ideas de Humboldt sobre la representación artístico-fisonómica de la naturaleza tropical, logrando con su obra una posición privilegiada en el arte de su época que aún hoy sigue mereciendo. Durante la vida del pintor, el público apenas mostró interés por sus exóticos motivos. Con la obra de Rugendas se extingue una notable familia de artistas cuya tradición se remonta hasta el año 1608. Por aquel entonces, los antepasados del pintor hubieron de emigrar de Cataluña debido a sus creencias religiosas. Se establecieron en la ciudad libre de Augsburgo, donde se forjaron una reputación como artesanos de relojería, pintores, calcógrafos y editores de libros de arte. Especialmente digno de mención en este sentido es el trisabuelo de Juan Mauricio, Georg Philipp Rugendas I [1666-1742], quien realizó unos logrados cuadros de caballos y batallas. Juan Lorenzo I se dedicó, por su parte, a motivos históricos, reproduciendo escenas de la Guerra de los Siete Años inspiradas en la obra de Chodowiecki. Juan Lorenzo II volvió a su vez a tomar las riendas de la editorial. Desde 1804 ejerció la docencia en la Escuela de arte y dibujo de Augsburgo, de la que no tardó en ser nombrado director. Su hijo Juan Mauricio, el mayor de sus tres vástagos, nació en Augsburgo. Siendo todavía un niño, a la edad de cuatro años, ya daba muestras de un apreciable talento. Más tarde se familiarizó con los motivos con los que trabajaba su padre en la editorial; entre ellos se encontraban ilustraciones de las guerras napoleónicas, que habían sacudido Europa desde 1796 hasta 1815. El joven Rugendas contempló los cuadros, según testimonios de entonces, cuando Albrecht Adam, amigo de su familia, llegó a Augsburgo. Adam era pintor de la corte del virrey Eugène Beauharnais y había participado en la funesta campaña del ejército napoleónico en Rusia. Aquel hombre, de carácter abierto y cosmopolita, causó una viva impresión en Juan Mauricio. Se acordó que el joven pasara una temporada con la familia Adam en Munich para que tomara lecciones del maestro. Allí encontró todo el apoyo que sus padres habían esperado para él. Juan Mauricio se desenvolvió con tanta soltura en el ámbito artístico que en 1817 aprobó el examen de ingreso en la Academia muniquesa. Asistió a las clases de pintura paisajística y de género impartidas por Lorenzo Quaglio II, especialidades que, de acuerdo con los criterios artísticos de la época, se consideraban de importancia secundaria en comparación con los retratos y la pintura histórica. A Rugendas no le satisfacía el programa de estudios, por lo que se esforzaba en buscar por su cuenta otros estímulos fuera de la Academia. En las cercanías de Munich, Ulm y Augsburgo esbozaba apuntes de paisajes que adornaba con figuras humanas y motivos arquitectónicos. También se interesó por el grabado y la litografía, técnicas en las que le introdujo su propio padre. Ya en 1816-1817 había prestado su colaboración a una serie de láminas a la acuatinta y había reproducido la »Huida de Napoleón en Waterloo«. Además pintó también motivos de animales, sobre todo estudios ecuestres de Jorge Felipe I Rugendas, así como una litografía a partir de un retrato que había hecho de su padre. En suma, realizó diversos retratos y escenas figurativas, llevando a cabo todo tipo de ensayos con distintos motivos, pero su evolución artística permanecía aún por decantarse. Su padre hubiera deseado enviarlo a Italia para que recibiera allí una orientación y estímulos nuevos, pero los recursos económicos de la familia no se lo permitieron. El viaje a Brasil (1822-1825) supuso la ruptura decisiva. Si bien no significó una gran experiencia artística como la que le hubiera aportado el contacto con la Antigüedad y el Renacimiento italiano, su visión del paisaje cambió de forma radical, ya que Rugendas conoció por primera vez el mundo de los trópicos. La oportunidad surgió cuando el encargado de negocios ruso en Brasil, el barón Langsdorff, comenzó a buscar, durante una estancia en Europa, un ilustrador para una expedición científica que, patrocinada por el zar, iba a adentrarse en la selva sudamericana. Langsdorff poseía una hacienda al norte de Río de Janeiro, en la Serra da Estrela, donde se dedicaba a sus estudios de ciencias naturales. El lugar servía de refugio para viajeros y base de expediciones. Saint-Hilaire, el príncipe de Wied, Spix y Martius se habían detenido allí ya una vez. Estos últimos habían llegado al país con el séquito de la archiduquesa Leopoldina, esposa del sucesor al trono, Pedro, el posterior emperador, y en dieciembre de 1820 regresaron a Alemania con una amplia colección de muestras etnológicas, zoológicas y botánicas para la Academia Bávara de Ciencias. El barón Karwinski, conocido de la familia Rugendas y un experto en temas brasileños, amén de botánico y naturalista, habló de Juan Mauricio a Langsdorff, quien lo consideró la persona adecuada para el puesto de dibujante de la expedición en atención a su forma de trabajar poco convencional, su formación y su carácter abierto. Langsdorff y Rugendas concluyeron un contrato el 18 de septiembre de 1821. Al pintor se le garantizaba el viaje de ida y el de regreso, así como la estancia libre de gastos y unos honorarios anuales de 1.000 francos franceses, comprometiéndose