ISO 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ° I 
 
 THERNRE 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 GIONAL LIBRARY 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 FACILITV 
 
 11 
 
 4 

 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 MASTER M. WILLIAM WRinHT. BY PRINCE PIERRE TROUBETSKOY.
 
 ^K 
 
 ^ Architecture 
 
 and 
 
 ^Decoration, 
 
 fc^ fcj fej fc2 fcj 
 
 IN THEIR. HISTORY- 
 'DEVELOPMEHTo^ PRINCIPLES 
 
 EDITOR,* IN ♦ CHIEF 
 
 EDMUND BUCKLEY, A.M., Pli.D,liniwnrityofCKica9o 
 
 CONSULTI/fC EDITOFLS 
 
 J. M .HOPPIN.D.D., Yak University 
 
 ALFRED V. CHURCHILL ,A.M., Columbia Univerrity 
 
 fUI/y niusiraivd 
 
 NATIONAL ART SOCIETY 
 Chicago
 
 Art 
 Library 
 
 Copyright, 1907, bj W. E. ERNST.
 
 By couite^y of the lu'tim J*hoto, Co. 
 
 SYMPOSIUM OF IM,ATO. FKIKRBAL'H. (SEK LESSUN 12.) 
 
 Painting of the Nineteenth Century in Germany, 
 Holland, Scandinavia and Russia. 
 
 ROBERT KOEHLER, 
 
 DIRECTOR OK TIIK MINNEAPOLIS SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. CLASSICISM, (i) 
 Within the limited space allowed, it is 
 not possible to give a complete history 
 of the art cf painting in the nineteenth 
 century in the countries named. But an 
 effort is made to bring before the student a 
 clear picture of the changing conditions out 
 of which the art dominating certain periods 
 has grown ; and also to explain the nature 
 of the gradual development, which, rooting 
 in a false conception of the province of art 
 at the beginning of the century, resulted, 
 towards the end of it, in a thoroughly healthy 
 aPQ vital art sentiment Since this is still 
 not fully realized even among painters, it is 
 not surprising that the vast n'">;'^rity of tlie 
 public should continue to entertain entirely 
 false ideas about art based on traditions of 
 
 bygone periods, and still persist in admir- 
 ing works that utterlj' fail to meet the 
 requirements of an honest, unbiased and 
 enlightened criticism. It is neither an easy 
 nor an altogether pleasant task to shatter 
 popular idols; but the historian cannot be 
 guided in his estimate of an artist's merits 
 by his popularity, or the esteem in which 
 he may have been held during his lifetime. 
 It has been said, that an artist's real merit 
 can only be judged by his relation to his 
 own times; this is only measurably true, 
 and has nothing to do with a final judgment 
 of his period, which may be found sadly 
 wanting, and the condemnation of which 
 will include his own doom, while some 
 almost forgotten contemporary may re- 
 ceive high praise for merits utterly ignored 
 in his time. Of the present, therefore, it 
 
 579 
 
 867272
 
 5 So 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 may not be altogether safe to speak with 
 too much confidence, except in so far as the 
 achievements stand in relation to generally 
 accepted principles of progress. 
 
 Many names must necessarily be omitted 
 from this brief review, though they may 
 have equal claims with some that are men- 
 tioned. If the earlier artists have received 
 more extensive consideration, it is because 
 their careers have closed and a more com- 
 prehensive estimate of their importance to 
 the history of art was possible, while the 
 work of many of the living has not yet 
 'assumed that definite character by which 
 they may ultimately be judged. 
 
 To understand the art of the nineteenth 
 century, we must first gain a clear concep- 
 tion of the conditions prevailing at the end 
 of the eighteenth, wlien the joyous art of 
 the Rococo period had been superseded by 
 a cold and formal Classicism. In 1764 
 Winckelmann published his "History of 
 Ancient Art," nnd two years later Lessing 
 followed with his "Laokoon. " The long- 
 neglected beauty of antique sculpture was 
 once more brought to the attention of man- 
 kind, and by his sincere enthusiasm Winckel- 
 mann carried all the world with him in his 
 admiration for the newly-discovered beauty, 
 so that art found a new model after which 
 to shape its conception of the ideal. A new 
 ideal! Ever since the ravages of the thirty 
 years' war, art in Germany had led but a 
 pitiable existence. Painters there were, 
 but not a single one whose name stands for 
 anything great or remarkable in art. When- 
 ever anything above the average appeared, 
 it was the work of a foreigner; home talent 
 found no encouragement. As in the fine 
 arts, so in literature the national spirit 
 seemed destined to wither, until Lessing 
 appeared and was followed by Schiller and 
 Goethe whose genius marks the most bril- 
 liant epoch in German literature. The lat- 
 ter in his earlier writings severely attacked 
 contemporary art, and gave preference to 
 the old German school of Diirer; but after 
 his journey to Italy a change came over 
 him and henceforth the Greek ideal was 
 Goethe's also. While Schiller's connec- 
 tion with fine arts is less intimate, the 
 change from his earlier, sounder views to 
 
 his later homage to classic art is no less 
 significant. 
 
 We need but briefly mention that Winckel- 
 mann's teachings were more readily 
 absorbed by the gifted Anton Rafael Mengs, 
 and by the foremost woman-painter of her 
 time, Angelica Kaufmann. Mengs was 
 certainly a notable colorist and also pos- 
 sessed of great technical skill. But 
 Winckelmann's ideal of beauty was one of 
 form only; it was the beauty chiseled in 
 marble by the Greeks, v/hich to his percep- 
 tion never revealed any charm of color, 
 never required any. To create beautiful 
 forms, as the Greeks had done, was the only 
 worthy ambition for a painter; the nearer 
 he could approach the ancients in this 
 respect, the greater w^as his art. 
 
 In the life of their surroundings the paint- 
 ers found no subjects that would readily lend 
 themselves to representation in this shape, 
 so they very naturally turned to mythology 
 for the purpose, and produced works which 
 showed their intimate knowledge of classical 
 beauty — and their contempt for life. Their 
 pictures are in reality only so many Greek 
 statues, painted. 
 
 But why paint their statues? Since all 
 their adored originals were of white marble, 
 would it not be more rational to render their 
 own conceptions also without the use of 
 color? And this they proceeded to do, con- 
 gratulating themselves — and the world — that 
 now a new epoch had opened for grand art! 
 
 A. J. Carstens takes the lead in this new 
 art. Born in 1754 in St. Jiirgen, near 
 Schleswig, he evinced quite early a talent 
 for art. The literature of the time had a 
 powerful influence on his sensitive soul, and 
 he was filled with a longing to behold and 
 study the grand masterpieces of Greek art. 
 Entering the Academy at Copenhagen, he 
 soon found himself in dispute with his 
 teachers, and left the school, preferring to 
 follow his own course. He devoted himself 
 arduously to the study of the antique, not, 
 however, drawing directly from the casts, 
 but taking mental notes and drawing the 
 figures from memory. His desire to behold 
 the original marbles in Rome he could not 
 satisfy until his thirty-eighth year, when his 
 style was already fully developed and ere-
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 581 
 
 ated something of a sensation, as he himself 
 asserts in reporting about the exhibition of 
 his works which he had arranged in Rome. 
 Judged by the standard of to-day, we find 
 little of any real artistic value in these 
 drawings in black and white — for such they 
 were; but viewed from the standpoint of 
 their age we may understand, though we do 
 not endorse, the high praise bestowed upon 
 them, when art was following ditTcrent 
 paths, from the strange windings and color- 
 less vistas of which it did not turn for more 
 than half a century. Carstens died in 
 Rome, 1798. 
 
 Among those who continued to work in 
 the spirit of Carstens, we need but mention 
 the foremost one: 
 
 Bonaventura Qenelli (1803-1868), was the 
 son of a landscape-painter of some xenown 
 in his day. He was a better draughtsman, 
 and in the choice of his subjects not so one- 
 sided. But he too recognizes only the Greek 
 ideal, and is sparing in the use of colors. 
 Where he employs it, the result is not a 
 painting, but mcrelj' a Colored drawing, as 
 in his frescoes in the so-called "Roman 
 House" in Leipzig. What may justly be 
 accorded him of fame, is owing mainly to 
 his cartoons and smaller drawings, illustrat- 
 ing Homer, Dante and, especially, The 
 Life of a Rake, and The Life of a Witch, 
 in all of which he displays a fine feeling for 
 grace of line. He fails sadly in facial 
 expression, which is cither vapid or forced 
 to a grimace. Genelli was the last of the 
 "Classicists" of any importance. The art 
 of the period following was that of Roman- 
 ticism. 
 
 T 
 
 HE INFLUENCE OF LITER- 
 ATURE ON THE CLASSIC 
 PERIOD. (2) 
 
 It seems strange at this day, that 
 an utterance like the following could ema- 
 nate from Winckelmann, a man of truly great 
 and profound learning: "The sole means 
 for us to become — ay, if possilile, inimitabl)' 
 great, is in the imitation of the ancients." 
 
 It is certainly not true that any grand art 
 has ever sprung from imitation of what is 
 
 foreign and alien to its very nature. Gran- 
 deur in art is a product of evolution, and 
 results from the development of an inner 
 consciousness, not from foreign guidance 
 and advice, accepted in good faith and nour- 
 ished with the arrogant conceit "I will!" 
 
 We shall see that it was not the work of 
 the classicists that bore the vital spark from 
 which a healthy art could ultimately spring 
 into life. For classicism, unwittingly, let us 
 concede, did its utmost to kill this spark 
 which was, almost as unconsciously, kept 
 alive by that little, unpretentious bandof il- 
 lustrators, who, with pencil and graver, kept 
 a pictorial record of the manner and customs 
 of their time, which the classicists, and their 
 early followers, the romanticists, were all 
 too eager to ignore or to ridicule. Whoever 
 did not aspire to the proud distinction of a 
 "historical painter" was not deemed worthy 
 of ranking as an artist. The professional art- 
 critic and art-historian, in the production of 
 which species the age became prolific, had 
 no use for him; the "grand art" appealed to 
 the ranks of the educated classes, with 
 whom the pursuit of classical knowledge and 
 indulgence in philosophical thought seemed 
 the chief object of life. And since in their 
 hands lay the molding of national thotight, 
 and from their ranks hailed the commenta- 
 tors of the artists' creations, as well as their 
 patrons and advisors, it was but natural that 
 those who pursued ditTferent aims in art 
 should receive but scant notice, and be 
 allowed to fall into oblivion. Only a later, 
 more critical and, withal, more tolerant 
 age learned to appreciate their true value 
 and find in their works the germ from 
 which a healthy and robust art was destined 
 to grow. 
 
 Later ages may take a calmer view of this 
 strange perversion which e.Kalted the alien 
 and artificial above the native and true. 
 The living, who have seen the false gods 
 perish, and assisted in their banishment, 
 may be pardoned if at times their ardor 
 leads them too far in praise of the newer 
 and condemnation of the older ideals; the 
 reaction was bound to come, and an age 
 that delights and revels in color and light 
 can hardly be expected to feel tolerant 
 towards another whose foremost represen-
 
 582 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETE -.NTH 
 
 tative, Peter von Cornelius, could say: "The 
 brush has become the ruin of our art!" 
 
 In Germany the re-discovery of the antique 
 was not, as in Italy at the time of the Re- 
 naissance, accompanied by a loving study 
 of nature. It did not occur to the cham- 
 pions of the "new idea" that the Greeks 
 must have arrived at their conception of the 
 beautiful through close study of the living 
 human form, and that they had in the end 
 created types which approached perfection, 
 as they understood it, as nearly as lay within 
 their power. It was enough for them to 
 see that s;ich beauty existed in the marble, 
 and what mortal could ever hope to surpass 
 it? Therefore we can but attempt to lend 
 to our creations the same forms of beauty, 
 said they ; for beauty is the first principle in 
 art. "Beauty! What it is. I know not!" 
 Diirer had exclaimed three hundred years 
 before; and still he had studied it all his 
 life, had seen what the art of the North and 
 that of the South was then bringing forth, 
 had learned and preached, that true art "lay 
 hid in nature, and whoever can pluck it out 
 thence hath made it his." 
 
 But Diirer had long fallen into neglect 
 and though Goethe insisted that he saw 
 more beauty in his "angular" figures than 
 in the smooth paintings of the (then) pres- 
 ent age, he could not stem the tide of popular 
 feeling in art, was indeed, as already stated, 
 carried with it after his journey to Italy. 
 
 There were not wanting words of pro- 
 test and warning against the tendency into 
 which art was drifting. As early as 1776 
 the librarian Wilhelm Heinse insists: "Art 
 can only direct itself to the people with 
 whom it lives. Every one works for the 
 people amongst whom fate has thrown him, 
 and seeks to plumb its heart. Every coun- 
 try has its own distinctive art, just as it has 
 its own climate, its scenery, its own taste 
 and its own drink." 
 
 Schiller, in a letter to Goethe in 1800, 
 writes: "The antique was a manifestation 
 of its age which can never return, and to 
 force the individual production of an indi- 
 vidual age after the pattern of one quite 
 heterogeneous, is to kill that art which can 
 only have a dynamic origin and effect." 
 
 And of artists, too, there were those of 
 
 other ways of thinking ; but their voices 
 were as the voice in the desert; their works 
 created no enthusiasm and gained no popu- 
 larity among those who posed as the patrons 
 of true art. 
 
 In the year 1810 Philip Otto Runge died 
 at Hamburg. Art historians before Dr. 
 Muther do not mention his name. His pic- 
 tures did not find their way into museums 
 until recently, and only now he is found to 
 have been an artist in every way far ahead 
 of his time. He was likewise a poet and an 
 author, and of his opinions on art we learn 
 among other things: "We see how the 
 race has altered most clearly in the works 
 of art of all ages, and how the same time 
 has never returned again. How, then, can 
 we light upon the unlucky notion of wishing 
 to call the old art back!" And again: 
 "The notion is, that the painter must go to 
 Italy! Might it not be supposed that the 
 great works of art which are to be seen 
 there lead posterity away from their own 
 ideas, and stifle what stands vividly before 
 theirimagination? It is far better to make art 
 live than to live by art. . . . We must become 
 as children, if we would attain the best." 
 
 Meanv^hile the French Revolution of 1789- 
 1799 had wrought great social and political 
 changes, and the "third estate," the "bour- 
 geoisie, "had gained for itself a command- 
 ing position in the affairs of public life. 
 
 Through German literature was stimulated 
 to its noblest efforts, conditions were unfa- 
 vorable to the development of the fine arts. 
 Of all the German painters of this period, 
 Anton Qraff (i 736-1813) at Dresden, Johann 
 Edlinger (1741-1819) at Munich, and, in a 
 measure, Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) have 
 secured indisputable reputations as portrait 
 painters, Graff especially deserving our 
 attention for the numerous portraits of con- 
 temporaneous poets and writers which 
 sprang from his brush. 
 
 ROMANTICISM. (3) 
 But the nursery of what came to 
 be officially recognized as the Ger- 
 man art of the period was trans- 
 ferred to Rome at the beginning of the cen-
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 583 
 
 tury. Overbeck, Cornelius, Veit and 
 Schadow, joined later by Fuhrich, Steinle, 
 and Schnorr, finding conditions at home too 
 restless and uncertain, hied themselves to 
 the Eternal City, and, animated by the same 
 lofty ambition of founding a new school of 
 art, soon felt themselves closely drawn 
 together in their admiration of the works by 
 the masters of the Quatrocento. In the 
 cloister of St. Isidoro they found an ideal 
 retreat, where they lived and worked. 
 While taking a decided stand in opposition 
 to the Classicists, whose pagan spirit they 
 abhorred, in one respect at least they fol- 
 lowed their example, in their indifference 
 to — nay, their studied avoidance of all col- 
 oristic charms. Painting, according to their 
 point of view, had become utterly demor- 
 alized during the Rococo period, serving 
 none but a worldly purpose as mere decora- 
 tion, regardless of truth to nature in either 
 form or color. To rescue art from certain 
 ruin there seemed but one possible course 
 to pursue, to return to the primitive con- 
 ception of the pre-Raphaelite period of Ital- 
 ian art. True, this was not so utterly 
 devoid of color, and certainly not deliber- 
 ately so, as our new "reformers" chose to 
 be. The primitivism to which they had 
 returned in their conception and execution 
 was not considered, as one might reasonably 
 have allowed, a new beginning from which 
 they expected to evolve to higher perfec- 
 tion; it was really the alpha and omega of 
 their art, from which they were never to 
 stray, at the risk of denying the purity of 
 their purpose. 
 
 Theirs was certainly a departure from the 
 ways of joyous, sparkling Rococo, and of 
 the Classicists, who were worshiping at the 
 shrine of Hellas. But it was still far from 
 the sound and rational course which alone 
 could lead to a desirable result, since it took 
 but little heed of a conscientious study of 
 nature and found nothing worthy of the 
 artist's notice in contemporary life. 
 
 The age was one of great literary produc- 
 tiveness. Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, 
 Ludwig Tieck and the brothers Schlegel had 
 founded the Romantic school in literature; 
 and our young artists could not but imbibe 
 much of the reigning spirit in the world of 
 
 thought. They were in constant inter- 
 course with such German scholars as Nie- 
 buhr, Bunsen and others, and were welcome 
 guests at the house of the Prussian consul 
 Bartholdi at Rome, where all who could lay 
 any claim to distinction were always welcome. 
 
 Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869) had come 
 to Rome in iSio. He became the recog- 
 nized leader of this little colony of enthu- 
 siastic artists. His was a deeply religious 
 nature, and he seemed possessed of the idea 
 that only through leading the pure and holy 
 life of a Fra Angelico could he hope to 
 accomplish anything worthy of the name of 
 art. To him art was a religion and found 
 its purest expression only in the early Chris- 
 tian masters, to whose faith he felt he must 
 return in order to work in their spirit. This 
 he did, irrespective of all well-meaning 
 attempts of his friends to dissuade him. 
 
 In order to fully comprehend the art of 
 Overbeck and his friends, we must under- 
 stand the attitude which they assumed 
 towards the art of the preceding age. The 
 classicists, Carstens, Genelli and others, 
 intoxicated with the ideal of Greek beauty, 
 had found inspiration in classical Rome; 
 their art had no use for the sumptuous 
 splendor of decorative Rococo with its re- 
 fined technical requirements The Roman- 
 ticists were attracted by Christian Rome. 
 Their feeling was as much opposed to the 
 sensuousness of Rococo coloring as to the 
 cold and lifeless reproduction of antiquity 
 by the Classicists, and they arrived at the 
 conclusion that, in order to build up a new 
 school of art, they must return to the primi- 
 tive conception of nature of the pre-Raphael- 
 ite period, and their apologists would have 
 us believe that the}' devoted themselves to 
 a serious and intimate study of nature. In 
 truth they did nothing of tlie kind; of this 
 their life and their works give indisputable 
 evidence; for an intimate and conscientious 
 study of nature precludes all imitation of 
 earlier methods and masters, and while its 
 beginnings may be of a primitive kind, it 
 must necessarily lead to a strong and healthy 
 naturalism in art, unless checked by some 
 self-imposed restraint, as was the case here, 
 where the highest aim seemed ever to be, 
 not to go beyond certain bounds. In the
 
 584 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 nature of things, such principles could be 
 conducive to only one result, an utter col- 
 lapse of the entire school. Instead of becom- 
 ing a fructifying agent in the development 
 of art, it was acting as a check, which had 
 to be flung aside before the steady march 
 could proceed To-day we stand before the 
 creations of Overbeck, Veit and Schadow 
 with a feeling of pity. Men of talent they 
 undoubtedly were; but what they claimed 
 for themselves and what has been claimed 
 for them, they never could be, leaders in 
 
 of earnest and sincere young men, we find 
 little to commend in their most ambitious 
 work; and one cannot help but speculate 
 what might have been the result, if they had 
 not insisted so resolutely upon shutting 
 themselves out from the influence of con- 
 temporary foreign art, which was in the 
 meantime enjoying a much healthier devel- 
 opment. It is true, conditions in the Fath- 
 erland were not helpful to the growth of a 
 strong national art spirit; and every patriot 
 despised the neighbors beyond the Rhine, 
 
 ENTRY OF CHRIST INTO JKKrSAI.K.M. OVKRIil'.CK. 
 
 the realm of art. For, however great the 
 popularity of their paintings became, by 
 means of engraved and lithographed repro- 
 ductions, they can probably best be com- 
 pared to long, tiresome sermons. Such is 
 Overbecks painting in St. Mary's church at 
 Liibeck, The Entry of Christ into Jeru- 
 salem, for instance, and this belongs among 
 his best efforts. Viewed from the stand- 
 point of impartial criticism, which takes no 
 heed of the pure and lofty motives which 
 unquestionably inspired this singular group 
 
 and would have none of their advice and 
 example. 
 
 Rome offered a quiet refuge in which the 
 war-haunted muse found rest, and inspira- 
 tion could be drawn from the works of the 
 greatest of painters. But it was not what 
 the grand achievements of the Quatrocentisti 
 tell us to-day that inspired Overbeck; it was 
 the spirit of devout Christianity which he 
 read in their works, and to become as great 
 as they was only possible by reverting to 
 the pure and pious life of the early masters
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 585 
 
 and renouncing all earthly temptations. 
 This spirit is ever present in Overbeck's 
 works. But in his fear of departing from 
 the path of purity he went so far as to shun 
 a thorough study of life, which alone can 
 give to art strength and vitality. Therefore, 
 in spite of all their charm of purity, his 
 works were bound to be weak and primi- 
 tive. And this characterizes the work of 
 the entire school. 
 
 There were those among them who recog- 
 nized in their lifetime the mistake of posing 
 as painters. But in their youth their am- 
 bition was to create anew the grand monu- 
 mental art of fresco-painting, though they 
 were totally ignorant of its technical require- 
 ments — as well as of its true spirit. Curi- 
 ously enough, their first effort in this 
 respect remains to this day their most satis- 
 factory achievement in painting. 
 
 The Prussian Consul Bartholdi was the 
 first to give our )'oung artists an opportunity 
 to put their ideas of monumental art into 
 practice, and in his house they executed, in 
 fresco-technique, a series of paintings, which 
 are the forerunners of all those later mural 
 paintings in the halls, palaces, museums 
 and churches in Germany, which Cornelius 
 and his followers were called upon to pro- 
 duce and which, until recently, were, in Ger- 
 manj' at least, considered to mark the highest 
 achievements in nineteenth century art. 
 Cornelius was hailed as the German Michel- 
 angelo, Overbeck as the Raphael of the age. 
 If, in the calmer judgment of to-day, we are 
 disposed to brush aside such exaggerated 
 eulogy with little or no hesitation, the his- 
 torian must not forget that since the days of 
 Diirer and Holbein, German art had pro- 
 duced nothing of any commanding impor- 
 tance, that the art of the Classicists had 
 failed to make that lasting impression its 
 sponsors had bespoken for it, and that here 
 was an art which appealed mightily to the 
 intelligence of the educated classes, which 
 in Germany comjjrised vast numbers. "The 
 nation of thinkers" would naturally produce 
 and cherish a race of artists excelling in 
 intellectual qualities, however devoid they 
 might be of the sensuous and the emotional. 
 The art of painting, let us remember, was 
 then a lost art, color was only resorted to 
 
 "under protest." The "grand idea" was 
 the thing for the artist to express, and he 
 would have cheerfully confined himself to 
 the use of mere black and white, did not 
 the very purpose of their works: to serve 
 as decorations, call for the use of colors. 
 An entirely new techni(iue had to be 
 acquired, and they learned from an old Ital- 
 ian the method of painting on the wet plas- 
 ter upon the wall. We are told that it was 
 Philip Veit (1793-1877) who made the first 
 experimental brush strokes, painting a head 
 in the new techniciuc. \'eit was the most 
 devoted friend of Overbeck and in spirit 
 stood nearest to his art, as he also emulated 
 his example in adopting the Catholic reli- 
 gion. The frescoes in the Casa Bartholdi 
 illustrate the History of Joseph in Egypt, 
 of which Veit painted Joseph and Potiphar's 
 Wife, and the Allegory of the Seven Fruitful 
 Years. Called to Frankfort as director ot 
 the newly established "Staedel'sche Insti- 
 tut" in 1833 Veit there painted his most 
 important picture: The Introduction of 
 Christianity into (Germany by St. Boniface. 
 Early in the forties he began to feel out of 
 sympathy with the course art began to lead, 
 and he resigned his position, retiring from 
 the field of activity as director of the gallery 
 of Mainz. 
 
 c 
 
 ORNELIUS TO KAULBACH. 
 (4) 
 
 The ablest of the group, and the 
 one whose fame was to eclipse 
 that of all his contemporaries, was Peter v. 
 Cornelius (1783-186 7). Broader in his con- 
 ception of the province of art than his con- 
 freres, and more firmly grounded in its 
 technical requirements, which did not in- 
 clude, as we have already learned, any pro- 
 found knowledge of color, he had come to 
 Rome from Diisseldorf, where he had already 
 achieved some distinction by his illustrations 
 of Goethe and of "The Nibelungen-Lied." 
 Of the frescoes in the Casa Bartholdi, the 
 Recognition of Joseph by his Brethren, 
 came from his hands. He also designed a 
 part of the decorations for the house of the 
 Marchese Massimi, but had no share in their
 
 586 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 execution, having been summoned to Diis- 
 seldorf in 1820 as director of the Academy, 
 and receiving commissions from King Lud- 
 wig I. of Bavaria for more important work. 
 As crown prince, Liidwig had become 
 acquainted with our artists in Rome, and 
 enlisted their interest in his grand scheme 
 for the beautifying of Munich, which he 
 desired to make one of the most attractive 
 and important cities of Germany. The 
 work planned for Cornelius at Munich as- 
 sumed such magnitude that he could not 
 retain his position at Diisseldorf, but accepted 
 the directorship at the Munich Academy in 
 1825. His first great work was the deco- 
 rating of the Glyptothek (Museum of Stat- 
 uary), taking for his subject the story of the 
 Greek gods for one of the main halls, and 
 that of the ancient heroes of Greece for the 
 other. A still more important commission 
 was that of decorating the newly erected 
 Ludwigs-Kirche ; for which he chose the 
 story of Christian Revelation, beginning 
 with the Creation of Man, and ending with 
 the Last Judgment. It is not only deficient 
 coloring which checks our admiration of this 
 ambitious attempt, but our recollection of 
 the unsurpassed creations of the mighty 
 Italian from whom Cornelius drew his in- 
 spiration. Other works of Cornelius are the 
 designs for the wall-paintings in the corridor 
 of the old Pinakothek at Munich, treating 
 the history of Christian Art. Here he fol- 
 lowed the style of Raphael in the use of ara- 
 besques, again remaining far behind his 
 prototype in richness and originality of de- 
 sign. In 1841, Cornelius was called to Ber- 
 lin by the King of Prussia to decorate the 
 Royal Museum and the Campo Santo, which 
 never proceeded any further than the de- 
 signs, of which that representing the Four 
 Riders . of the Apokalypse is termed his 
 masterpiece. 
 
 Wilhelm Schadovt' (1789-1862), who had 
 come to Rome in 1810, like Overbeck also 
 became a convert to Catholicism. At the 
 Casa Bartholdi he painted Jacob with 
 Joseph's Bloody Shirt, and Joseph in Prison. 
 His designs for the Villa Massimi were not 
 executed in fresco by himself, since he 
 accepted an appointment as professor of 
 painting at the Berlin Academy in 1819. 
 
 Seven years later he was made director of 
 the Academy at Diisseldorf, many of his 
 best pupils following him thither. He 
 forthwith infused new life into the art of the 
 city, and continued in his influential position 
 until 1859 when he resigned. His art re- 
 mained true to the spirit of the "Nazarenes," 
 as this group of artists came to be termed, 
 and knew no progress, though his abilities as 
 a teacher cannot be disputed, and he lifted 
 Diisseldorf to a school of the first rank in 
 Germany. He also contributed largely 
 towards the popularizing of art, by the 
 foundation, in 1829, of the Art Union of 
 Westphalia. 
 
 In 1826 Joseph Fiihrich (1800-1876), joined 
 the brotherhood at St. Isidor. Fiihrich had 
 commenced his career as a draughtsman, 
 finding his ideal in Albrecht Dtirer and 
 drawing inspiration from the middle ages. 
 At Rome, he entered into the spirit of the 
 Nazarenes, and assisted in the completion of 
 the work left unfinished by Overbeck and 
 Cornelius at the Villa Massimi. Called to 
 Vienna in 1841, as professor at the Art Aca- 
 demy, he became the leader of the Romantic 
 
 JACOB A.MJ RACHEL. FUHRICH. 
 
 School in Austria. What mostly distinguishes 
 Fuhrich from the rest of the group is his 
 more intimate knowledge of nature; his 
 early observation of animals enables him to 
 treat them in his pictures with greater 
 truthfulness, and his creations are the out- 
 come of a refined feeling for the idyllic. 
 While during his Roman period he seems
 
 CENTURY /JV GERMANY. 
 
 587 
 
 almost entirely under the spell of Overbeck, 
 he returns, in his advanced years, to the nat- 
 ural feeling of his youth. In such works as 
 his illustrations of the Legend of St. Gwen- 
 dolen, his loving treatment of nature readily 
 appeals to our admiration. 
 
 The only one of the Romanticists who maj' 
 be said to have achieved any distinction as a 
 colorist was Johann Eduard Steinle (1810- 
 1886), of \'ienna, who joined the Nazarenes 
 in 1828, and in his church frescoes stands 
 entirely on the same ground with them. He 
 becomes far more interesting to us in his 
 easel pictures, where he chooses his subjects 
 from folk-lore, as, for instance, in his Lore- 
 ley, and in such pictures as his \'iolin 
 Player in the Tower, in which his 
 Romanticism is rooted in the native 
 soil and partakes of a poetic feeling 
 which is thoroughly in sympath)' 
 with the spirit of his age and not 
 entirel}' strange to our own. He 
 went from Rome to Vienna in 1833, 
 and to Frankfort in 1837, then to 
 Munich, where he worked for some 
 time under Cornelius, and finally 
 settled in Frankfort, where he be- 
 came professor at the Staedel'sche 
 Institut in 1850. 
 
 Julius Schnorr v. Carolsfeld (1794- 
 1872), who had joined the Nazarenes 
 about 1818 assisted in the decora- 
 tion of the Villa Masimi, after which 
 he went to Vienna, and, subse- 
 quently, in 1827, accepted the posi- 
 tion of professor of historical paint- 
 ing at the Munich Academy. During this 
 period he decorated a number of large and 
 smaller halls in the Royal Palace with fres- 
 coes, taking his subjects from the Nibelung- 
 en-Lied for the latter, while the larger halls 
 were decorated with scenes from the lives of 
 the Emperors Charlemagne, Barbarossa and 
 Rudolph of Hapsburg. But his fame does 
 not rest on these ambitious works of monu- 
 mental painting. Removing to Dresden 
 about 1846, where he accepted the ofhces of 
 director of the Gallery and professor at the 
 Academy, he devoted himself to a series of 
 illustrations of the Bible, which were repro- 
 duced in woodcuts, and which rank among the 
 foremost productions of the art of this period. 
 
 Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805-1874), was 
 the son of an engraver. He received his 
 early training at the Art Academy of Diissel- 
 dorf under Corelius, whose most valued 
 assistant he ultimately became in the execu- 
 tion of his grand mural paintings at Munich, 
 where he hade his permanent abode and 
 became the most distinguished artist of his 
 time. Kaulbach's artistic career has closed 
 a quarter of a century ago; and though the 
 present generation has witnessed the execu- 
 tion of his later works, it is no longer diffi- 
 cult to form ■an impartial judgment of his 
 great imp6rtance and of his limitations. 
 Kaulbach's art, like that of Cornelius rep- 
 
 resents, above all, a vast amount of painted 
 learning, of scholarly accomplishment. As 
 with him, the chief value of the work lies in 
 its intellectural contents, in the learned ex- 
 pression of the idea. While he, also, is still 
 thoroughly at home in bliick and white, he 
 has learned to apply color with greater skill 
 and does no longer consider the brush as 
 the ruination of art. Kaulbach first drew 
 wider attention to himself by a drawing, 
 representing a scene in a madhouse. It 
 showed him to be a man of keen power of 
 observation; nor was it difficult to detect 
 therein also a satirical vein, which he later 
 developed with such telling effect in his 
 illustrations to Goethe's version of "Reynard
 
 588 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 the Fox," and which also finds full play in 
 his designs for the exterior decorations of 
 the New Pinakothek, representing the fierce 
 onslaught of modern ideas on drj' artistic 
 cant. The King of Prussia commissioned 
 Kaulbach to execute a number of large 
 mural paintings in the stairway of the Art 
 Museum at Berlin, and this resulted in the 
 frescoes, Dispersion of the Nations at Babel, 
 Classic Age of Greece, Destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, Battle of the Huns, Crusaders, and 
 Age of the Reformation. 
 
 In a similar spirit, a strange mixture of 
 philosophical thought, allegorical conception 
 and pseudo-realistic representation, he has 
 also painted the Naval Battle of Salamis, in 
 the Maximilianeum at Munich. Famous 
 among his huge cartoons are his Nero and 
 his Peter Arbuez, in which latter he has 
 depicted, though in a rather strained the- 
 atrical manner, the horrors of the Spanish 
 Inquisition. Kaulbach 's later art was 
 largely polemical in nature, and he was as 
 much feared and hated by those whose faith 
 and doctrines he attacked so mercilessly, as 
 he was applauded by his sympathetic friends. 
 He is far less impressive, indeed, it is hardly 
 too much to say, that he is rather weak, in 
 his illustrations of Goethe's and of Shakes- 
 peare's works, drawn, like his large car- 
 toons, in charcoal and black crayon. His 
 last finished work was a drawing, which he 
 dedicated to the victorious German army, 
 representing the Deutsche Michel in the 
 form of the archangel Michael slaying the 
 representatives of political and religious 
 intolerance, the Pope and the French Em- 
 peror conspicuous among them. 
 
 The strongest artist among the followers 
 of Cornelius marks also the end of that 
 epoch of which so much had been expected 
 and so little of lasting value has been 
 derived, excepting that interest in the fine 
 arts as such had received a vigorous promo- 
 tion, and henceforth continued in growing 
 favor, being recognized by the governments 
 of the larger and smaller states and princi- 
 palities as of the most vital importance, and 
 resulting ultimately in a most vigorous and 
 healthy development of German art at the 
 end of the century. 
 