a cambio a dibujar todos los motivos que se le encomendaran. Asimismo, se estipuló que los bocetos serían propiedad de Langsdorff, mientras que Rugendas podía realizar copias de los mismos, aunque debía contar con la aprobación de aquél para publicarlas. Juan Lorenzo Rugendas participó en la redacción de los distintos aspectos del contrato. Informó, además, a Maximiliano José I de Baviera sobre el proyecto, ya que el rey había mostrado un interés personal por Brasil al apoyar las empresas de Martius y Spix y afirmó que Juan Mauricio podría ampliar los contactos que existían con aquel país. Por otra parte, Martius estaba al tanto de los preparativos del viaje y contaba con que Rugendas le enviaría desde Sudamérica dibujos para ilustrar sus obras de botánica. A principios de enero de 1822, Juan Mauricio se embarcó en Bremen con destino a Brasil, y el 5 de marzo desembarcaba en Río de Janeiro. La ciudad, con sus pintorescas montañas, su exuberante vegetación, sus jardines tropicales multicolores y su exótica población, habría de fascinarle. Rugendas se quedó en la capital, alojándose en casa del encargado de negocios austriaco. El pintor visitaba con frecuencia a Langsdorff, en su casa situada en la ladera de una colina al sudoeste de la ciudad. Rugendas recibió de él sugerencias e instrucciones que le permitieron familiarizarse con el país y sus habitantes. El contacto con otros colegas era crucial para el trabajo artístico, así que Rugendas trabó conocimiento con pintores franceses, cuya influencia era importante, pues el rey João VI los había llamado al país en 1816 para fundar una academia de arte en Río de Janeiro. Rugendas hizo amistad con Jean-Baptiste Debret y con los hijos del pintor Nicolas-A. Taunay, a los que visitaba en su residencia junto a la cascada de Tijuca. Posteriormente, Juan Mauricio se trasladó a la finca de Langsdorff. La hacienda Mandióca se extendía en una zona de gran riqueza vegetal ubicada a espaldas de Porto da Estrela. Sin embargo, el pintor no pudo disfrutar libremente de las bellezas naturales, pues hubo de enfrentarse allí a numerosos problemas. Langsdorff explotaba a unos 200 esclavos, por cuyas actividades se interesó vivamente Rugendas, que los contemplaba durante su trabajo y en sus horas de descanso. El artista se compadecía de sus condiciones de vida y debido a sus opiniones tuvo graves diferencias con su anfitrión. La expedición dio comienzo el 8 de mayo de 1824. Cuando atravesaba el estado de Minas Gerais, tras haber pasado por Barbacena, São João del Rei, Ouro Prêto y Sabará, Rugendas y Langsdorff se enemistaron, si bien se desconoce el motivo exacto de la disputa. Según lo dispuesto, el pintor estaba obligado a realizar buena parte de su trabajo antes de separarse del grupo, cosa que finalmente hizo. Su decisión puede considerarse acertada, ya que la empresa de Langsdorff no se vio coronada por el éxito. Adrien-Aimé Taunay, sustituto de Rugendas como dibujante, murió ahogado en las aguas de un río de la selva. Se sucedieron los fallecimientos y las enfermedades, y el mismo Langsdorff tuvo que regresar a Europa en un estado próximo a la enajenación mental. Rugendas contrató oyudantes y guías emprendió con ellos una pequeña expedición que pudo financiar gracias a los retratos ya encargados que iba realizando por el camino. El pintor y sus acompañantes atravesaron Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso y Bahia, luchando contra el cansancio y el clima insalubre. Para recuperar fuerzas, y debido también a que la estación de las lluvias dificultaba el avance, los expedicionarios tuvieron que pasar varios meses entre los indios de las selvas junto a las riberas del río Doce. Algunos motivos de la vida de los habitantes de aquellos lugares, entre ellos la célebre Danza de los purís, aparecen entre las interesantes ilustraciones que Rugendas dio a conocer más adelante. En abril de 1825 el pintor estaba ya en Río de Janeiro, y en mayo regresó a Europa. Los frutos artísticos de sus tres años de estancia en Brasil fueron copiosos: en Río de Janeiro había reproducido el palacio de São Cristóvão, la cascada de Tijuca, la iglesia de Glória y otros lugares. Había contemplado a las gentes en las plazas y en las calles, tanto inmersas en su vida cotidiana como participando en los grandes acontecimientos. En diciembre de 1822 había asistido al desfile del cortejo de la coronación de Dom Pedro I por las calles de la capital brasileña. Fue también testigo de la fiesta que la iglesia celebraba en honor de Nuestra Señora del Rosário. En la finca Mandióca había plasmado escenas del quehacer habitual de los esclavos, realizando además dibujos de animales con el más absoluto esmero. La representación de la vegetación tropical se había convertido asimismo para él en otro motivo de especial importancia. Tras su regreso de Brasil, Rugendas permaneció en París para gestionar la publicación de sus estudios pictóricos sudamericanos. Aunque todos sus intentos resultaron infructuosos, la estancia en la capital francesa tuvo para él una importancia definitiva, pues allí trabó conocimiento con Alexander von Humboldt, el descubridor científico de Latinoamérica. Rugendas pudo mostrarle los bocetos realizados durante su viaje, recibiendo del naturalista los elogios más calurosos. Humboldt quedó especialmente admirado ante las representaciones de la vegetación, solicitando al artista que dibujara para él palmeras, bananos y helechos, con la finalidad de ilustrar el capítulo correspondiente a la »Fisomomía de las plantas« de la proyectada reedición de su »Ensayo de una geografía de las plantas«. Los ejemplares solicitados pertenecían, en opinión de Humboldt, a los tipos fisonómicos que, merced a sus marcados rasgos, confieren un carácter concreto a cada región. Atendiendo a semejantes criterios, Humboldt había clasificado las diversas especies vegetales durante sus viajes por Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, México y Cuba entre 1799 y 1804. Primero había identificado 16 especies típicas, cifra que posteriormente amplió a 19, describiéndolas con toda clase de detalles en su obra »Ensayo de una fisonomía de las plantas«, donde además quería plasmar sus concepciones sobre la representacion artística de la naturaleza tropical. Pretendía que se reprodujesen paisajes de consumados artistas de una forma tal que resultase adecuada desde el punto de vista estético y fuese, al mismo tiempo, científicamente informativa. De esa manera el pintor podía ayudar al investigador a reconocer las peculiaridades de la naturaleza tropical. Los paisajes debían contemplarse como organismos vivos, como una gran totalidad. Era preciso recoger en los dibujos la acción conjunta de los fenómenos naturales, como las condiciones climáticas y el crecimiento, así como acentuar las representaciones de las plantas y las siluetas de las colinas más características. Humboldt no conocía aún ningún artista que reuniera las condiciones para esta tarea. Fueron excluidos los pintores que desconocían la naturaleza de los trópicos y seguían en su trabajo los principios estilísticos académicos, pues se habían revelado poco idóneos para sus fines. Así lo demostraban obras tan conocidas como las realizadas por famosos viajeros, en especial las láminas pintadas en su viaje a Brasil por el príncipe de Wied. Para plasmar sus ideas, Humboldt sólo tendría en cuenta a aquellos pintores que, prescindiendo de sus propias condiciones artísticas, se hubiesen dedicado a la reproducción realista de motivos exóticos. Los estudios que el científico había recibido de Rugendas alentaban sus esperanzas de que el pintor poseyera un innegable talento en este sentido. Humboldt se decidió, entonces, a iniciar una colaboración. Deseaba que en los dibujos que se le encomendasen, Rugendas acentuáse el desarrollo y crecimiento de las plantas. Las figuras debían mostrar claramente al espectador las dimensiones de lo representado. Rugendas realizó diversos bocetos, y Humboldt emitió su propio juicio: estableció dónde debían situarse las figuras, determinó la altura de las especies reproducidas y solicitó que se completasen algunos grupos de plantas. Rugendas introdujo las correciones sin despreciar sus propios criterios artísticos. Tenía que dibujar también una gran composición de una selva tropical. Para lograr un mejor entendimiento, quería que Humboldt le orientase en la ejecución de sus trabajos, enviándole así algunos bocetos inacabados: “Si alguna de las láminas no resultase de su agrado, estoy dispuesto a modificarla o a mandarle, en su lugar, el original. Por lo que se refiere a los bocetos de jaramagos, cactus, araucarias, bambúes y mangles...recibirá usted lo que todavía no he terminado para que pueda opinar sobre su ejecución.” Humboldt consideró que las ilustraciones encargados a Rugendas para su Fisonomia de las plantas eran extraordinarias, manifestando que los dibujos recibidos superaban en calidad sus previsiones. Al mismo tiempo, anunciaba la aparición del folleto publicitario para su nueva edición del Ensayo de una geografía de las plantas, en cuya versión alemana, impresa en la Geographische Zeitung, suplemento de Hertha, podía leerse el siguiente fragmento: El Ensayo sobre la geografía de las plantas de los señores Humboldt y Kunth cuenta con al menos veinte calcografías, dedicadas a mostrar la vegetacion o la fisonomía de las plantas. Los grabados se han preparado a partir de los dibujos que el señor Rugendas realizó recientemente en la selva brasileña. Este joven artista, digno de todo elogio, ha vivido durante cinco años sumergido en las riquezas del mundo vegetal del trópico. Su sensibilidad se ha visto impregnada por el sentimiento de que, en la exuberancia salvaje de una naturaleza tan maravillosa, el efecto pictórico sólo puede conseguirse siendo fiel a la realidad y ateniéndose a las formas auténticas de que se nos ofrece. Humboldt encargó el grabado de las láminas a Claude François Fortier, quien en 1822 había transformado en calcografía una acuarela de la selva pintada por el conde Clarac, poniendo de manifiesto su talento para la reproducción en cobre de la vegetación tropical. La anunciada reedición de la obra de Humboldt no llegó a producirse. Los dibujos de Rugendas, que han vuelto a aparecer hace algún tiempo, constituyen un importante testimonio de una colaboracion artístico-científica a la que Latinoamérica, debe sus más bellas imágenes del siglo XIX. — LINKS — Volcán de Colima (1834, 48x67cm) _ The German man of science, Alexander von Humboldt