 That such government protection was not 
 
 alwaj's the most desirable, must be con- 
 ceded. But in Munich at least it did not 
 only not interfere seriously with the steady 
 march of progress, but, as practiced by the 
 present Prince Regent Luitpold, gives 
 every aid to a free and unfettered growth of 
 a true and healthy art sentiment. 
 
 Doctor Mather's estimate of both Cor- 
 nelius and Kaulbach will probably always 
 be considered too severe. Still he comes 
 nearer than any preceeding art historian to a 
 true estimation of their importance, or want 
 of importance, as factors in the evolution of 
 nineteenth century art in Germany. At 
 best their influence can be considered only a 
 negative one ; and there is very good reason 
 to suspect that Kaulbach himself was well 
 aware of this fact, for the biting sarcasm, in 
 which he indulges at the expense of some of 
 his contemporaries would seem to fit his 
 own case no less. 
 
 Some years before his death, art in Munich 
 had already turned away from the path that 
 had led Kaulbach to the summit of his fame. 
 To his great credit must it be said that he 
 had long read the signs pointing to a new 
 direction, and, though he retained, nom- 
 inally, the position at the head of the Acad- 
 emy, he had cheerfully abdicated his 
 privilege of directing the further course of 
 art study, which now passed on to Carl 
 Piloty. 
 
 LANDSCAPE PAINTING. (5) 
 But before we consider this new 
 era in German art, we must retrace 
 our steps to the earlier part of the 
 century, and beyond, to see what other 
 forces were at work in the realm of art to 
 account for the growth of a healthy and nat- 
 ural spirit, which was ultimately to over- 
 power the exotic plant which had so long 
 posed in the form of a new national art. 
 For, it must not be supposed that art had 
 for her legitimate representatives only such 
 men as we have been considering. The 
 little brotherhood at the cloister of Isidoro 
 was not allowed to work out its theories 
 unopposed, and the title, "the Nazarenes" 
 by which they have, collectively, come to be
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 589 
 
 designated in art history, was bestowed upon 
 them in ridicule at the time. Their mistake 
 of throwing overboard all tradition, their 
 failure to recognize the elements of truth 
 and beauty that had still pertained to the 
 art of the Rococo, obscured and distorted 
 though it was by the later weaklings, and 
 allowed to dwindle by the Classicists, their 
 deliberate refusal to recognize contempor- 
 aneous life as a fit subject for artistic treat- 
 ment, and their consequent flight into the 
 past for inspiration and example, their timid 
 attempts at the study of nature — all this was 
 sharply criticized and diligently avoided 
 by others, who, alas! lacked only the full 
 measure of natural gifts, and of opportun- 
 ity, to exert a commanding influence upon 
 the course of art development. 
 
 We have already heard Rungc's voice; he 
 speaks of "the new art of landscape-paint- 
 ing," for which he claims an interview. 
 Landscape painting had been brought to a 
 remarkable state of advancement in the 
 previous century. In England it was Gains- 
 borough, Constable and Turner that had 
 given to mere landscape an importance even 
 beyond that which it had occupied in Hol- 
 land at the time of Ruysdael; and this had 
 exerted a healthy influence on the other side 
 of the Channel. At the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century it still remained some- 
 what under the shade of classicism in Ger- 
 many, still striving to represent only the 
 heroic, but, at all events, really looking to 
 nature for its forms and color, even tliough 
 with a preconceived idea of grandeur and 
 impressiveness. 
 
 We find in Joseph Koch (i 768-1839), the 
 first representative of "heroic landscape" 
 painting, though he, too, commands our 
 attention, more by virtue of his etchings 
 than as a painter. His pictures are com- 
 posed of the material which the Sabine 
 Mountains otfcred to his imagination, and 
 the landscape is made to serve rather as a 
 setting to classical or biblical figure compo- 
 sitions, such as the Rape of Hylas and the 
 Sacrifice of Noah. 
 
 Karl Rottmann (i 798-1850), is ranked high 
 above Koch by earlier art historians as well 
 as by his contemporaries. But it is impos- 
 sible, at this day, to join in the loud applause 
 
 which greeted his series of Italian land- 
 scapes painted on the walls of the Hofgarten 
 Arcades at Munich, or his later series of 
 Greek landscapes, in a special hall of the 
 Pinakothek; the former have faded, while 
 the latter, by their ghiring color, make one 
 overlook even the merit they claimed in 
 their time for "grandeur" of conception. 
 In some of his smaller studies and in his 
 watercolors, Rottmann attains a certain 
 charm of color which we look for in vain in 
 his so-called important paintings. 
 
 The one man who succeeded in lending to 
 the "heroic landscape" an unmistakable 
 dignity and true impressiveness was Fried- 
 rich Preller (1804-187S). In 1830, while at 
 Naples, he conceived the idea of embodying 
 tlie story of Odysseus in a series of compo- 
 sitions and this subject occupied him more 
 or less all his life. The original cartoons 
 led to a commission to decorate the house 
 of Dr. Hiirtel at Leipzig. This finished, he 
 betook himself to the isle of Riigen and to 
 Norwa}', where he made numerous studies 
 from nature. Thus equipped, he again 
 turned his attention to his earlier choice, 
 and added new compositions to the Odyssey, 
 the entire series being finally painted for the 
 Art Museum at Weimar. In these compo- 
 sitions the figures are treated with far more 
 knowledge and care than had been the cus- 
 tom with landscape painters until then, and 
 Preller evinces a loving study of nature, 
 with a far less violent disposition to "im- 
 prove" on his model. 
 
 Color becomes more and more the aim of 
 the Romantic landscape painters, and the 
 scenes with classic monuments give way to 
 the landsca])es with ruins of medieval 
 castles, while the figures of knights, monks, 
 nuns, and robbers, take the place of classic 
 heroes. 
 
 In Diisseldorf, where Wilhelm Schadow 
 had succeeded Cornelius as director of the 
 Academy, a school of painting had sprung 
 into existence, and the students there de- 
 voted themselves with equal ardor to figure 
 and landscape studies. Carl Friedrich 
 Lessing (1808-1880), grand-nephew of the 
 famous author, having first studied at Ber- 
 lin, was drawn to Diisseldorf where he com. 
 pleted his studies under Schadow. While
 
 59° 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 he achieved great renown as a figure painter, 
 chiefly through a number of large canvases 
 relating to the life of Johannes Huss, we are 
 more particularly interested in him as a 
 landscapist, inasmuch as it was he who first 
 turned from the conventionally composed 
 landscape of the Romanticists to the paint- 
 ing of nature itself. His first efforts were 
 of the regulation order: a lonely churchyard, 
 under a dull, heavy sky, with a narrow 
 streak of sunlight falling on a gravestone; 
 and similar somber, romantic, subjects. 
 
 MOUNTAIN ROAD. ACHKN'BACH. 
 
 But when he came to a certain part of the 
 Prussian Rhein province known as "Eifel," 
 he discovered a piece of nature which ap- 
 pealed to his artistic sensibilities in the most 
 powerful manner. Henceforth he dispenses 
 with all the knights and monks and robbers 
 that had been considered so essential to 
 lending landscape the picture-making qual- 
 ity. He finds in nature alone the quality of 
 the romantic, to render which remains his 
 purpose, it is true; but he lifts landscape 
 painting to the dignity of an independent 
 art, which it had not enjoyed before. 
 
 Karl Blechen goes a step further in the 
 emancipation from Romantic tradition, and 
 does not hesitate to include in his choice 
 of scene such evidences of man's modern 
 activity as smoking factory chimneys, etc. 
 
 A further impulse in the direction of a 
 still closer study of nature in Germany came 
 from Denmark. It was at the Art Academy 
 at Copenhagen that J. C. C. Dahl (1788- 
 1857), a Norwegian artist, took up the study 
 of landscape painting and was impressed by 
 the works of the great Dutchmen of the sev- 
 enteenth century, Ruysdael and Everdingen. 
 His works, when first exhibited in Ger- 
 many, created a great commotion among 
 artists, on account of their startling realism. 
 In 1 81 9 Dahl was made professor at the 
 Dresden Academy. About the same time 
 Christian Morgenstern (1805-1867), who had 
 also pursued his studies at the Danish 
 capital, and traveled in Norway, came to 
 Munich, where his advent proved of great- 
 est importance to landscape art. His predi- 
 lection was rather for the quiet moorland 
 plain, the village road and the lake, and his 
 color, like that of Dahl, was still reminiscent 
 of the great Dutchmen. 
 
 It was Ludwig Qurlitt (181 2-), from 
 Altona, who first adopted a fine gray tone 
 in his landscapes. He too had studied at 
 Copenhagen and traveled in Scandinavia 
 before he went to Diisseldorf and Munich, 
 afterwards to Italy. What Dahl, Morgen- 
 stern and Giirlitt did for landscape art in 
 Germany proved of lasting effect, as they 
 may be said to have first introduced realism. 
 Gurlitt's advice and example had its most 
 telling effect on Andreas Achenbach (born 
 18 1 5 at Cassel), who was then studying at 
 Diisseldorf, like the rest, composing his land- 
 scapes according to approved rules. Gurlitt 
 induced him to go to Norway, and there the 
 gifted young man learned to develop his keen 
 observation of nature, discarding the learned, 
 artificial methods of his earlier studies. 
 Though he has long been left behind by the 
 younger generation, Achenbach must always 
 be considered a pathfinder among artists; 
 and, by his paintings of the raging sea, the 
 turbulent waterfall, the quiet Dutch canal, 
 and the red-roofed village, he succeeded in 
 holding the attention of the public by pure
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 591 
 
 landscape painting as no one had done be- 
 fore. If any one, it was Achenbach who 
 gained for this branch of art the command- 
 ing position b}' the side of figure painting 
 which it has ever since held. 
 
 Landscape painters continued largely to 
 be attracted by the splendors of distant 
 lands, in preference to the milder charms of 
 their own country. Thus Oswald Achen- 
 bach (1827-) younger brother of Andreas, 
 developed an early fondness for the sunny 
 South, and chose the surroundings of Naples 
 for his favorite sketching ground. Abandon- 
 ing the "grand "style of the composed land- 
 scape of the earlier period, he became a 
 closer student of nature and truth. 
 
 Eduard Hildebrand (181 7-1868) extended 
 his artistic explorations to all quarters of 
 the globe, showing a special fondness for 
 vivid color effects, recorded mainly in water 
 colors, which became very popular through 
 reproductions. 
 
 Among the many other exploring artists 
 Eugen Bracht (1842-), deserves especial 
 mention. His earlier successes were the 
 result of his travels in the Orient, where he 
 appears to have been attracted mainly by 
 the somber character of the desert and the 
 mountains. In recent years he has turned 
 his attention to the landscape of his native 
 country, in which he has discovered all those 
 elements of color and moods which he had 
 missed in the pictures of his earlier period. 
 
 The painting of the moods of nature — so 
 comprehensively expressed by the German 
 term "Stimmungslandschaft" — introduced 
 to Munich by Morgenstern, found in 
 
 Eduard Schleich (1812-1874), its most 
 gifted representative. He succeeded in 
 penetrating deeper into the life of nature, 
 studying her changing moods : the cheerful 
 sunlight, the threatening storm, the passing 
 cloud effects, the glittering moonlight. For 
 his motif he rarely went outside of the im- 
 mediate surroundings of Munich: the valley 
 of the Isaar, or the moorland near Dachau, 
 where he had the fullest opportunity of 
 observing the ever-changing light effects on 
 the country below. No one before him had 
 so well succeeded in rendering the trans- 
 parent light of the sky, and its soft fleeting 
 clouds. 
 
 It would seem but natural that landscape 
 painting should at once lead to a closer study 
 of animal life; for, as painters gradually 
 learned to dispense with the use of the 
 knights, monks and robbers of the Roman- 
 tic period, they were satisfied to introduce 
 the forms of domestic animals as they ap- 
 peared in the landscape before them. Nor 
 did they all stop at treating animals as mere 
 accessories; animal ])ainting became a study 
 of its own and was destined to reach its 
 highest development in Germany at the 
 end of the century. But not only domestic 
 animals engaged our artists' early attention; 
 the wild beasts of the forest, of the jungles, 
 of the mountains, were painted with equal 
 fidelity to nature. 
 
 Thus we learn that the art of painting had 
 been brought into life again, largely through 
 the serious and conscientious efforts of the 
 landscapists, from the classic, through the 
 various stages of the romantic school to 
 the beginnings of the realistic epoch. 
 There was, however, yet another group of 
 artists, ignored, if not suppressed, by the 
 representatives of "the gfrand style," who 
 kept the spirit of true art alive, nourishing 
 it in a loving, though mayliap at times, 
 somewhat clumsy way, until it gradually 
 regained its wonted strength and filled the 
 end of the century with rejoicing. We have 
 seen the artists fly from their surrounding, 
 because in its unpicturesque aspect they 
 found it chilling and forbidding. Since 
 they could not paint, it is not to be won- 
 dered at that they found nothing to paint 
 around them. Their training taujjht them 
 to look for the ideal, not the real life surg- 
 ing around them, which was commonplace, 
 prosaic. And we should not know to-day 
 that this commonplace, prosaic life had its 
 charms, despite its "unpaintable" costume 
 and its narrow horizon, were it not for the 
 records preserved by a number of gifted 
 artists who cared not to follow in the lofty 
 flight of their more distinguished brethren. 
 They remained at home, among the peo- 
 ple, and, with pencil and graver, held 
 fast the fleeting phases of their surround- 
 ing life, though it was not granted them 
 to do so successfully with brush and pig- 
 ment.
 
 592 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 T 
 
 HE ILLUSTRATORS AND BAT- 
 TLE PAINTERS. (6) 
 
 It was Daniel Chodowiecki (1726- 
 1801), who thus preserved for 
 future generations a true picture of the 
 costumes and customs prevailing at the end 
 of the eighteenth century, and his example 
 was followed by a number of draughtsman, 
 among whom the two Niirembergers J. A. 
 Klein (1792-1875) and J. C. Erhard (1795- 
 1822) take foremost rank. In their draw- 
 ings and copper-plate engravings they give 
 us a faithful picture of the life of their 
 times; the occupations of the people, the 
 events of the day, military life, the burgher 
 and the peasant in his joys and sorrows, 
 were all depicted with a simple, unaffected 
 truthfulness. Many others followed, among 
 them one whose memory is held sacred by 
 every truly German heart, Ludwig Richter 
 (1803-1884). Though ostensibly a landscape 
 painter (for as such he held a position of 
 professor at Dresden), he will ever be re- 
 membered by his record of the happy side 
 of family life, of its joj'oiis childhood days, 
 its sunshine and laughter, its little trials and 
 sorrows, too; all of which he has conceived 
 in the loving spirit of a man whose heart 
 remained ever young and childlike, even in 
 old age. If the sweetness of his nature 
 reveals itself somewhat too obtrusively in 
 the prettiness of his technique, he appealed 
 therewith all the more successfully to the 
 intelligence of his public, which had no 
 appreciation of "high art, " but could readily 
 grasp the truthful reflection of its own every- 
 day life, as Richter pictured it in his thou- 
 sands of drawings. 
 
 He found imitators, of course; but was 
 without a successful rival. The only one 
 who does not lose by comparison was Albert 
 Hendschel (1834 - 1883), whose "Sketch 
 Book" treats of the joys and sorrows of 
 boyhood and girlhood in a delightfully 
 humorous manner. 
 
 The revolution of 1848 infused a vigorous 
 life into the art of the caricaturist. In Ber- 
 lin the "Kladderadatsch" was published, 
 and in Munich appeared the "Miinchener 
 Bilderbogen" and "Fliegende Blatter." 
 While the Berlin publication has chosen the 
 
 field of politics, the "Fliegende Blatter" de- 
 voted themselves to chastising the follies 
 and weaknesses of social life and conditions, 
 and to healthy but harmless humor. The 
 drawings by Moritz v. Schwind, Carl Spitz- 
 weg and others, have left us a picture of the 
 life and manners of the time, more complete 
 and true than has come down to us through 
 any other source. 
 
 Wilhelm Busch (1832-) and Adolph Ober- 
 lander (1845-), are the two caricatur- 
 ists who stand unrivaled by any age or 
 any country. The drawings of Busch are 
 simplicity itself, but nothing could be more 
 expressive than the few lines and spots 
 which he employs to convey a characteristic 
 action, illustrating his quaint rhyme. 
 Oberlander's is an entirely different humor. 
 He is at home in every society, in every 
 clime; he knows the nature of every crea- 
 ture in the animal kingdom, fish, fowl, wild 
 beast and domestic cattle, and he can make 
 them expressive of any emotion. Busch 
 and Oberliinder are classics in their field. 
 
 While the draughtsmen were the first 
 truthfully to picture the life of their times, 
 the painters found in the prevailing costume 
 a stumbling-block, which they felt powerless 
 to remove. But a way around was even- 
 tually discovered. These were troublous 
 times; the Napoleonic wars were keeping 
 the country in a feverish condition, there 
 was no assurance of a peaceful life at any 
 moment, in any hamlet. Soldiers kept com- 
 ing and going, now friends, now foes; along 
 the most traveled paths there was an ever- 
 changing panorama, grim in nature, but 
 picturesque withal ; and there were painters 
 not slow to improve their opportunity. 
 The uniform fairly arrested the artists' long- 
 ing for some paintable costume, and though 
 the men who felt inspired to put upon can- 
 vass the scenes they beheld were not great 
 artists, they have contributed a far greater 
 share towards keeping alive a healthy art 
 sentiment, than the over-praised masters 
 who looked down upon them with either 
 pity or contempt. 
 