organized a series of expeditions which took him to Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico between 1799 and 1804. He published his observations on these expeditions in some thirty volumes whose publication began during his last year of travel, continuing up to 1834, when the last volume went to press. Humboldt's work broke with the tradition of the illustrated books on the Americas published in previous centuries, since his illustrations were based on direct observation and scientific inquiry. Johann Moritz Rugendas was one of the illustrators of his work. — Llegada del Presidente Prieto a la Pampilla (70x92cm; 470x652pix, 97kb) _ detail 1 (482x303pix, 38kb) _ detail 2 (427x652pix, 84kb) cattle — Paisaje montañoso con barranca de San Juan Coscomatepec en la región de Córdoba (390x600pix, 28kb) — Hacienda de San Miguel Regla (12x29cm; 385x600pix, 39kb) — Fiesta popular ante la iglesia de Santa Cruz (18x28cm; 400x600pix, 43kb) — Seguro de la Frontera. Tepeaca (19x28cm; 390x600pix, 31kb) _ A Franciscan monastery built by Hernán Cortez as a strongpoint to cover a possible retreat. The figures are Amerindians from Puebla and Tlaxcala. |
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Born on 29 May 1840: Hans
Makart, Austrian Academic
painter who died on 03 October 1884. — [Did Makart make artwork
work?] — He studied (1860–1865) at the Akademie in Munich under the history painter Karl Theodor von Piloty whose influence is evident in Makart’s Death of Pappenheim (1861). Makart visited London and Paris in 1862 and Rome in 1863. The Papal Election (1865) reveals Makart’s skill in the bold use of color to convey drama as well as his virtuoso draftsmanship. Two decorative triptychs, Modern Cupids (1868), and The Plague in Florence (1868), brought Makart both fame and disapproval (mostly because they lacked a literary original) when exhibited in Munich in 1868. His plan for the second work shows a setting of somber magnificence. — Ottó Koroknyai ani Hanus Schwaiger were students of Makart. — Born in the former residence of the prince-archbishops of Salzburg as the son of an attendant at the Mirabell Palace, Makart received his initial instruction in painting in 1850/51 from Johann Fischbach (1797- 1871). After studies under Karl Theodor von Piloty (1826- 1886) in Munich from 1861 to 1865, and time spent in England, France and Italy, he was called to Vienna in 1869, where a home and a studio were made available to him at government expense. There he shaped Viennese aestheticism like no artist before or after him. The "Makart style" determined the culture of an entire era. Makart attracted the public through the sensuous appeal of his large-scale, theatrical productions of historicising motifs painted in brilliant colors. He was deeply interested in the interaction of all the visual arts and thus in the implementation of the idea of the "total work of art'" which dominated discussions on the arts in the 19th century. This was the ideal which he realised in magnificent festivities which he organised and centered around himself. The culmination of these was the pageant of the City of Vienna organised to celebrate the silver wedding of the imperial couple in 1879. With his sketchy, fleeting mode of painting, Makart, whose artistic successor is said to be Gustav Klimt (1862- 1918), exerted a seminal influence on the development of painting after 1900. — Son of a chamberlain at Mirabell castle. After a short study at the Academy in Vienna he was educated by Karl Theodor von Piloty in Munich (1860-1865) and travelled to London, Paris and Rome to study. He returned to Vienna after the prince Von Hohenlohe provided him with an old foundy at the Gusshausstrasse 25 to use as a studio. He gradually turned it into an impressive place full of sculptures, flowers, musical instruments, requisites and jewellery that he used to create classical settings for his portraits, mainly of women. Eventually his studio looked like a salon and became a social meeting point in Vienna. Cosima Wagner described it as a 'wonder of decoritive beauty, a sublime lumber-room'. Makart became famous for his richly colored history paintings and enjoyed his finest hour in 1879 with his painting of the procession in honour of the silver anniversary of the marriage of emperor Francis Joseph and his wife Elisabeth (better known as Sisi). In the same year he became a Professor at the Academy. Makart also designed furniture and interiors. In 1882 emperor Francis Joseph orderded to build the Villa Hermes at Lainz (near Vienna) for his empress and the bedroom decoration should be inspired on Shakespeare's Midsummernight's Dream. Makart designed a fascinating dreamworld that still exists at the Villa Hermes as a large painting (1882). Unfortunately his design was never executed after his early death in 1884. His collection of antics and art consisted of 1083 pieces and was put up for auction by art-dealer H.O. Miethke. — photo of Makart — LINKS — The Dream after the Ball (1887, 159x95cm) — Portrait of a Lady with Red Plumed Hat (1873, 151x100cm) — Abundantia: The Gifts of the Sea (1870; 105kb) — Abundantia: The Gifts of the Earth (1870; 105kb) — Portrait of a Lady (800x507pix, 122kb) (without a red plume on her hat) — Bildnis seiner ersten Frau Amalie (1871, 76x58cm; 595x450pix, 56kb) _ The daughter of a Munich butcher, she had risen to the top echelons of society, and her challenging look as well as her posture signal self-confidence. This portrait of his first wife Amalie Roithmayr, which was painted in about 1871, two years before her death, belongs to a small group of paintings which the artist did not intend for public viewing. Its lively expressiveness evokes the admiration of the beholder. Its special appeal derives from the combination of two different styles of painting and from its "nonfinito" character, as well as from the abruptly changing pictorial effects. The flesh tints painted wet-into-wet contrast effectively with the sketchy impasto brushwork on the dress and collar, and the fleeting suggestion of the sitter's hands. This portrait remained in the artist's studio to his death. Amalie was frequently used as a model for Makart's formal paintings. In the monumental work Venice Pays Homage to Caterina Cornaro, which was formally presented at the opening of the Vienna World Exhibition on 01 May 1879, Caterina Cornaro bears the features of the artist's wife. A portrait dating from 1867 shows Amalie Makart at the piano. — Charlotte Wolter as Messalina (1875; 494x798yix, 75kb)._ Charlotte Wolter [01 Mar 1834 — 14 Jun 1897] was born in Cologne and started her acting career at Budapest in 1857. From 1859 to 1861 she worked for the Victoria Theatre in Berlin. In 1861 she left for the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg and in 1862 she was contracted by Heinrich Laube, director of the Burg Theatre in Vienna, where she was engaged until her death. She played well known parts like Lady MacBeth, but also starred in plays of Grillparzer [15 Jan 1791 – 21 Jan 1872], such as Hero, Sappho, and Medea. She also managed to turn Wilbrandt's Arria und Messalina into a success thanks to her powerful portrayal of Messalina. Her outcry during dramatic moments became famous as the "Wolter-Schrei". In 1876 she married count Charles O'Sullivan de Grass [–1888]. _ Valeria Messalina [22-48] was the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius [01 Aug 10bc – 13 Oct 54]. She was notorious for licentious behavior and instigating murderous court intrigues. Born into a patrician family, she was married to Claudius before he became emperor. They had two children, Octavia, who married Nero [15 Dec 37 – 09 Jun 68] and Britannicus. Early sources maintain that Messalina allied herself with Claudius' freedmen secretaries to dominate the Emperor and to gratify her avarice and lust. In 42, Messalina caused Claudius to condemn to death a senator, Appius Silanus, who had slighted her advances. This heightened tension between Emperor and Senate and prepared the way for a reign of terror in which many senators were executed after they had been denounced by Messalina. When she caused the death of Claudius' freedman secretary, Polybius, however, the other freedmen turned against her. The correspondence secretary, Narcissus, with the complicity of Agrippina the Younger [15-59], niece of Claudius, managed to have Messalina put to death by convincing Claudius that she and her lover, Gaius Silius, had secretly married and were plotting to seize power. Then Agrippina poisened her second husband, married Claudius, had him deny the succession to Britannicus in favor of her son (by her first husband) Nero and have Octavia marry Nero, poisoned Claudius, and in 55 poisoned Britannicus. Agrippina was killed by order of Nero after she became enraged at having lost control over him. |
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Died on 29 May 1921: Abbott
Henderson Thayer, New England painter and naturalist born
on 12 August 1849. — He spent his youth in rural New England, where his earliest paintings were wildlife subjects, reflecting his interest in hunting and fishing. While in his teens Thayer achieved some success doing portraits of family pets, which he continued after a move to New York. He attended classes at the Brooklyn Art School and National Academy of Design, but in 1875 he settled in Paris, studying under Henri Lehmann and Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. While abroad he produced landscapes in the Barbizon style and genre scenes, but on his return to New York in 1879 he established himself as a portrait painter. — Thayer was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His study of natural history began early, before he was nine he had begun to paint animals, particularly birds. He painted dogs' and cats' portraits, cattle and landscape. Then Thayer's introduction to the traditions of the Italian Renaissance and its classical ideals began with academic training in Paris under Jean~Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux Arts with . Returning to New York in 1879, he established a successful career painting society portraits and beautiful women for which he is best known. His later portraits develop beyond likeness into the psychological examinations that would increasingly occupy him. The Sisters (1884), a double-portrait of Clara and Bessie Stillman, hints at a complex familial relationship in the unusually close placement of their bodies