 In 1800 there lived in Nordlingen a con- 
 fectioner's apprentice, who improved every 
 opportunity to sketch soldiers, and his 
 attempts proved so full of interest and
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 593 
 
 promise that he was offered an opportunity 
 some years later to accompany the Bavarian 
 army, fighting for Napoleon against Austria. 
 This yoimg man was Albrecht Adam (1786- 
 1862). He had no academical training and 
 was entirely self-taught; no wonder, there- 
 fore, that technically his work remained 
 somewhat crude; but it was an honest and 
 serious attempt to render what he beheld 
 about him with truth to nature and simple 
 directness, hampered by no grand ideals and 
 traditions. Adam's school was nature and 
 contemporaneous life; what he painted, that 
 he had really seen. He lived with the 
 army, sharing its experience of victory and 
 defeat. He was present at the catastrophe 
 of Moscow and his pictures of the retreat 
 were not imaginary, nor the illustrations of 
 the accounts of others, but a faithful record 
 of his own observations. 
 
 Albrecht Adam was not only the father of 
 German battle painters; he was the origi- 
 nator of a movement which was to prove a 
 g^eat factor in the art life of Munich and 
 Germany — for good and for evil — for years 
 to come, the establishment of the Kunts- 
 J'c-riiii, the Art Union of Munich. The 
 primary object of this organization was, to 
 bring before the eyes of the general public 
 the latest works of the artists in a continuous 
 exhibition. Here the public was to be edu- 
 cated to the appreciation of art in the most 
 direct manner, without the intervention of 
 the professional art critic; the public was 
 to see for itself and form its own judgment 
 of the artists' work. But it also brought 
 another result, which was probably not 
 looked for, certainly not realized in its full 
 extent and baneful influence : the artists 
 learned the public's pleasure, and fell into 
 the habit uf catering to its taste. This was 
 no small matter; while Royalty continued to 
 patronize the "grand art," the nobility and 
 wealthy burghers were beginning to encour- 
 age the modest genre i)ainters. And since 
 their appreciation could not possibly apply 
 to any strictly artistic merits of the works, 
 their pleasure being only derived from the 
 "what" and not the "how" of the artists' 
 creations, the latter were naturally induced 
 to consider mainly the subject matter of 
 their pictures at the expense of the pure art. 
 
 In lierlin it was Franz Kriiger (1797-1857), 
 who ranks as the foremost battle painter of 
 his time. Being favored by Royalty with 
 impoitant commissions, he became chiefly 
 famous through his large paintings of mili- 
 tary parades. From his paintings we gain 
 a true and life-like picture of the Berlin of 
 his time. 
 
 Among the pupils of Adam, Peter Hess 
 (1792-1871), Carl Steffeck (1818-1890) and 
 Theodor Horschelt (1829 - 1870), achieved 
 renown. But all were excelled by his son 
 Franz Adam (1815-1886), who ranks among 
 the foremost battle painters of modern 
 times. He too, like his father, had accom- 
 panied the army into action, and in his pic- 
 ture of the Battle of Solferino he created a 
 masterpiece, which remained unexcelled 
 until the war of 1870-71. For some reason, 
 unknown to the writer, Adam was not per- 
 mitted to accompany the army to the front 
 this time; nevertheless, there resulted from 
 his brush several pictures of this momentous 
 war, which have not been eclipsed bj' the 
 work of eye-witnesses. 
 
 THE PEASANT PAINTERS. (7) 
 Though military uniform may claim 
 to have opened the eyes of artists 
 to the possibility of painting con- 
 temporary costumes, it did not long remain 
 alone in the field ; for the costumes of the 
 peasants in all parts of Germany were no 
 less picturesque, and the wonder is that they 
 had not long before been seized upon by 
 painters as worthy of their brush. In iso- 
 lated cases this had, of course, been done; 
 but the peasant of those days had been dis- 
 covered only by the draughtsmen, who were 
 rarely also painters and as slich certainly not 
 of high merit; the caricaturists had found 
 in him a ready subject for their wit; and it 
 was therefore not an easy matter to lift him 
 out of that position to the dignity of a fit 
 subject for serious art. It can therefore be 
 readily understood that when the peasant 
 first made his appearance on canvas, it was 
 still in the character of the involuntary 
 humorist; his object was only to amuse, and 
 whoever succeeded best in making his peas-
 
 594 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 ants accomplish this object, was the most 
 popular artist. Not having been educated 
 to an appreciation of mere painting, to a 
 sensuous enjoyment of art, pure and simple, 
 the public, naturally, did not look for any 
 color qualities in the work of their painters. 
 They told a good story, that was all that 
 was expected of them. And in this man- 
 ner, from these beginnings, grew the habit 
 of the public to judge a picture according to 
 its story-telling qualities, a habit which is 
 all too prevalent the world over to this day. 
 The art of the "historical painter," as prac- 
 ticed during this period, had the same aim ; 
 only it required the learned commentator's 
 explanation to make it understood, while the 
 genre painter's story failed utterly as a 
 work of art, were its "point" not readily 
 understood by everybody. When the vil- 
 lage novel was introduced into German liter- 
 ature, about the end of the thirties, and was 
 eagerly read by all classes, artists were 
 quick to take up the suggestion. In Munich 
 the humorous situations of a story found 
 their successful interpreter on canvas in 
 Carl Enhuber (1811-1S67), whose Inter- 
 rupted Card Party is a characteristic exam- 
 ple of the genre painting coming into favor 
 at the time. At the village inn are seated 
 around the table a number of worthy citizens 
 of different useful callings, engaged in a 
 game of cards. Through the door at the 
 rear suddenly appears the wife of the village 
 tailor, looking fur her good-for-nothing 
 spouse, who has crawled under the table at 
 her approach. One of his slippers, which 
 had come off in the hasty retreat, reveals 
 his hiding place to the boy who had come 
 with the angrj' wife, and it is quite useless 
 for the inn-keeper to try to cover the place 
 of refuge with his apron, for the shoeless 
 foot of the unlucky tailor still remains 
 exposed. 
 
 During this period the attention of Ger- 
 man artists had already been drawn to the 
 Dutch masters of the seventeenth century, 
 as we have learned in speaking of landscape 
 painting, and the new influence soon be- 
 came apparent. Wouwermans had inspired 
 many of the soldier painters; Teniers, 
 Brower and Ostade were studied more 
 closely when the war time had passed and 
 
 military pictures no longer monopolized pub- 
 lic interest. In Munich Wilhelm Kobeil 
 ( 1 766-1855) and Peter Hess were among the 
 first to make the transition. But the fore- 
 most among the new figure painters was 
 undoubtedly 
 
 Heinrich Biirkel (1802-1869). He was 
 turned away from the Academy as being 
 without talent. This had happened to 
 others, and Biirkel was not dismayed. He 
 went to the Gallery at Schleissheim, near 
 Munich, and began to copy the old Dutch 
 masters. Then he went out-of-doors and 
 painted from nature. He had no story to 
 tell, but painted the teamster trotting along- 
 side his clumsy wagon, the peasant plow- 
 ing, sowing or reaping, the postilion stop- 
 ping to water his horses, a picturesque house 
 in winter and a village street in rainy 
 weather. His color was rather weak, his 
 painting hard; but in all his work he shows 
 sincere effort to render nature truthfully 
 and simply, without any unartistic after- 
 thought, and his position among all the 
 painting story-tellers of his time is therefore 
 unique and significant. Only one man who 
 followed in his footsteps commands our 
 respect: 
 
 Hermann Kaufmann (1808-1889). As a 
 painter, he too, was weak ; we learn to 
 admire his genius in his cartoons, in which 
 shape he was in the habit of first designing 
 his pictures ; and here, in simple black and 
 white, with now and then a little indication 
 of color, we meet with compositions of sur- 
 prising simplicity and strength of drawing. 
 There is the same avoidance of all attempt 
 at story-telling as in Biirkel, whom he sur- 
 passes in knowledge and skill. 
 
 In Vienna, rustic life formed the subject 
 of the paintings by Ferdinand Waldmiiller 
 (i 793-1865). He is particularly fond of 
 children, but also selects scenes from the 
 life of the peasants that lend themselves to 
 an idyllic conception, treating them, how- 
 ever, in a rather conventional, artificial 
 manner. 
 
 Peter Krafft (i 780-1856), became a famous 
 teacher in his time, insisting on conscien- 
 tious study of nature and the life of the day. 
 Though his own rather ambitious works fail 
 to hold our interest, he nevertheless occupies
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 595 
 
 an important position in the development of 
 art in Austria. 
 
 Joseph Oanhauser (1805-1845), finds his 
 subjects in Viennese city life; the burgher, 
 the artisan, the art student, supply the 
 themes for his humorous pictures, as they 
 were furnishing the material for Ferdinand 
 Raimund's farces. Indeed, the Viennese art 
 of the times appears to draw its inspiration 
 very largely from the stage. 
 
 In Berlin F. E. Meyerheim (1808-1879), 
 claims our attention as a peasant painter. 
 He devotes himself to the representation of 
 the pleasing side of life: peasants at their 
 festivities in holiday attire, children at play, 
 etc., all of which he paints in a neat and 
 pretty manner. 
 
 Munich produced the one artist ui this 
 epoch whose merits as a painter command 
 our respect even to-day, Carl Spltzweg 
 (1808-1885). Hs ^^^ about thirty years old 
 before circumstances allowed him to turn 
 from his profession of apothecary, for which 
 he had prepared himself by the prescribed 
 course of study, and devote himself to the 
 career of an artist, for which he had always 
 had an insatiable longing. He attended no 
 art academy and has had no teacher, but 
 traveled extensively, going to Paris, Lon- 
 don and Antwerp, and made copies of the 
 old Dutch and other masters. Returning to 
 Munich he took up his abode in a quaint old 
 quarter of the town, with a view over the 
 surrounding housetops. Here he painted 
 what he saw, or had seen in the days of his 
 youth, untouched by the spirt of the "grand 
 art" that was making the Munich of his days 
 so famous. Among all his contemporaries 
 in art he had scarcely a friend except 
 Schwind, with whose work he was thor- 
 oughly in sympathy, without feeling tempted 
 to make it his own. It is indeed this which 
 makes Spitzweg a notable character: that 
 his art, though derived from a close study of 
 many masters, is so unlike any of these, but 
 entirely original and individual. The world 
 he paints, the life of the forties in German 
 provincial towns, is almost exclusively his 
 own; at all events, in painting, no records 
 comparable with his pictures of these quaint 
 characters in their no less quaint surround- 
 ings exist to-day. At a later time artists 
 
 were tempted to delve into old archives and 
 explore old lofts and forgotten attics in 
 search of discarded garments and furniture 
 of this period, and paint fmrn models there- 
 with bedecked; but Spitzweg remains un- 
 rivaled. He could paint a true world 
 truthfully, because he was of it. His sen- 
 tinel of the civil-guard walking his beat in 
 the moonshine; his country-attorney, goose- 
 quill in hand, bent over his writing with an 
 air which betokens his exclusive fitness for 
 the work; his old bachelors, carefully hand- 
 ling their potted flowers or feeding their 
 birds, or mending their garments, are all 
 characters from real life of a time when the 
 signs of progress, the awakening of desires 
 for liberty and human rights were still 
 viewed with as much fear and trembling as 
 with fond hopes. He had remained the 
 same during the well-nigh fifty years of his 
 artistic career; and, when he died, his art 
 was more akin to modern ideas than that of 
 most painters who began when lie was at his 
 prime. He was a healthy realist whose pic- 
 tures do not indeed require a story in order 
 to command our attention; nor indeed do 
 they impress one as being painted for the 
 purpose of telling a story ; tliat was merely 
 incidental. It is the quality of the pictur- 
 esque that asserts itself above all and the 
 quaint humor, the rich fanc)% seem only an 
 unconscious or, at all events, an uncon- 
 trollable addition of the man's unique nature. 
 
 G 
 
 ERMAN ROMANTICISTS AND 
 THE DtJSSELDORF SCHOOL. 
 (8) 
 
 Among the German artists who 
 went to Rome in the early part of the cen- 
 tury there were those who found something 
 else than they sougiit. 
 
 August Riedel (1800-1883), ^^d begun his 
 artistic career at the Munich Academy as a 
 strict Classicist, and went to Rome in 1823 
 in the expectation, no doubt, of perfecting 
 his art at the fountain-head of Classicism; 
 but, by the example of Leopold Robert he 
 was led to admire the picturesque beauty of 
 Italian peasant life and the glorious richness 
 of color under the southern sky. Standing
 
 596 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 to-day before his Neapolitan Fisher's Fam- 
 ily, we can scarcely realize that the picture 
 could ever have created any sensation ; still, 
 it did so, in its day, and people marveled 
 how it was possible to produce such a rich 
 color-effect as the artist rendered in this and 
 subsequent paintings. He even excelled his 
 forerunner, Robert, in this respect, and was, 
 altogether, a most remarkable painter of his 
 time, whose works, like the Judith with the 
 Head of Holofernes, became immensely 
 popular. Cornelius is reported to have said 
 to Riedel: "You have accomplished in your 
 work what I have diligently studied to avoid 
 all my life." And, indeed, compared with 
 
 By p^t mission of F. Han/staettgU 
 
 BEDOUINS AT WAR. 
 
 the frescoes of the German Michelangelo, 
 Riedel's paintings have decided coloristic 
 merits 
 
 The Orient also began to attract the 
 artists about this time. Byron's poems and 
 the Greek wars of liberation had turned the 
 attention of Europe to the East, and artists 
 were fascinated by the rich and picturesque 
 costumes of the Orientals, so strikingly in 
 contrast with the modern garments of their 
 own time and country. Hermann Kretsch- 
 mer (1811-1890), of Berlin, was among the 
 first to seek this new field of artistic activity. 
 
 Wilhelm Qentz (1822-1890), of Berlin, was 
 likewise attracted by the splendors of the 
 
 Orient and produced works of greater color- 
 istic merit than any of his Berlin contem- 
 poraries. The most widely known of the 
 German artists who devoted themselves to 
 painting Oriental subjects was undoubtedly 
 Adolph Schreyer (1828-1899), of Frank- 
 fort, who has become famous as a painter of 
 Bedouins and Arabian horses. Though 
 becoming decidedly mannered in his work, 
 there is a sureness and dash in the handling 
 of his brush and a remarkable richness of 
 color which is not at all chracteristic of the 
 German art of the middle of the century. 
 
 Leopold Miiller (1834-1892), was a most 
 successful painter of Oriental subjects, 
 
 whose works com- 
 bine with a con- 
 scientious ethno- 
 graphical study 
 also a rare charm 
 of color. 
 
 When Schadow 
 was called from 
 Berlin to assume 
 the molding of ar- 
 tistic thought at 
 D u s s e 1 d o r f , he 
 proved himself a 
 most powerful 
 agent. In contra- 
 distinction to Mu- 
 nich, where the 
 "grand style" of 
 monumental art 
 was being devel- 
 oped by means of 
 the cartoon, Diis- 
 seldorf, as already stated, became a school 
 of painting. Schadow attracted a number 
 of most talented pupils, among whom 
 we have already mentioned Lessing, and 
 Andreas Achenbach, the painters of land- 
 scape. Other artists of this group of Ger- 
 man Romanticists were Carl Sohn, Heinrich 
 Miicke, Theodor Hildebrand, H. Pliidde- 
 mann, Theodor Winthrop, Friederich Itten- 
 bach, Eduard Bendemann, Ernst Deger, 
 and Christian Kohler; among whom Eduard 
 Bendemann (1811-1889) became the most 
 famous, gaining prominence at once by his 
 first large painting, Jew's Lamenting, which 
 v/as soon followed by his Two Maidens at
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 597 
 
 the Well, Jeremias on the Ruins of Jerusa- 
 lem, The Daughters of the Servian Prince, 
 and other large and small canvases. In 
 Dresden, where he became professor in 
 1838, he decorated the Royal Palace with 
 frescoes, and some twenty years later was 
 appointed to fill the position of his former 
 master, as director of the Academy at 
 Diisseldorf. 
 