and their pensive expressions. The illness and death of Thayer's beloved wife, Kate Bloede, inspired a new direction in his art. In the late 1880s, as her tuberculosis and depression worsened, he began painting their three children in classically inspired compositions that depict them as embodiments of perfection. Thayer's idealism was influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson's transcendentalist writings and the concept of an ideal world existing beside the material world. Thayer painted the first of his winged protective figures in 1887, Angel, a luminous portrait of his eldest daughter Mary. In Virgin Enthroned, painted in 1891 after his wife's death, Thayer's daughter appears as a Madonna-like figure watching over her siblings. Thayer often created large-scale paintings that served symbolically as "guardian angels." His homage to the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, titled Stevenson Memorial (1903), features a pale brooding figure enveloped by darkness, seated on a rock marking Stevenson's grave. Angel of the Dawn (1919) celebrates the vitality of the New England coast, where Thayer helped establish a bird sanctuary; Monadnock Angel (1920-1921) commemorates his active role in Mount Monadnock's preservation as a state park. Thayer is a curious double-figure, a man of extremes and contradictions. He embodied elegance and rusticity, enthusiasm and depression. The Stevenson Memorial brings together much of his thinking about the polar extremes of darkness and light symbolizing the coexistence of madness and sanity and good and evil that were found in some of Stevenson's writings. In 1901, after relocating his family to an artists' colony in Dublin, N.H., Thayer cultivated a rough persona and became disdainful of social conventions. He and his family slept outdoors and kept wild animals as household pets. However, he remained connected to the world of art and ideas, maintaining a lively correspondence with contemporaries such as Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), patron Charles Lang Freer and President Theodore Roosevelt. While living in New Hampshire, Thayer's interest in the natural world expanded to include scientific observations of animal camouflage, or "protective coloration." Peacock in the Woods (1907) illustrates Thayer's ideas of nature as an artist using color and shadow to disguise animals in the environment. In the early 1890s, Abbott Thayer, best known for his images of idealized winged women and, at the time, one of the finest figure painters in the US, began formulating a comprehensive theory of concealing coloration (how coloring helps animals hide from their predators and prey) and studying how it might be applied to military camouflage. Thayer's concept was based on his observations of the ways in which nature "obliterates" contrast. One is by blending: the colorations of animals, he said, mimic their environments. The second is by disruption: strong arbitrary patterns of color flatten contours and break up outlines, so creatures either disappear or look to be something other than what they are. Although many prominent zoologists were receptive to Thayer's ideas, numerous other scientists attacked him. They argued correctly that conspicuous coloring was also designed to warn off a predator or attract a prospective mate. They particularly resented Thayer’s insistence that his theory be accepted all or nothing. With his son, Gerald, Thayer published his theories in Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom (1909), and he promoted the idea of camouflage for soldiers and ships in World War I. Ultimately Thayer’s law of obliterative countershading received official acceptance. During World War I, both the Allies and the Germans made use of his theories in their efforts to camouflage military personnel and matériel. In his mature work, Thayer began exploring less traditional methods, leaving areas of the canvas exposed. Increasingly, he created heavily brushed, almost abstract areas of paint, sometimes using a palette knife. He used unconventional means to manipulate paint including a common broom or applying it directly from the tube. He might work on a single canvas for years, adding paint and scraping it away until he achieved the essence of his subject. Thayer's deliberately unfinished canvases — such as Monadnock Angel — allow the viewer to experience the painting's creation. Thayer was working with the modern notion that the key to understanding his paintings is in the process of their creation, much like the Abstract Expressionist ideas in the 1950s. — Thayer's students included Ben Foster. — Photo of Thayer — LINKS — Self-Portrait (538x412pix, 48kb) — David (1895, 159x83cm; 1/4 size _ ZOOM to half~size _ ZOOM++ not recommended to somewhat blurry and patterned full size, 1902kb) — Alma Wollerman (his future daughter-in-law Mrs. Gerald Thayer) (1903, 48x40cm; 2/3 size, 124kb) — Irish Girl — Angel (1889; 1000x778pix, 172kb) — Roses (1890, 57x80cm _ ZOOM) — Stevenson Memorial (1000x729pix, 62kb) — Winged Figure (1889, 131x96cm _ ZOOM) _ Caritas (1895; 116kb) — The Virgin (1893 _ ZOOM) _ Many of Thayer's works celebrate beauty and purity. A Virgin, painted for his patron Charles Freer, sets the artist's children (Mary leading Gerald and Gladys), draped in classical robes, against winglike clouds. |
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Died on 29 May 1784: George
Barret Sr., Irish English painter born in 1728 (or 1732),
specialized in Landscapes.;
father of George
Barret Jr. [1767-1842] — Barret was one of the most successful landscape artists working in London in the 1760s and 1770s. His idealized views were made up of stock motifs such as cottages, watermills, peasants and cattle. They may seem artificial now, but in their time Barret’s landscapes were appreciated for their naturalness. According to contemporary art theory, painting should represent a higher form of reality, in which the ugliness and disorder apparent in the real world were suppressed in favour of aesthetic harmony. Following these dictates, artists such as Barret helped create an enduring fantasy of the rural scene. — Barret Sr. was born in Dublin, the son of a tailor. He was first trained as a staymaker but then found work coloring prints for Silcock, a publisher in Dublin. In 1747 he was awarded first prize at the Dublin Society’s School, where he studied under Robert West. Among Barret’s earliest works is a group of landscapes painted for Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Miltown, in the 1740s and 1750s as architectural decorations for Russborough House, County Wicklow, built in 1742–1755 by Richard Castle. They are rather stiff Italianate views, with somewhat contrived compositions. In the 1750s, perhaps through the influence of Edmund Burke, Barret embarked on a series of topographical paintings of the Dargle Valley, Powerscourt, Castletown and other locations around Dublin. These works established his reputation, and he moved to London in 1763. The following year he won a 50-guinea premium for a painting exhibited at the Free Society of Artists, and he was soon taken up by English patrons. In 1765–1767 he made ten views of the park and house at Welbeck Abbey, Notts, for William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. After becoming a founder-member of the Royal Academy in 1768 he carried out a similar commission for Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, recording the mountainous scenery of Dalkeith Park, Lothian, in such pictures as A Rocky River Scene, which were shown at the Royal Academy between 1769 and 1771. — The son of a tailor, Barret first trained as a staymaker but then found work coloring prints for Silcock, a publisher in Dublin. In 1747 he was awarded first prize at the Dublin Society's School, where he studied under Robert West. Among Barret's earliest works is a group of landscapes painted for Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Miltown, in the 1740s and 1750s as architectural decorations for Russborough House, Co. Wicklow, built in 1742–55 by Richard Castle. They are rather stiff Italianate views, with somewhat contrived compositions. In the 1750s, perhaps through the influence of Edmund Burke, Barret embarked on a series of topographical paintings of the Dargle Valley, Powerscourt, Castletown and other locations around Dublin. These works established his reputation, and he moved to London in 1763. The following year he won a 50-guinea premium for a painting exhibited at the Free Society of Artists, and he was soon taken up by English patrons. In 1765–1767 he made ten views of the park and house at Welbeck Abbey, Notts, for William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. After becoming a founder-member of the Royal Academy in 1768 he carried out a similar commission for Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, recording the mountainous scenery of Dalkeith Park, Lothian, in such pictures as A Rocky River Scene, which were shown at the Royal Academy between 1769 and 1771. A representative example of Barret's landscape style during this period is the View of Powerscourt Waterfall (1764), which shows both his distinctly acidic palette of yellows and greens, and his romantic approach to topography. Much of his work at this time is a clear reflection of Burke's influential treatise, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757). In 1765 he visited North Wales, later travelling to Westmorland and Cumberland in the Lake District. He was one of the first artists to be inspired by the Sublime characteristics of the Lake District, and he received wide acclaim for so doing. A measure of his popularity can be gauged by his reputed income of £2000 per annum, although this high figure is partly explained by the numerous pot-boilers he produced during the 1770s. When compared with the Powerscourt Waterfall picture, A Storm: Llanberris Pool in the Mountains of Wales (1777) shows that Barret's interest in atmosphere had not diminished, although the later canvas lacks both depth and drama. He continued to paint topographical views such as the East Front of Burton Constable Hall (1777). However, both canvases of 1777 show that he had lost a good deal of the freshness of his earlier work: Barret was relying on compositional formulae he had absorbed through studying Richard Wilson's work but without understanding the subtleties of Wilson's style. This decline, together with