 All these young men were full of enthusi- 
 asm for their art and for their teacher. 
 Schadow and his literary and musical 
 friends: Immermann, who had worked the 
 reform of the Diisseldorf stage; Felix Men- 
 delsohn, the composer; the assessor von 
 Uechtritz ; and Doctor Kortum, the author of 
 the humorous-satirical "Jobsiade, " were the 
 spiritual advisers, whose words and works 
 inspired our young artists, who lived and 
 thrived in an atmosphere of Romanticism, 
 having but little touch with the actual life 
 surrounding them. Immermann had created 
 an interest in Shakespeare, whose dramas 
 formed thenceforth an important part of the 
 repertoir of every German stage, and it was 
 
 Ferd. Theodor Hildebrandt (1804-1874), 
 who found therein a mine for his artistic pro- 
 ductiveness. On stated evenings the artists 
 met to enjoy readings from the Romantic 
 poets, or listen to chapters from German his- 
 tory, especially of the period of the great 
 emperors, of the crusades, of the turbulent 
 times of the Hussites; and thus their imagi- 
 nations became filled with the figures of ro- 
 mance and of the stage. Goethe's "Torquato 
 Tasso" inspires Carl Sohn (1805-1867) to 
 paint The Two Leonoras, followed by 
 others of Goethe's heroines. Walter Scott 
 furnishes the material for H. Stilke's (1803- 
 1860) paintings, and Lessing scores his 
 first success with The Sorrowing Royal 
 Couple, for which Ludwig Uhland furnishes 
 the incentive; while Biirgers "Leonora" is 
 made the subject of another picture by him. 
 Most of the religious works of these early 
 Dusseldorfers owe their origin to the 
 dramatization of Old Testament stories and 
 the Hebrew elegies. Thus Klingemann's 
 dramatization of the Life of Moses inspired 
 Christian Kbhier (1809- 1861) to paint Moses 
 Hidden in the Bullrushes, The Finding of 
 Moses, and other compositions. 
 
 There is an unhealthy vein of sentimen- 
 tality running through the works of this 
 period, which, though it was the natural 
 outgrowth of the age, was not allowed to 
 remain unnoticed and uncondemned at the 
 time. There were those who did not keep 
 aloof from the life of the people, and had 
 an eye for the realistic and for the humor- 
 ous side of life. When Bendemann touched 
 the heart of the sentimental with his Jews 
 Lamenting, Adolph Schroeder (1805-1875) 
 produced his Sorrowing Tanners, as an anti- 
 dote. 
 
 Peter Masenclever (1810-1853) found in 
 Kortiim's satirical epopee "Jobsiade" a 
 source for his most popular productions, of 
 which his painting in the Munich Pinako- 
 thek. Job's Examination, is probably the 
 most widely-known. 
 
 Rudolph Jordan (1810-1887) bases his 
 reputation as one of the most popular Diis- 
 seldorf artists on such paintings as his Mar- 
 riage in Helgoland; and the Norwegian 
 Adolph Tidemand (1814- 1876) painted 
 peasant pictures from his native land. His 
 art steers clear of the humorous and the 
 sentimental, then so prevalent in Diissel- 
 dorf, contenting itself with the plain repre- 
 sentation of native customs. Such pictures 
 as his Adorning the Bride first made Ger- 
 many acquainted with the picturesque 
 wealth of Norwegian costumes. 
 
 Whatever view we may take of the Diis- 
 seldorf art of this period, we cannot help 
 acknowledging that these German Roman- 
 ticists seriously tried to re-establish the art of 
 painting in oil colors, and, as a result of their 
 earnest and conscientious studies, they easily 
 outranked all other schools in Germany as 
 painters. Their popularity had grown 
 world-wide and their influence soon made 
 itself felt throughout Europe and in Amer- 
 ica as well. 
 
 But Diisseldorf, the home of Romanticism, 
 was destined to produce the one artist whose 
 claim to being the greatest German monu- 
 mental painter of the nineteenth century 
 cannot be successfully disputed, Alfred 
 Rethel (1816-1859). In the Kaisersaal at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle there is a series of frescoes, 
 illustrating the historj' of the great Emperor 
 Charlemagne, which were designed, but
 
 598 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 FAIRY TALE OF THE SEVEN RAVENS. SCHWIND. 
 
 only partly executed by Rethel. There is 
 a certain vigor and harshness in his work, 
 which, in a measure, suggests the rugged 
 strength of Diirer, without being directly 
 imitative of the great master. One feels 
 as though they might both have been born 
 of the same stock, and this becomes still 
 more apparent in Rethel's designs for wood- 
 cuts, notably in the series which he pub- 
 lished under the title Auch ein Todtentanz 
 (Another Dance of Death), in which he 
 depicts Death both as the enemy and as the 
 friend of man. The latter conception is 
 especially noteworthy; high above the habi- 
 tations of the throng dwells the bell-ringer 
 in his solitary chamber in the church-stee- 
 ple ; he has become old and feeble after a 
 long and weary life, the closing years of 
 which were spent in the monotonous duty 
 of tolling the church bells. Death has come 
 to relieve him — quietly and peacefully, his 
 hands gently folded in prayer, he has gone 
 to rest in the old arm-chair, while his deliv- 
 erer, the ghastly skeleton enveloped in 
 the folds of a cowl, has assumed for 
 the nonce his office of notifying the com- 
 munity that another soul has passed into 
 eternity. Rethel was only 24 when he 
 designed the frescoes for the Kaisersaal. 
 
 What he might have accomplished, had a 
 long life been his, can only be surmised; 
 but there can be no doubt that his concep- 
 tion of monumental and hi,storical painting 
 was immeasurably superior to that of Cor- 
 nelius and his following, being clear and 
 comprehensible without any learned expla- 
 nation, and based on a close and conscien- 
 tious study of nature. Had he lived, it is 
 more than likely that he would have led 
 monumental art in Germany to a glorious 
 triumph. He fell a victim to insanity, and 
 spent the last few years of his young life in 
 an asylum. Schadow in Diisseldorf and 
 Veit in Frankfort had been his teachers, but 
 his strong individuality was not perceptibly 
 influenced by either. 
 
 M 
 
 ORITZ VON SCHWIND. (9) 
 
 While Diisseldorf had thus 
 threatened to "steal the thun- 
 der" of Cornelius at Munich, the 
 
 latter place gave to the world the last and 
 
 fairest flower of Romanticism in 
 
 Moritz V. Schwind (1804-1871). To know 
 
 Schwind is to love him; and so much is he 
 
 loved in his own country, that little of his
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 599 
 
 work, except through reproductions, is 
 known outside of Germany. At the Paris 
 Exposition of 1867 the work of Schwind 
 aroused the interest and genuine admiration 
 of the Frenchmen, though in its spirit and 
 in its execution it was alike alien \.o their 
 feeling. But they recognized that here was 
 the work of one who was an artist to the 
 core; one who had been born in the realm 
 of Romanticism and became its chosen inter- 
 preter for all times and climes; one to whom 
 his world of phantasy was a living reality, 
 which he could, by the magic of his touch, 
 render credible and visible to others. 
 
 Schwind's birthplace was Vienna; and the 
 ga)% cheerful city seems reflected in his 
 honest, jovial nature, whose art was ever 
 true to his inmost feeling, always pure and 
 noble as the man himself. Called to 
 Munich in 1828 to assist in carrying out the 
 plans of Ludwig I. of decorating the new 
 buildings, he does not appear to best advan- 
 tage. Indeed, it is not the "historical 
 painter" one thinks of when Schwind's 
 name is mentioned; and of all his frescoes 
 those at the "Wartburg" alone appeal 
 strongly to our sympathy, for in the legend 
 of "St. Elizabeth" he stands firmly rooted 
 in the soil of Romanticism. It is as the 
 interpreter of the German fairy tale, how- 
 ever, that his art finds a ready echo in every 
 sensitive soul. 
 
 The world of poetry is here made one of 
 beautiful reality, for who would dare dispute 
 the existence of the characters in "Der ges- 
 tiefelte Kater, " for instance? And the 
 "Story of the Seven Ravens"; is it not all 
 true, this charming story of the faithful sis- 
 ter? Briefly told it runs thus: A poor wid- 
 owed woman has seven boys and one 
 daughter; the former seem insatiable in 
 their appetite and are always crying for 
 more, when in a fit of anger the poor help- 
 less mother cries out: "I wish you were all 
 ravens ! ' ' No sooner have the words escaped 
 her lips, than the boys are all turned into 
 ravens, and fly out of the window, while the 
 mother sinks lifeless to the floor. The sister 
 follows her brothers into the woods; and, 
 when she falls exhausted to the ground, a 
 fairy appears to her and tells her that she 
 can reclaim her brothers by remaining 
 
 speechless for seven years and at the same 
 time weaving a garment for each of them. 
 This part of the story is indicated in six 
 panels on the walls of a room in which the 
 artist's family is gathered to listen to it as 
 recited by the good grandmother. The 
 story is then continued in a series of four- 
 teen designs, set as wall decorations in an 
 architectural frame-work of Romanesque 
 style. The second design takes us to the 
 interior of a forest, where, in the hollow of 
 an old oak-tree, the sister has made her 
 home and is busily spinning yarn for her 
 brothers' garments. A prince, hunting in 
 the forest, discovers her and, enchanted by 
 her loveliness, decides to carry her home to 
 his castle and make her his bride. Though 
 following him, she is true to her pledge and 
 refuses to utter a word. Then follow other 
 designs presenting the following incidents: 
 preparation for the wedding; the princess 
 as benefactress of the poor; her nightly 
 occupation of spinning, to finish the seventh 
 garment; she gives birth to twins, which, 
 to the horror and amazement of all present, 
 fly off as young ravens, while the poor 
 mother is admonished by the fairy to remain 
 silent; the princess is tried before the secret 
 court of justice and found guilty of witch- 
 ery; she is bound in prison by the rough 
 hands of the jailors; the fairj' once more 
 appears to her, with an hour-glass in her 
 hand to show that the hour of deliverance 
 is near; crowds of poor people, to whom the 
 princess had been a benefactress, block the 
 door of the prison, thus delaying the threat- 
 ened execution ; at last she is bound to the 
 stake, when lo! the seven brothers come 
 rushing along on white steeds, while the 
 fairy holds the twins in her arms; only one 
 brother is not entirely transformed, one arm 
 remaining in the shape of a wing — the com- 
 pletion of his shirt having been prevented 
 by the faithful sister's imprisonment. As 
 in the grand finale of an opera, all the char- 
 acters of the play are here imited in a joyous 
 scene of triumphant love and faith. 
 
 A musical simile is easily suggested 
 by his compositions Cinderella, the Story 
 of the Beautiful Melusine, and kindred 
 subjects. Indeed, Schwind's designs are 
 ever unmistakably musical in feeling. And
 
 6oo 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 this sweet singer of Romanticism, how 
 charmingly realistic he could be! There is 
 a painting in the Schack-Gallery at Munich, 
 The Wedding Trip, in which he records 
 with simple truthfulness an episode from his 
 own life in a manner which at once brings 
 to mind Si:)itzweg, though it is not painted 
 as well. Another little picture, Horses Led 
 to the Well by a Hermit, shows Schwind's 
 spiritual kinship to Bocklin, though the 
 charm of the latter's coloring is utterly 
 wanting. Though he lived to see the tri- 
 
 wlijdim: n;u'. .sciiui.\D. 
 
 umphant progress of the realistic school, 
 Schwind's art remained untouched by the 
 new doctrine of color. If, in spite of this, 
 we can to this day honestly admire the work 
 of Schwind, it is on account of its inherent 
 beauty of form and poetic purity and rich- 
 ness. He once said: "Beauty is the most 
 indispensable thing on earth, for all else can- 
 not completely satisfy one. When his last 
 hour was approaching, with his face turned 
 to the setting sun, he exclaimed: "Now I 
 
 feel well, this is beautiful !" And the last 
 
 and greatest Romanticist had passed away. 
 
 T 
 
 HE GENRE PAINTERS; 
 WIG KNAUS.{io) 
 
 LUD- 
 
 A number of causes combined to 
 lead artists into other fields of 
 observation. Peasants do not only smile; 
 they have their sorrows and griefs, and, in- 
 deed, take life far more seriously than artists 
 were wont to make believe, as they could 
 not help learning through frequent inter- 
 course with them. Besides, all mankind was 
 at this time deeply stirred by the social and 
 political questions of the day, which had 
 brought the working classes as a mighty 
 factor into action, and culminated in the 
 revolution of 1848, The social distress pre- 
 vailing in some of the manufacturing dis- 
 tricts was made the theme of stirring 
 appeals in prose and verse, and it was but 
 natural that the seriousness of the age should 
 be reflected in its art. The peasantry con- 
 tinued to furnish the most paintable models; 
 but no longer to the exclusion of other 
 classes; and the subjects selected partook 
 more of the pathetic than the humorous, 
 illustrating with more or less force and 
 truth incidents of striking moment in the 
 life of the people. A very direct influence 
 upon German art of this period was exerted 
 by the Englishman, David Wilkie, whose 
 works had become known on the continent 
 and whose picture, Opening of the Will, in 
 the Pinakothek at Munich served as a model 
 for many artists. 
 
 Gisbert Fliiggen (i8n - i860), proudly 
 called the "German Wilkie," took the lead 
 among artists as a painter of pictures "with 
 a social purpose." In his canvas called 
 The Decision of the Law-Suit, everything is 
 very carefully composed in the (then) most 
 approved fashion; the pathetic, the humor- 
 ous, the sentimental, have all been judici- 
 ously considered and rendered in a loving 
 and conscientious manner; and people 
 bowed in admiration before the genius of 
 Fliiggen. We see the closing scene in a 
 crowded court-room of a trial at law between 
 a noble family and some obscure contestant, 
 the final verdict having been rendered in 
 favor of the latter. The defeated nobleman 
 with the haughty and disgusted members of 
 his family are retiring in hot haste from the
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 60 1 
 
 scene of their humiliation, their attorney 
 evidently trying to explain that he did all 
 he could, which only seems to vex his client 
 the mi)re. To the right are grouped the 
 members of the victorious family, the aged 
 head of the household being conspicuously 
 seated in a chair, surrounded by his happy 
 friends, among whom the village parson by 
 an expressive gesture indicates the true and 
 unfailing source of all justice, while a female 
 member offers the young attorney a reward 
 which he nobly declines to accept. On a 
 raised platform in the rear the members of 
 the august tribunal, before whom the case 
 was tried, are preparing to leave, the clerks 
 still busy over the records. 
 
 Another Diisseldorf artist who shared the 
 honors with him was Carl Hiibner (1814- 
 1879). The pitiful social distress of the 
 working-classes found in him a most sym- 
 pathetic interpreter. His paintings of The 
 Silesian Weavers, The Emigrants, The 
 Execution for Rent, and Benevolence to the 
 Poor are most affecting appeals on behalf of 
 the downtrodden, overladen bearers of this 
 life's burdens. 
 
 While art was thus mightily affected by 
 the conditions of contemporary life, it was, 
 from the fact of claiming for itself a mission 
 outside of its province, seriously retarded in 
 its development. The painters still con- 
 tinued to cherish the notion that above all 
 their pictures must lend forcible expression 
 to some idea, must be the means of convey- 
 ing some lesson, of telling some story. 
 Only the character of the story had changed 
 from the humorous to the pathetic; but the 
 artistic value of their performances had not 
 perceptibly increased, the}' had not yet 
 really learned to paint. While sharing this 
 failing (though in a smaller measure) with 
 the followers of Cornelius, they have, at 
 least, this advantage, that they were in 
 closer touch with the life of their time. 
 While the historical painters tried, in a more 
 or less learned way, to impart the knowledge 
 of history, the genre painters posed as pub- 
 lic entertainers, one as a clever humorist, 
 another inclining towards the sentimental, 
 another in the role of a moralist, and so on; 
 " — but they were not painters. And 
 painters under these conditions they were 
 
 unable to become. For though it is often 
 urged in older books on the history of art 
 that modern genre painting far outstripped 
 the old Dutch genre in incisiveness of char- 
 acterization, depth of psychological concep- 
 tion, and opulence of invention ; these 
 merits are bought at the expense of all pic- 
 torial harmony. In the days of Rembrandt 
 the Dutch were painters to their fingers' 
 ends, and they were able to be so because 
 they appealed to a public whose taste was 
 adequately trained to gain a refined pleasure 
 in the contemplation of works of art which 
 had sterling merits of color. 
 
 " The principal difference be- 
 tween them is this: a. /^tiiiiWr sees his pic- 
 ture rather than what may be extracted 
 from it by thought; the gcnrc-paintcr on 
 the other hand, has an idea in his mind, an 
 'invention,' and plans out a picture for its 
 expression. The painter does not trouble 
 his head about the subject and the narrative 
 contents; his poetry lies in the kingdom of 
 color." — Dr. Richard Mut/icr, "History of 
 Paint iug in the XIX Century." 
 
 While no painter of that period is on rec- 
 ord as entirely in sympathy with these 
 views, it is, nevertheless, a fact, that the 
 acquirement of a better knowledge of color 
 was gradually becoming a more and more 
 important aim among genre painters. Un- 
 questionably, landscape painting and the 
 more thorough knowledge of the old Dutch 
 masters were leading in this direction. 
 There soon appeared a man whose works 
 were so immeasurably superior to those of 
 his fellow artists, that he marks an epoch in 
 the development of modern art, Ludwig 
 Knaus (born October 5, 1829). That pos- 
 terity will not accord to the famous genre 
 painters of the middle of the century the 
 great importance attached to them by those 
 who were witnesses of their early struggles 
 and final successes, who saw in their advent 
 the prayed-for deliverance from the unbear- 
 able yoke of insipidity which oppressed the 
 Romantic school, may be accepted as inevit- 
 able. What they were to their age, how- 
 ever, should not be forgotten, in spite of all 
 their shortcomings as painters which the 
 historian is bound to consider. Their in- 
 disputable merits as pathfinders, the
 
 6o2 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 healthy, robust realism of their art com- 
 pared with that of their immediate forerun- 
 ners, give to them an importance which it 
 would be folly to belittle. It is to their 
 sincerity that we owe the advancement of 
 the century's art in as great a measure as 
 to the teachings of Piloty, with whom real- 
 ism begins its mighty reign. The genre- 
 painters stood nearer to the life of the 
 people, felt its pulse more keenly. If, 
 with all their advance as painters, they 
 still remained chiefly narrators, it is 
 because that was, the world over, still 
 considered the artist's province. They 
 added no new principle to art, it is true. 
 
 GOLDEN WEDDING. KNAUS, 
 
 but brought the older to greater perfection. 
 Their knowledge of their subject was more 
 profound, their power of observation keener, 
 their technical ability far superior to that of 
 their predecessors. 
 
 Knaus was among the very first to rec- 
 ognize the undeniable importance of these 
 requirements. At the Dusseldorf Academy 
 he had studied under Carl Sohn in the draw- 
 ing and painting classes, and was thereupon 
 admitted to the composition class, under 
 Schadow, the director, who showed no sym- 
 pathy with the naturalistic and characteriz- 
 ing tendencies of the young man; and when 
 Knaus petitioned for an appropriation from 
 
 the fund established for the payment of 
 models, he was informed that such assist- 
 ance was only accorded "talented pupils." 
 Thereupon he left the school. The year 
 1848 found him one of a lot of shiftless and 
 thriftless young art-students, when it oc- 
 curred to him to retire to the country and 
 paint studies there. Returning to Diissel- 
 dorf he began to utilize his studies, painting 
 a number of pictures, chief among which 
 was a large canvas, The Country Fair in 
 Hessia, which at once placed him in the 
 front rank of the Dusseldorf genre painters. 
 Going to the Black Forest he found material 
 for a number of paintings. The Gamblers 
 being one of the most 
 striking of his com- 
 positions. In 1852 he 
 was seized by a de- 
 sire to "see the 
 world," and decided 
 on a trip to Paris, 
 intending to spend 
 about three weeks 
 there. He remained 
 eight years. There 
 he painted a picture, 
 The Morning after a 
 Rural Festival, and 
 sent it to the Salon 
 of 1853, where it was 
 awarded a second 
 class medal. His 
 Golden Wedding 
 painted in 1858, and 
 perhaps his finest pic- 
 ture, stood on a tech- 
 nical lead with the works of the French. 
 Edmond About, the famous French writer, 
 speaks thus of Knaus, in 1855: "I do not 
 know whether Herr Knaus has long 
 nails; but even if they were as long as those 
 of Mephistopheles, I should say that he was 
 an artist to his fingers' ends. His pictures 
 please the Sunday public (on Sunday, being 
 a free day, the Salon is crowded by the 
 people, shopkeepers, workingmen, etc.), the 
 Friday public (Fridays, an increased admis- 
 sion fee is charged), the critics, the bour- 
 geois, and — God forgive me ! — the painters 
 What is seductive to the great multitude is 
 the clearly expressed dramatic idea. The
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 603 
 
 artists and connoisseurs are won by his 
 knowledge and thorough ability. Herr 
 Knaus has the capacity of satisfying every- 
 one. The most incompetent eyes are at- 
 tracted by his pictures, because they tell 
 pleasant anecdotes, but they likewise fasci- 
 nate the most jaded by perfect execution of 
 detail. The whole talent of Germany is 
 contained in the person of Herr Knaus. 
 So Germany lives in the Rue de I'Arcade, 
 in Paris." 
 
 It is not only because of the dictates of 
 fashion that Knaus does not rank as a "col- 
 orist" to-day, even not more than any of his 
 immediate followers, who, in this respect, 
 did not quite attain to his standard. For the 
 end of the century finally witnessed that new 
 birth of painting, brought that revelation 
 of color in the outward appearance of things 
 which had for long been so eagerly sought, 
 and without the knowledge of which tlie art 
 of painting could not hope to regain its once 
 commanding position. It must not be over- 
 looked that the period we are considering — 
 a hundred years — will mark only one of 
 many centuries in the contemplations of 
 future critics, and that the achievements of 
 to-day will not be measured by the pride we 
 take in them now. The question will not 
 be: wliat has the art of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury learned from previous ages? but: what 
 has it added to the knowledge inherited? 
 And it was not until another generation 
 that any such addition was made. 
 
 Consequently, Knaus and his famous con- 
 temporaries, for all the genuine pleasure 
 they have brought into the world, will be 
 relegated to a far less conspicuous position 
 by the impartial judgment of Time than 
 our own warm love and gratefulness would 
 choose for them. Diirer and Holbein have 
 not yet found their peer among nineteenth 
 century artists, either in Germany or any 
 other country. It is claimed for Knaus, 
 not without good reason, that in certain 
 cases of characterization — for instance in 
 his Council of Hauenstein Peasants — he 
 attained to an eminence not unworthy of 
 Holbein; but Holbein is great not because 
 he attained to an eminence not unworthy of 
 some one else, but because he is Holbein; 
 while Knaus, Vautier and the most lovable 
 
 of the three, Defregger, hold our attention 
 by virtue mainly of their great narrative 
 powers, though as painters they have long 
 been surijassed by many, even by artists ot 
 far less talent. 
 
 Knat'S was not only a painter of peasants. 
 He brings to bear the same keen observation 
 on city life, and is a most charming narrator 
 of childhood's little griefs and pleasures. 
 In his very popular painting. As tlie Old Do 
 Sing Thus Pipe the Young, he has given 
 unmistakable proof of this. When, in 1874, 
 he took up his abode in Berlin, he found 
 most picturesque subjects among the Jews 
 and other city-types, which lend themselves 
 readily to his humorous conception. He 
 also ventures into the field of religious art; 
 though there is no evidence that this is done 
 from any deeply religious impulse, but 
 rather because the subject seems to suggest 
 to his feeling certain artistic possibilities 
 that he is inclined to express. This is 
 indeed — next to a growing demand — the 
 l^rime moving-power for the production of 
 the vast numbers of Madonnas of the pres- 
 ent day. 
 
 That one, whose power of characterization 
 is so eminent, should be employed as a por- 
 traitist, seems but natural. But, singularly 
 enough, it is here where he failed. Not 
 satisfied with expressing the character of 
 his sitter in the face and general bearing, 
 which he has so masterfully done in some of 
 his crayon-studies of peasants, he calls into 
 requisition a whole cumbersome apparatus 
 of accessories to help one guess at his sitter's 
 identity, or, at least, his calling. While 
 apologists for this sort of thing may point 
 to examples even like Holbein's George 
 Gisse, it is well to remember that such por- 
 traits are the exception and owe their origin 
 presumably rather to the notion of the 
 patron than to the artist's choice. 
 
 Measuring art by the standard of its time, 
 Knaus' position at the head of the long list 
 of painter-narrators is unassailable. His 
 influence and that of his great contem- 
 poraries is not confined to their native land, 
 but extends — for good and for evil — to all 
 other countries where the spirit of Roman- 
 ticism was, with more or less success, threat- 
 ening to stifle a healthy art sentiment.
 
 6o4 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 VAUTIERAND DEFREGGER. (i i) 
 Any review of the standing of 
 Knaiis immediately suggests the 
 name of 
 Benjamin Vautier (1829 Switzerland 
 — 1898). His pictures appeal even more 
 readily to the sympathies of the public than 
 those of Knaus. Vautier's familiarity with 
 the peasant-life which he portrays is more 
 genuine, his sympathy with his subject more 
 heartfelt. While Knaus seems rather fond 
 of an elaborate stage-setting, Vautier con- 
 tents himself with the unpretentious sur- 
 roundings in which he finds his peasants. 
 
 By courtesy of Bet tin Photo. Co. 
 
 MORNING BATH. V..\rTIER. 
 
 and of which they really form part and par- 
 cel. In Vautier the art of the genre painter 
 reaches a degree of amiability exceeded only 
 by Defregger, though as painters of the 
 period they both remain behind Knaus. 
 The position which Vautier holds in the 
 hearts of his countrymen is well stated in 
 the words of Dr. Muther: "There is some- 
 thing sound and pure in his characters, in 
 his pictures something peaceful and cordial ; 
 it does not, indeed, make his paltry, pedan- 
 tic style of painting any better, but from the 
 human standpoint it touches one sympa- 
 thetically. His countrymen may be ashamed 
 of Vautier as a painter when they come 
 across him amongst aliens in foreign exhibi- 
 
 tions, but they rejoipe in him none the less 
 as a genre painter. It is as if they had 
 been met by the quiet, faithful gaze of a 
 German eye amid the fiery glances of the 
 Latin nations. It is as if they suddenly 
 heard a simple German song, rendered with- 
 out training and yet with a great deal of 
 feeling. A generation ago Knaus could 
 exhibit everything as a painter; as such, 
 Vautier was possible only in Germany in 
 the sixties. But behind the figures of 
 Knaus there always stands the Berlin 
 professor; while in Vautier, there laughs 
 a kindly fragment of popular German 
 life." 
 
 Franz V. Defregger (born 1835), 
 is, of all the masters issuing from 
 Piloty's studio, the most popular, 
 the most thoroughly lovable. A 
 healthy, uncorrupted nature from 
 the mountain home, where, in 
 their freedom, the people cherish 
 no wild ambitions, but lead, for 
 the most part, a quietly happy 
 life that knows little and cares 
 less for the distant world's angry 
 strife and ceaseless struggles for 
 supremacy, Defregger remains 
 true to himself in his art. With 
 a keen perception of character 
 and fine psychological observa- 
 tion, he presents the life of his 
 ■* countrymen in all its cheerful 
 
 aspects with mcst convincing 
 truth, and a manner at once force- 
 ful and pleasing. His technique 
 is simple, his color oftentimes disagreeably 
 brown ; the glowing orange lights and pur- 
 plish shadows of the younger school re- 
 mained strange to his perception; but there 
 are certain small canvases of his that are 
 charmingly grey in tone, while a rich, 
 golden, by no means objectionable quality, 
 pervades such pictures as his Arrival at the 
 Dance. It is, however, not as a colorist, 
 that Defregger must be considered, for 
 such he never aspired to be. From his 
 teacher, no doubt, hails his greater admira- 
 tion for the old masters than for the younger 
 school's impetuous seeking after new truths, 
 though as a teacher he himself cheerfully 
 allows those of a different mind to follow
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 605 
 
 their own bent. Great masters have not 
 emanated from his school ; for, in Def regger, 
 the art of the genre painter has reached 
 that height from which there is only a de- 
 cline, and, if any of his pupils would surpass 
 their master, it can only be along another 
 path. 
 
 Owing more to outward influence than to 
 any irresistable inner compulsion, Defregger 
 is, at times, induced to leave the field of the 
 
 for him the widest popularitj* ; and with this 
 picture he had found his proper sphere. 
 That the national hero Andreas Hufer 
 should appeal to Uefregger's artistic imag- 
 ination and sympathies is but natural. The 
 results are not altogether satisfactory, per- 
 haps least of all to himself; certainly 
 Andreas Hofer's Last Steps was a mistake, 
 and painted rather as a concession to a sup- 
 posed demand than from any great inner 
 
 By permisiion of f. Han/staengL 
 
 ARRIVAL AT Till I'ANn DKFREGGKR. 
 
 genre painter and enter that of the histor- 
 ical painter; and his success in some 
 instances has been truly remarkable, as in 
 The Last Muster, and The Return of the 
 Victors, both scenes from the Tyrolese 
 struggles for liberty. It was indeed a his- 
 torical picture which first made him famous, 
 Speckbacher and his Son Anderl. This 
 was, however, soon followed by a genre pic- 
 ture, A Dance at the Aim, which secured 
 
 compulsion. At all events this is true in 
 relation to the dimensions of the picture, 
 the figures being life-size. 
 
 Being at heart a religious nature, it was 
 not surprising that he should also venture 
 into the field of religious painting, though he 
 did so with questionable success. His two 
 Madonna's do not add materially, if at all, 
 to his reputation ; and the best one can say 
 is, that they do not detract from it, for the
 
 6o6 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 pure, lovable nature of the artist is reflected 
 in these canvases as well as in his others. 
 Though Defregger's art is essentially of the 
 story-telling kind, it is free from the empty 
 pathos of the reigning historical school, and 
 free, also, from the cheap humor of the earlier 
 genre painters. When it is mirthful, it is so 
 with the joyousness of exuberant health, 
 that will never cease to find a ready echo in 
 the unsophisticated soul of the beholder, 
 whatever nationality or age be his. 
 
 REALISM.— ADOLPH MENZEL. 
 
 ■■■ "^ It v.'as in the year 1842 that the 
 paintings of two Belgian artists, 
 Edouard de Biefve and Louis Gallait, were 
 exhibited in the various German art centers, 
 and, b)- virtue of their iinwonted realism 
 and coloristic qualities created an immense 
 sensation. For some time artists had felt 
 restless under the sway of the sickly senti- 
 mentality of Dlisseklorf and the pretentious 
 painted erudition of Munich ; nor had they 
 found in the ranks, either of the painters 
 returning from Italy, like Riedel, or in those 
 from the Orient, a Moses tC) lead them out 
 of the desert. Now, at last, salvation 
 seemed to offer by way of Brussels and 
 Paris, and artists began to flock to these 
 two strongholds of the new art. 
 
 Neither Biefve's Treaty of the Nobles of 
 the Netherlands, nor Gallaifs Abdication 
 of Charles V. will to-day pass muster as true 
 realistic art; but, though only a reflection 
 of the stronger genius of Paul Delaroche, 
 they were sufficient to point out the road to 
 be traveled, and have, therefore, become of 
 incalculable value to the further develop- 
 ment of German art. 
 
 Among the first who were induced to seek 
 instruction at the fountain - head were 
 Anselm Feuerbach (1829-1880) and Victor 
 Miiller. The former was, by his nature and 
 education, rooted in Classicism. His father 
 was a noted scholar and author, whose pro- 
 found knowledge of ancient history could 
 not fail to impress the subtle and receptive 
 mind of his son with the beauty of Greek 
 art. But Feuerbach's genius could not be 
 
 satisfied with form alone ; color was equally 
 indispensable for the full expression of his 
 refined perception. He first sought instruc- 
 tion in art at Diisseldorf ; but nothing could 
 be more foreign to his feeling than the 
 sentimentality of the Romanticists or the 
 empty prattle of the anecdote painters. He 
 left Diisseldorf unsatisfied, and went to one 
 school after another in German)', and then to 
 Antwerp, without finding what he desired. 
 In Paris he was irresistably attracted by 
 Couture, whose Romans of the Decadence 
 made him the most famous painter of his 
 time. Here he learned that broad and free 
 handling of the brush, so utterly at variance 
 with the art of the rest of the world. 
 When, some years later, he was commis- 
 sioned to make a copy of Titian's Assump- 
 tion of the Virgin, he began the study of 
 the old Venetian masters, which was to be 
 of such incalculable value to his later art. 
 The picture, Hafiz at the Well, which he 
 painted when at Paris, commanded instant 
 attention; but the full charm of his warm 
 golden tone is not felt until, in 1857, he 
 painted Dante in the Company of Noble 
 Ladies of Ravenna, and Dante's Death, 
 painted in the following year. Among the 
 famous pictures of the Schack Gallery at 
 Munich, Feuerbach's Pieta is one of the 
 most notable. Nothing can be inore im- 
 pressive than the quiet dignity of Mary's 
 grief, as she is bending over the lifeless 
 body of the Savior, and the three women 
 kneeling by her side in silent prayer. 
 
 It has been said in disparagement of Feu- 
 erbach's art, that his figures are motionless 
 that they neither laugh nor cry, and display 
 no passion. That is true; but it is wrong to 
 blame an artist for the absence of qualities 
 which he studiously avoids and refuse him 
 recognition for qualities in which he excels. 
 The chief characteristics of Feuerbach's 
 paintings are a quiet simplicity, a noble 
 grandeur of line and form, and, in his best 
 works, the charm of color. In his later 
 paintings his color is oftentimes somewhat 
 too cool and grey, probably the natural 
 outcome of the losing fight of his all too- 
 sensitive, nervous nature against prejudice 
 and folly, that withheld the recognition 
 which he claimed, and justly claimed, for
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 607 
 
 his endeavors. It was not until 1873 that he 
 was called to the Academ)' at Vienna; but 
 here, where Makart was the ruling spirit. 
 Feuerbach was bound to feel out of place; 
 his art was entirely too somber for the 
 atmosphere of the gaj* Austrian capital, and 
 when his design for the Fall of the Titans 
 met with scathing criticism, he fled to 
 Venice, where he remained until his all too 
 early death. 
 
 Feuerbach's strength and weakness lay in 
 his indomitable belief in himself. In this 
 respect he is comparable to Richard Wag- 
 ner, who had the advantage of being allowed 
 to witness the triumph of his art, while 
 Feuerbach's recognition came after his 
 death. "What he aspired to become, and 
 what he believed himself to be, we learn 
 from his book, "A Legacy." However 
 much or little of what lie there has to say 
 we may endorse, his position in the art of 
 the nineteenth century will rest secure on 
 such works as his Symposium of Plato, 
 which, though undoubtedly inspired by 
 Couture's Romans of the Decadence, is 
 superior in sentiment and far nobler in con- 
 ception ; on his Pieta, his Iphigenia, and his 
 Medea, besides the works already men- 
 tioned. (See cut, p. 579.) An artist of the 
 people he never was, and never aspired to 
 be ; his was an aristocratic nature, born, as 
 he himself, asserts, "for the palace, and not 
 for the hut." 
 