Barret's quarrelsome nature, alienated patrons and c. 1780 he was declared bankrupt. He had, however, responded well to a commission from William Locke (whom he had known since at least 1772), which involved decorating a room at Locke's house, Norbury Park, Surrey. Barret, who collaborated on this project with Sawrey Gilpin, Giovanni Battista Cipriani and the architect-designer Benedetto Pastorini (d 1839), produced a panoramic view of the Lake District, a work that was hailed as his masterpiece. In 1782, through Burke's efforts, Barret was appointed Official Painter to the Chelsea Royal Hospital; by this time, however, he was in poor health and died before completing any work for that institution. Several of his children were active as painters: Mary Barret [–1836] specialized in miniatures; James Barret (fl 1785–1819) mainly worked as a topographical artist, as did George Barret jr [1767–1842], who in 1840 published The Theory and Practice of Water-color Painting. — Engleheart was a student of Barret Sr. — LINKS — Broodmares and Colts in a Landscape (1783, 63x75cm) — River Scene with Watermill, Figures and Cows (100x125cm) — Landscape (112x165cm) _ Il dipinto raffigura un angolo di bosco entro il quale si frangono i flutti di una piccola cascata. Sulla riva alcune figure si intrattengono con un pescatore. L'attribuzione a George Barret va pienamente confermata, cosi' come quella a Giovan Battista Cipriani per le figure. Il sostenuto classicismo di queste ultime trova infatti agevole confronto nelle opere licenziate in patria dal pittore fiorentino e nella Vergine in gloria e San Clemente papa conservata nel Santuario della Madonna a Bastiglia in provincia di Modena. Il dipinto e' altresi' caratteristico della formula paesaggistica adottata da Barret, in concorrenza con il piu' noto Richard Wilson e con una larga fascia della cultura inglese di fine '700 che si compiace di un descrittivismo di piacevole effetto decorativo, non senza indulgere a quel gusto per il “pittoresco” che, in quegli stessi anni, riportava in auge la pittura del napoletano Salvator Rosa, amatissimo per le sue valenze preromantiche. |
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Died on 29 May 1930: George Washington
Thomas Lambert, Australian painter, draftsman,
and sculptor, who was born on 13 September 1873 in Saint-Petersburg. — He lived for a period in Europe and emigrated to Australia in 1887. He was trained by Julian Rossi Ashton, gaining early recognition for his draftsmanship. In 1901 he studied in Paris at the Académie Colarossi under Auguste Delécluse [1855–]. Lambert was strongly influenced by the work of Diego Velázquez and Edouard Manet. The work of Sandro Botticelli later inspired him to paint in a high key and with an enhanced realism, as in Important People (1914). He lived in England from 1902 to 1921, and thereafter again in Australia. — He was the fourth child of George Washington Lambert, a US railroad engineer, and his English wife Annie. George Lambert Sr. died one month before his son's birth. In 1875 the family moved to Germany, and in 1881 to England. In 1886 they set sail for Australia aboard the Bengal, arriving in Sydney on 20 January 1887. For the next seven years George worked mainly on his great-uncle's sheep station Eurobla, in north-western New South Wales. In 1894 he enrolled in Julian Ashton's art school. In 1900 he was awarded the first traveling scholarship offered by the New South Wales Society of Artists, and went to London. In 1904 Lambert exhibited a portrait of Thea Proctor in his first appearance at the Royal Academy. His reputation as a portrait painter grew rapidly, and in 1910 he was commissioned to paint a portrait of King Edward VII. In 1917 Lambert was appointed as a war artist, and attached to the AIF in Palestine. There he drew and painted the men and exploits of the Light Horse, including Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Chauvel, and the cavalry charge at Beersheba. After the war he returned to Sydney. His later years were prosperous and prolific, though clouded by ill health. He died suddenly of a heart attack. — Self-Portrait with Gladioli (1922, 128x103cm) — Self-Portrait (1901, 46x37cm; 225x187pix, 5kb) — The Red Shawl aka Olave Cunninghame Graham (1913, 97x76cm) — Sir William Alison Russell (1910, 128x102cm) — Mrs Annie Murdoch (1927, 60x50cm) — Hera (1924, 128x103cm) — The White Glove (1921, 106x78cm) — Miss Helene Beauclerk (1914, 76x61cm) — Miss Katherine Powell (1909, 127x101cm) — Miss Alison Preston and John Proctor on Mearbeck Moor (1909, 100x126cm) — Portrait Group aka The Mother (1907, 205x163cm; 2356x1853pix, 1748kb) — Miss Thea Proctor (1903, 92x71cm) — Weighing the Fleece (1921, 72x92cm; 1819x2363pix, 1823kb) — A Garden Bunch (1916, 52x34.5cm) — The Belle of the Alley (1913, 50.7x40.5cm) — The Dancer (1911, 60x45cm) — Sybil Walker in Red and Gold Dress (1905, 76x63cm) — Equestrian Portrait of a Boy (1903, 128x102cm; 2315x1818pix, 1614kb) — The Maid (1915, 92x71cm) — William Morris Hughes (1927, 90x70cm) — A Bush Idyll (1896, 48x78cm; 1430x2369pix, 1465kb) — Beatrice (1913 drawing 56x38cm) — A sergeant of the Light Horse in Palestine (1920; 300x231pix, 24kb) |
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