 Victor Miiller (1 829-1871), joined Cou- 
 ture's class in 1849, after he had vainly 
 sought instruction at the Stiidel'sche Insti- 
 tut," in his native city, Frankfort, and at 
 Antwerp, under Wappers, where so many 
 Germans were studying at the time, who all, 
 subsequently, left for Paris. When Miiller 
 became disgusted with Antwerp he burned 
 every study he had made there before going 
 to Paris. Here he felt somewhat lost at 
 first. Going to work in Couture's studio, 
 he nevertheless finds more inspiration in the 
 works of Delacroix and learns to admire 
 Courbet. After nine years in Paris he re- 
 turned to Frankfort, where he painted, 
 among other pictures, a Hero and Leander a 
 Wood-Nymph, and a scene from Vii.tor 
 Hugo's "Les Miserables" ; but he found 
 little or no appreciation. The strength and 
 
 vigor of his work, its deep, rich glow of 
 color, were so utterly at variance with what 
 was characteristic of the German art of the 
 perird, that artists and public alike stood 
 helpless before his canvases; they could net 
 be refused by any jury, for they were not 
 bad; but they were hung in dark and 
 obscure corners. In 1865 he left Frankfcrt 
 and took up his abode in Munich, where he 
 met Kaulbach, Piloty, Schwind and Baron 
 Schack, and in a short time "finds more 
 appreciation than he had enjoyed in all his 
 
 HAMI.Kl. Ml'LLER. 
 
 lite before," as he states in one of his let- 
 ters. He then entered on tlie most fruitful 
 period of his career. Among the notable 
 canvases, he produced Faust's Walk on 
 Eiaster-Morn, remarkable for the successful 
 treatment of the evening effect and the 
 happy combination of landscape and figures. 
 Soon afterward he was requested to con- 
 tribute illustrations of Shakespear's works 
 for a publication similar m character to the 
 "Goethe-Gallery" of Kaulbach 's. Declar- 
 ing it impossible to illustrate Shakespeare
 
 6o8 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 in the same manner, he proceeded to make 
 designs for paintings, three of which he was 
 able to complete — the rest remaining as 
 sketches. Hamlet and the Gravedigger was 
 the first canvas, to be followed by Ophelia, 
 and finally by the strongest of his coloristic 
 achievements, Romeo and Juliet, a picture 
 fairly aglow with passion. Miiller had only 
 fairly entered on his most promising career, 
 when heart disease ended his life. 
 
 Of the other German pupils of Couture 
 Rudolph Henneberg (1826-1876), of Berlin, 
 achieved deserved renown. The most im- 
 portant of his pictures are The Race After 
 Fortune, The Wild Hunt, The Criminal 
 through Lost Honor. 
 
 Julius Schrader (1815-1900), Otto Knille 
 (1832-1898), Gustav Richter (1823-1884), 
 are prominent among this group of artists 
 who returned from Paris, well equipped in 
 technical acquirements, and ready to assist 
 in the propagation of the new doctrine of 
 realistic painting. Schrader is a historical 
 painter of no mean abilit)', and such pic- 
 tures as his Death of Leonardo da Vinci, 
 The Dying Milton, and Cromwell at White- 
 hall, belong to the better of their class. 
 Knille, though ambitious, is exceedingly 
 correct but uninteresting in his many large 
 mural paintings, while Gustav Richter 
 became a favorite painter of feminine 
 beauty and will be long remembered as the 
 creator of the ideal portrait of Queen 
 Louise, for which the baroness Ziegler was 
 the model. His best works are probably 
 the portraits of his wife and children, while 
 the ambitious large canvases, like his Build- 
 ing of the Pyramids, though praised as color- 
 istic achievements in their time, are rather 
 empty and theatrical in arrangement. But 
 then, to be a really important painter of this 
 period, it was necessary to be a historical 
 painter. The French and Belgians had led 
 the way, and in Germany the scientific study 
 of history had entered on its most fruitful 
 career. As early as 1834 Schuaase had 
 described historical painting as "the most 
 pressing demand of the age," and other 
 writers expressed similar sentiments. Les- 
 sing, who had already won fame as Ger- 
 many's great landscapist, was induced, 
 through the perusal of Menzel's "History 
 
 of the Germans," to glorify the career of 
 Huss in a painting as early as 1836. 
 
 One of the most remarkable painters of 
 Germany — indeed one of the unique and 
 striking individualities in nineteenth cen- 
 tury art, is 
 
 Adolph Menzel, who was born, 18 15, at 
 Breslau. The son of a lithographer, he 
 went to Berlin with his father, and worked 
 in this profession. From the beginning he 
 was a close observer of nature, and nature 
 remained his teacher almost exclusively 
 throughout his long and fruitful life. He 
 did not turn to oil painting until compar- 
 atively late, occupying himself for many 
 years almost exclusively with drawing, 
 either on stone or on wood. Notable among 
 his early lithographs are a number of illus- 
 trations of the history of Brandenburg and 
 his Artist's Earthly Pilgrimage. The illus- 
 trations of the history of Frederick the 
 Great, and, later, those of the works of this 
 great monarch, secure fcr Menzel an impor- 
 tant place among the greatest illustrators of 
 all ages. While Cornelius and Kaulbach on 
 the one hand, and the Diisseldorf Roman- 
 ticists on the other, were commanding the 
 attention of the art world, Menzel was reso. 
 lutely treading his own path, a keen observer 
 of life around him, a realist who recognized 
 no law or principle that did not derive its 
 mandate from nature. And so it happens 
 that his drawings of the age of Frederick 
 the Great present such vivid pictures, ap- 
 pear so true and convincing, as though the 
 artist had been an eye-witness of the scenes 
 he portrayed. His preparatory studies are 
 marvels of exactness and completeness, 
 while the finished work shows a breadth and 
 freedom of handling at first sight quite 
 contradictory of, but in truth, only possible 
 through such careful preparation. When 
 he began to paint, his interest in the great 
 king was still uppermost in his mind, and 
 he produced a number of canvases, among 
 which The Round Table at Sans-Souci, 
 Flute Concert at the Court, King Frederick 
 on His Travels, and the Battle at Hoch- 
 kirch, are the most important. 
 
 But with the accession of William L to 
 the throne of Prussia in 1861 a new spirit 
 began to reign. Menzel's art also soon
 
 ■^ 
 
 *
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 609 
 
 turned into a new channel. Commisioned 
 to paint the coronation of the King at 
 Konigsberg, he produced a picture of re- 
 markable force and realism. And with this 
 he may be said to have left the field of his- 
 torical painting, the two smaller canvases. 
 King William Leaving Berlin, 1870, to Join 
 the Army at the Front, and the Cercle, 
 showing Emperor William in a social func- 
 tion, being the exceptions. At the Paris 
 Fair in 1867 he became acquainted with 
 Meissonier, whose portrait he painted, and 
 with Alfred Stevens. He discovered no end 
 of material in the life around him which ap- 
 pealed to his artistic sense, and painted a 
 number of scenes in the streets and parks 
 of Paris. During his frequent trips to the 
 southern parts of Germany he became 
 acquainted with the picturesque life of the 
 Bavarian highland villages, which served 
 him for numerous drawings and paintings. 
 Quaint old church interiors, especially those 
 of the Rococo period, with their rich and 
 fantastic gilt ornamentation, had a great 
 attraction for him. The busy, variegated 
 life of an Italian market-place (Piazzo de' 
 Erbe, Verona), of the famous watering 
 places, parks, etc., fashionable salons (The 
 Ball Supper), and the sooty, grimy interior 
 of a highland smithy — all are made to serve 
 his purpose and display their picturesque 
 qualities under the marvelous touch of his 
 never-resting hands. The masterpiece of 
 the painting- of toiling humanity is unques- 
 tionably Menzel's Rolling Mill, which was 
 finished in 1S75, after three years of carefii] 
 preparation and study. (See cut, p. 578.) 
 
 There is scarcely a scene of human 
 activity, scarcely a vocation, that Menzel 
 has not included in his sphere of observation 
 and rendered with inimitable skill, either 
 as painter, draughtsman or etcher. And all 
 this he does without ever betraying any 
 foreign influence, either of old or modern 
 masters. He was a staunch realist before 
 the French and Belgians had become known 
 in Germany through the works of Biefve 
 and Gallait, which were destined to revolu- 
 tionize German art under the direction of 
 Piloty. That Menzel should have remained 
 without any great influence upon the mod- 
 ern painting of Germany, in spite of his 
 
 strong individuality, so typical of what art 
 was to become, seems almostly incredible. 
 But it is certainly true that he did not 
 "found a school." Almost from the be- 
 ginning he was ahead of his time, with no 
 one seriously attempting to follow him ; but 
 when artists really began to comprehend 
 him, they also began to discover paths 
 parallel to his, affording even a broader 
 vision than his own. Thus it will be seen 
 that it was possible for painting to advance 
 at the end of the century to a commanding 
 position without Menzel's direct influence, 
 though it would be false to say that he had 
 none at all. His remarkable power of char- 
 acterization goes far beyond that of Knaus; 
 his quick eye caught the movements of man 
 and animals with the unerring certainty of 
 the photographic camera; in composition he 
 discards the conventional academical rules 
 and follows his own natural feeling, just as 
 in choice of saibjects he is guided solely by 
 his eye for the picturesque and character- 
 istic — all of which are qualities that consti- 
 tute important acquirements of modern art 
 and which he had made his own in advance 
 of the later i;eneration. Without denying 
 that his influence was neither forceful nor 
 direct, its presence as a strong undercurrent 
 in the advance movement is certainly 
 clearly discernible, and Menzel's position as 
 a pathfinder rests on indisputable evidence. 
 
 H 
 
 ISTORICAL PAINTING: 
 PILOTY, MAKART, MAX. (13) 
 
 But the palmy days of history- 
 painting begin with Carl v. 
 Piloty (1826-1886). The son of a famous 
 lithographer in Munich he received his early 
 training in art in his father^s establishment, 
 where he made numerous drawings, after 
 the works of the old masters, on stone for 
 reproduction. After studying at the Acad- 
 emy for a while, he proceeded to Antwerp, 
 and in 1852 to Paris, where he entered the 
 studio of Paul Delaroche. Here he learned 
 to master the technical requirements cf 
 painting, and found the best opportunity for 
 developing his natural feeling for color. 
 Through his painting, Seni at the Corpse of
 
 6 lo 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 Wallenstein, he secured for himself at once 
 the distinction of being considered the best 
 painter of Germany. The picture marks 
 an era in German art. What the works of 
 Biefve and Gallait had promised, here 
 seemed to be accomplished. Nothing so 
 near to perfection in the rendering of the 
 very texture of flesh, drapery, metal and 
 wood, or the startling truth of the effect of 
 the cold morning light entering the death 
 chamber had ever been seen in Germany. 
 Here then, was the German "Sophocles of 
 Painting," whom the artists' colony at Ant- 
 werp had been looking for, as Victor Mliller 
 had put it. 
 
 Piloty was made professor of historical 
 painting at Munich, and pupils soon began 
 flocking to his studio from far and near. 
 He proved himself an admirable, a great 
 teacher. Not only did he succeed in teach- 
 ing his pupils how to paint, bat he was care, 
 ful to develop their various talents along 
 independent lines. Nothing could be more 
 unlike than the art of Makart and Max, for 
 
 instance, and yet they both owe their train- 
 ing in technical skill to the same master. 
 Pilotv became the ruling spirit in Munich, 
 in Germany; from a school of cartoon-draw- 
 ing under Cornelius and Kaulbach, Munich 
 became the leading school of painting, and 
 Diisseldorf fell back to the rear. That 
 Piloty saw himself outdistanced by more 
 than one of his own pupils in his lifetime, is 
 nothing to his discredit; on the contrary, it 
 proves his singular greatness as a teacher. 
 If to-day we cannot consider his art as great 
 painting, it was, nevertheless, great in its 
 day, marking an advance and laying a foun- 
 dation, solid and broad, upon which it 
 became possible to build further. As a 
 painter pure and simple he does not rank 
 with Feuerbach or Victor Miiller, neither of 
 whom can boast of his far-reaching influ- 
 ence. As a reformer he was a practical 
 genius who brought his doctrine home to 
 people. If he did not expand in his own 
 art, that is probably what few great teachers 
 do. Fully conscious of his powers, he was 
 
 jiy f>Ci mission of Franz Han/staengL 
 
 THUSNELDA I.V THi; TRIUMPHAl, PROCRSSION OF GERMANICI'S. PILOTV.
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 6n 
 
 indeed also aware of liis limitations, and 
 was never quite satisfied with his own work. 
 At the same time he was justly proud of his 
 pupils' superior abilities and knew no 
 envy. 
 
 Piloty treated a variety of subjects, nearly 
 all taken from history. Wallenstein was a 
 favorite theme. But it was not only (Ger- 
 man history which furnished the subjects for 
 his pictures; the French Revolution, Henry 
 VIII. of England, Venice, Columbus, 
 Rome and the Bilile, were likewise resorted 
 to. His last picture, finished after his 
 death, by his brother Ferdinand, repre- 
 sented The Deatli of Alexander the Great, 
 and shows unmistakable traces of the artist's 
 failing powers. His most ambitious picture, 
 painted at the height of his fame is Thus- 
 nelda in tiie Triumphal Procession of Ger- 
 manicus. Soon after the completion of 
 this, he received a commission to paint a 
 large decorative picture for the new city- 
 hall at ^lunieh. The center of the canvas 
 is occupied by the allegorical figure of Mon- 
 achia, while to the right' and left are grouped 
 the men and women of Munich who had at 
 one time or another distinguished them- 
 selves in the city's history. The picture 
 was painted largely with the assistmce of 
 his pupils, some of whom were very close 
 followers of his technical methods, notably 
 the Hungarian Benczur, who, in his ear- 
 lier works especially, resembled Piloty's 
 manner of painting most strikingly. But 
 Piloty's fame as a teacher does not rest 
 on the works of his close imitators. His 
 four greatest pupils: Makart, Lenbach, 
 Defregger, Max, are all unlike each other, 
 and unlike their master in nearly every 
 respect. 
 
 The most brilliant, as it was also the most 
 short-lived career, was that of the Austrian 
 Hans Makart (1840-1884). Makart was a 
 colorist. It is not likely that posterity will 
 accord him any commanding position as 
 such, for posterity will have little else than 
 hearsay evidence from which to form a con- 
 clusion, since that qualit)' of Makart's paint- 
 ings upon which such claim rests, will soon 
 have disappeared entirely ; it is already little 
 more than a memory with those who have 
 seen the works grow under the master's 
 
 hands. In his eagerness to produce the 
 most brilliant color effects, Makart was 
 totally indifferent to the chemical properties 
 of the pigments he employed; bitumen and 
 certain red and green lakes were his favor- 
 ites, owing to their deep, rich quality of 
 color. They are the most unstable of pig- 
 ments, and have long vanished from the 
 palettes of conscientious artists, after hav- 
 ing had a short but disastrous reign 
 Makart completely conquered the public by 
 his remarkable works: The Pest of Flor- 
 ence, and the Modern Amorettes, in which 
 he first reveled in his delight of color and 
 niidity to his heart's content. 
 
 Makart lived entirely in the realm of 
 color; whatever subject he chose, it was 
 jirimarily, if not solely, for the purpose of 
 making it a vehicle for the display of some 
 color scheme ; form was a matter of secon- 
 dary consideration ; and, as for characteriza- 
 tion, that great achievement of the post- 
 Romantic period in German art, that is 
 entirely absent from M.ikart's work. Thus 
 as a portrait painter he fails utterly; when 
 he can drape his sitter in the rich costume 
 of the Renaissance period, his decorative 
 taste is satisfied. Even in painting the 
 nude, whi^h he did very extensively, his 
 figures are chiefly emi)loyed for the sake of 
 some color note. America j^ossesses, at the 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of his 
 most characteristic works, Diana's Hunting 
 Party. Makart's art is essentially decorative 
 and spectacular; his sensuous delight in 
 color makes him iin questionably the most 
 remarkable painter of the century; but his 
 influence was not of a lasting kind. 
 Although called to be head of the Vienna 
 Academy, he founded no school of painting, 
 a few early imitators soon turning from his 
 path. The emperor's silver jubilee gave 
 M:\kart an opportunity tj display his rare 
 talent in organizing the grand spectacular 
 feature of the occasion, a procession in the 
 character of the Renaissance period. Elim- 
 inating the nude maidens strewing flowers, 
 his painting of The Entry of Charles V. 
 into Antwerp (see cut, p. 57), will give a 
 fair idea of the splendor of this memorable 
 procession, whch is justly counted among 
 Makart's famous productions.
 
 6l2 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 From the dazzling splendor of Makart's 
 art to the refined sensitiveness of Gabriel 
 Max, (1840-) what a difference! And yet both 
 enter the world of art through Piloty 's studio. 
 The temperament of Max is dreamy, 
 spiritual and stronglj' leaning to the un- 
 healthful, while joyous, robust life is en- 
 tirely foreign to him. His sympathy is 
 v/ith the spiritually morbid, whose joy of 
 life is not of this world, and the early 
 Christian martyr is a favorite subject for 
 his brush. He scored his first pronounced 
 
 MADONNA. MAX. 
 
 success with his Martyr on the Cross, in 
 1867. It represents a young woman, an 
 early Christian, tied to a cross in the Cam- 
 pagna; a young Roman, struck by the sad 
 fate of the beautiful girl, kneels down to 
 place a wreath of roses at the feet of the 
 pure, heroic maiden, who would rather 
 suffer a horrible death than renounce her 
 faith. Is he converted? Or is he, the light- 
 hearted, pleasure-seeking, frivolous Roman, 
 only attracted by the strange fascination of 
 the unexpected encounter? Max leaves the 
 
 questions unanswered. A Token represents 
 another young Christian convert, turned 
 into the arena where she will soon be torn 
 to pieces by the hungry wild beasts. A 
 rose has fallen to her feet, thrown as a 
 last token of sympathy or love by some 
 unknown hand in the crowded galleries 
 above. German poetry furnishes the subject 
 for his Lion's Bride, and the Inn-keeper's 
 Daughter. The tender, musical charm of 
 his art finds most beautiful expression in 
 such pictures as his Adagio: two figures — a 
 mother and her son — ^are seated on a bench 
 in a quiet spring landscape, both gazing 
 into space, all unconscious of each other 
 apparently, dreamily feeling only the ten- 
 der awakening of nature from its winter- 
 sleep. It is not often that Max repre- 
 sents this mood of quiet pleasure; and 
 it is as near to a healthy enjoyment of 
 nature as he ever comes. He feels at 
 home in the sad and horrible, and in the 
 supernatural ; and has discovered a new field 
 for art, the spiritualist's world. In the paint- 
 ing entitled The Spirit's Greeting, he rep- 
 resents a young girl seated at the piano; a 
 "materialized" hand softly taps heron the 
 shoulder and with an expression of mingled 
 fright and awe she turns to gaze in the 
 direction where the head of the strange 
 apparition would be. In another picture he 
 takes sides in the controversy about vivisec- 
 tion. The cold-blooded man of science is 
 about to experiment on the body of a little 
 dog, which is taken from his hands by a 
 figure representing the spirit of pity, point- 
 ing to the scales she holds, in which the 
 heart is shown to outweigh the human in- 
 tellect. 
 
 Max is possessed of one ideal of feminine 
 beauty, which is repeated in all his pictures: 
 a delicate face with a small, peculiarly 
 rounded nose, characteristic of Bohemia, 
 his native country, with one eye slightly 
 larger than the other, by which that expres- 
 sion of the unreal, the spiritualistic, is 
 attainable. The color is almost always 
 that of an unhealthy pallor. Max avoids 
 strong color altogether, and empIo)'s charm- 
 ingly refined grey tones, in a manner never 
 befure or since attempted ; it would seem to 
 suit his peculiar art alone, which, being the
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 613 
 
 expression of his own remarkable person- 
 ality, could not be adopted by any one else 
 with impunity. 
 
 By pi-t^misiion of F. fla*t/stacrtgl. 
 
 SrlRIT'S C.KEETINt;. 
 
 L 
 
 ENBACH. — THE PAINTERS OF 
 MODERN LIFE. (14) 
 
 Franz v. Lenbach, (born 1836), is 
 one of the commanding figures in 
 nineteenth century art. Known best to our 
 days as a portrait painter, he has, neverthe- 
 less, claims on our attention in another 
 capacity. Lenbach, the ardent and most 
 enthusiastic student of the old masters, is 
 one of the first healthy realists who pointed 
 out to German artists where to seek their 
 salvation, in the intimate, loving study of 
 nature without any afterthought of his- 
 torical rhetoric or anecdotal recitation. 
 The sphere of art is representation. And 
 to this he devoted the earlier years of his 
 study. In the j'ear 1856 he exhibited the 
 picture, now in the Schack Gallery, A Shep- 
 herd Boy. It represents a country lad lying 
 on his back, with the sun pouring down 
 
 upon him. There is no attempt at beautify 
 ing; the figure is a ragged shepherd boy, 
 with tlie mud clinging to his bare legs, 
 everything rendered with straightforward, 
 honest truth. The following year appeared 
 his Threatening vStorm, which shows a 
 group of peasants hastening from the har- 
 vest field to take refuge in a chapel before 
 the storm breaks loose. Both pictures cre- 
 ated a sensation and the public, as well as 
 the professional critics, were loud in their 
 protest against this "brutal realism." Still, 
 Lenbach persisted in his close study of 
 nature, and hand in hand with it, went his 
 ecjually close study of the old masters. 
 Fur Baron Schack he made a number of 
 copies of old masters, among which that of 
 Titian's Venus and several by Velasquez 
 an 1 Rubens are marvels in copying. Fi- 
 na'ly he found his true vocation as a portrait 
 painter. Equipped with a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the technical reciuirements of his 
 art, a close observation of nature, and a 
 Sjiirit akin to the great masters of old, he 
 was prepared for his calling as was no one 
 else. 
 
 Lenbach is not a portraitist who is sat- 
 isfied to give the mere photographic out- 
 ward appearance of his chance sitters. He 
 prepares himself for his work by a close 
 study of the sitter's essential characteristics, 
 and by the aid of numerous sketches records 
 his impressions. Nor does he disdain to 
 use the photograph; not. however, as a 
 foundation for his work, but merely as one 
 of the convenient aids. Not any of Len- 
 bach's portraits suggests the photograph in 
 the least. What they all reveal is that truth 
 of inner life which only tiie artist who 
 comprehends his sitter can hope to reproduce. 
 Of portraits which he did not care to do 
 there are not very many; for even when he 
 was still poor he preferred to paint for noth- 
 ing a head that would interest him rather 
 than accept a commission from a prospec- 
 tive patron for whom he felt no liking. 
 Since he has come to enjoy a liberal income 
 from his work, he not infrequently spends 
 thousands for the privilege of painting some 
 interesting personage for his own artistic 
 satisfaction. Lenbach has been called upon 
 to paint more of the most noted men of his
 
 6i4 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 time in the various callings of rulers, states- 
 men, scholars, poets, artists, and so forth, 
 than any other artist, living or dead. For 
 none of his sitters has he ever shown 
 greater love and admiration than for Bis- 
 marck, and of no one has he painted more 
 portaits than of the Iron Chancellor, at 
 whose home he was a frequent and most 
 welcome guest. Though Bismarck has been 
 painted by many artists, no one has suc- 
 ceeded as Lenbach in grasping that mighty 
 character, whom Germany delights to honor 
 as the greatest statesman of the nineteenth 
 
 PORTRAIT OF BISMARCK. 
 
 century. Lenbach's last portrait of the old 
 Emperor William I. is a wonderful piece of 
 characterization of old age, reflecting a great 
 and glorious past. 
 
 An artist of Lenbach's singular abilities 
 as a painter is necessarily a man of strong 
 convictions in art generally, and born to 
 take a leading part in any movement in 
 which he is interested. To Lenbach, paint- 
 ing should not be kept in isolation from its 
 twin sisters, architecture and sculpture. 
 Painting finds a proper place only in a suit- 
 able artistic surrounding. Especially is he 
 
 averse to the arranging of great exhibitions, 
 where the main object is to gather the 
 greatest possible number of paintings on 
 "square miles" of wall space, irrespective 
 of any pleasing decorative effect. Though 
 at the great Munich International Exhibi- 
 tions this is always taken into account with 
 far better results than in large exhibitions 
 elsewhere, Lenbach's ideas were never 
 fully carried out, except in smaller apart- 
 ments set aside for his special display, and 
 the result is alvv^ays eminently pleasing. 
 When he decided on building a home for 
 himself, he created something that is a 
 magnificent work of art in itself, and in 
 which he carried out his ideas, with the 
 architectural advice of his friend Gabriel 
 Seidel, to their fullest extent. 
 
 The Villa Lenbach on the Louisenstrasse 
 in Munich is a noteworthy creation, within 
 and without, and whoever has not seen it 
 cannot form a just estimate of this truly 
 great artist. Built in the style of a Roman 
 villa, with a garden in which an old Italian 
 fountain and other antique statuary have 
 found a place, the interior of the two 
 detached buildings is arranged with refined 
 taste and due consideration of purpose. 
 The rare treasures of old pictures, antique 
 furniture, old marbles and other works of 
 artistic value, which he has collected with 
 true judgment, all serve to give to the place 
 an air of noble and quiet refinement, so 
 different from the overcrowded habitation 
 of the average collector addicted to "brica- 
 bracomania." And in this refined sur- 
 rounding, made gay by the merry laughter 
 of two lovely children and presided over 
 with sweet dignity by a charming wife, 
 Lenbach lives and works. 
 
 The painting of pictures illustrative of 
 modern life, with either a humorous, 
 pathetic or tragic idea, was most succesfully 
 continued by such artists as Alois Gabl 
 (1845-1893), who was fond of deep coloring, 
 at times verging on black; and Mathias 
 Schmidt (1835-) who found his subjects 
 among the Tyrolese; Hugo Kaufmann 
 (1844-) who, though himself a North- 
 German, is fond of the inhabitants of the 
 Bavarian Highlands; and Eduard Kurz- 
 bauer (1840-1879), who died too young, but
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY 
 
 6'5 
 
 gave promise of good work. Eduard 
 Griitzner (1S46-), whose first success was 
 achieved through his Falstaff pictures, 
 ultimately became the narrator of monastery 
 life, in which he foimd an inexhaustible 
 storehouse of mostly humorous anecdotes, 
 which he repeats ad nauseam. 
 
 A more healthful and no less grateful field 
 for pictorial art was cultivated by Ludwig 
 Bockelmann {1844-1897) and Ferdinand 
 Briitt (1849-) who found in commercial 
 and manufacturing circles the material for 
 their stories. Bockelmann painted episodes 
 from modern city life; Briitt chooses his sub- 
 jects from the social, commercial and politi- 
 cal life of the city. 
 
 Realism had become firmly rooted in 
 German art. If, in the school of Piloty, it 
 partook strongly of theatrical show, and 
 cultivated a tendency for the painting of his- 
 torical events most frequently of a tragic 
 nature, and led others to an almost photo- 
 graphic imitation of more or less uninterest- 
 ing subjects, as it did Carl Qussow (iS43-)of 
 Berlin, for example, and Anton v. Werner, 
 (1843-) whose historical paintings are so 
 markedly "matter of fact"; it had at least 
 led also to a renewed and more intelligent 
 study of the old masters for their marvelous 
 color qualities, which had been so studiously 
 avoided by the cartoonists, and totally mis- 
 understood by the early Romanticists. 
 When, after the unification of Germany in 
 1 87 1, history-painting failed more and more 
 to inspire artists for their best efforts, they 
 awakened to the conviction tliat above all a 
 painter should learn \.o paint before attempt- 
 ing to give expression to any great ideas. 
 
 The "idea," in fact, was for a while entire- 
 ly discredited, the chief problem remaining 
 ho-iV to paint. "To jjaint," was at last 
 understood to mean both technical skill and 
 the creation of glorious color-harmonies such 
 as the old masters had produced. That all 
 this was foimded on a study of nature on 
 the part of the old masters was now recog- 
 nized to mean a still closer and directer 
 study of life and nature, generally, than had 
 been practiced in the first half of the cen- 
 tury. The demand was for greater refine- 
 ment of tone, and, hand in hand, went an 
 avoidance of the clap-trap of noisy stage- 
 
 acting. Together with the new doctrine in 
 painting there grew a desire for artistically 
 refined furnishings; the arts and crafts as- 
 sumed a more intimate relation and men of 
 genius like Lorenz Gedon brought about an 
 intimate knowledge of the works of the 
 "little masters" of the Renaissance period, 
 which were eagerly collected and served as 
 models for the works of the cabinetmakers, 
 goldsmiths and other craftsmen. The 
 Munich exhibition of 1876 showed a remark- 
 able gain in the artistic skill displayed in 
 handicraft, which, for the time being, was 
 almost exclusively imitative of bygone 
 periods, but has since developed along more 
 modern and original lines. 
 
 D 
 
 lEZ AND THE NEW SCHOOL 
 OF COLORISTS. LEIBL.(i5) 
 
 The new school of painters found 
 in Wilhelm Diez (1839-) its 
 foremost representative. Though for a short 
 time a pupil of Piloty, he found himself 
 entirely out of sympathy with the great mas- 
 ter of historical painting. His taste led him to 
 a close study of the works of such old masters 
 as Schongauer, Diirer, Rembrandt and espe- 
 cially Wouwerman, as well as a most loving 
 study of nature. Tlie charm of Diez's work 
 lies in a healthy realism coupled with a re- 
 finement of tone that has something of the 
 quality of old tapestries, and an unerring 
 feeling for the picturescjue. Like all suc- 
 cessful artists he found numerous imitators 
 among a large class of talented pupils, after 
 he had been made professor at the Academy 
 in Munich. It was certainly not his fault if 
 many saw their own salvation, if not that of 
 art, only in a close adherence to his choice 
 of subject and manner of treatment; for 
 men of power and originality of thought are 
 ever scarce. None the less does Diez num- 
 ber among his pupils some — Loefftz for 
 instance — who have been able to draw from 
 his teachings the lessons which promoted a 
 further advance in art. 
 
 Ludwig Loefftz (1845-), who was a 
 decorator in his youth, by virtue of a serious 
 and untiring devotion to his study, has risen 
 to the position of Director of the Munich
 
 6i6 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 Academy, from which he has only recently 
 retired on account of impaired health. At 
 the beginning of his career as a painter he 
 was an ardent admirer of the old Dutch- 
 men, to such an extent, in fact, that his 
 painting of Avarice and Love is little else 
 than a close imitation of Quentin Matsys. 
 Then Holbein became his favorite ideal, and 
 there was a time during his early activity 
 as teacher when the portrait drawings by his 
 pupils were all in close imitation of the 
 great Augsburg master. About that time 
 Loefftz painted a small picture represent- 
 ing Erasmus of Rotterdam in his study, 
 which seemed a combination of Holbein 
 and Pieter de Hoegh. Later the coloristic 
 charm of Van Dyck assumed a strong influ- 
 ence on him and there resulted such remark- 
 able paintings as his Pieta, now in the 
 Pinakothek. With his students he insisted 
 always upon the careful observation of the 
 fine color and tone qualities in nature, and 
 took no end of trouble in posing the models 
 for them in such a light as to preclude all 
 appearance of crudeness, of which he was 
 especially intolerant. vStill engaged in his 
 work as teacher, it is too early to determine 
 definitely his position in the history of art; 
 but that he was one of the most active and 
 invaluable agents in laying the foundation 
 for the final success of modern art, there can 
 be no doubt whatever. Loefftz was also 
 one of the first who demonstrated anew that 
 the chief value of a painting lay not in the 
 idea, but in the representation. 
 
 "If artists had previously painted thoughts 
 they now began to paint things. The 
 heroes of Piloty followed the divinities of 
 Cornelius, and were in turn succeeded by 
 the Tyrolese peasants of Defregger, and 
 amid this difference of theme one bond con- 
 nected these works; for interesting subject 
 was the matter of chief importance in them 
 and the purely pictorial element was some- 
 thing subordinate. The efforts of the sev- 
 enties had for their object the victory of 
 this pictorial element." (Muther). 
 
 This was brought about by Diez and his 
 followers. Beginning with the renewed and 
 more intimate study of the old masters, the 
 picturesque costumes and decorative fea- 
 tures of past centuries were «till adhered to ; 
 
 but the pretentious display of historical 
 actions gave way to the representation of 
 man in his common everyday occupation, 
 which brought him nearer to our sympathies 
 and understanding. 
 
 August Holmberg (1851-) paints car- 
 dinals who are connoisseurs of bric-a-brac. 
 Edmund Harburger (1846-) becomes the 
 Ostade of modern times. Ernst Zimmer- 
 mann (1852-), at first similarly inclined, 
 and also a most skillful painter of still-life, 
 turns to rendering religious subjects. Claus 
 Meyer (1856-) scores a decided success 
 with the painting of a Beguin Nunnery, in 
 which, like Pieter de Hoegh, he places his 
 models against the large window in the 
 background. 
 
 In manysidedness and an easy control of 
 the methods employed by different old mas- 
 ters, as well as by certain cliic all his own, 
 all the foregoing are easily eclipsed by Fritz 
 August v. Kaulbach (1850-), a grand- 
 nephew of the celebrated pupil of Cornelius. 
 This artist has been as much overrated as 
 underrated. A great artist he cannot be 
 called, because of his want of originality. 
 Where he is unlike anybody else, it is only 
 in comparatively trivial matters. He is 
 most thoroughly enjoyable in some of hrs 
 portraits of feminine beauties; by virtue of 
 his graceful drawing and refined tone he 
 could, if he so chose, become almost, if not 
 quite, what Lenbach is as a portraitist of 
 men ; for it must be acknowledged, remark- 
 able though some of Lenbach's later por- 
 traits of women are, that he is not essentially 
 a painter of female beauty, or of children, 
 in both of which Kaulbach excels. But he 
 is not satisfied therewith and enters the 
 ranks of religious painters to produce an 
 Entombment of Christ that at once recalls 
 Titian to one's mind, though, to be sure, on 
 closer examination, not a single figure is like 
 Titian's. But whatever his limitations, 
 whatever his sources, Kaulbach is an artist 
 of refined feeling, whose love of color is a 
 delight to the eye, and is in line with the 
 progress of his time beyond the preceding 
 period. 
 
 When the prominent historical painters of 
 this epoch are mentioned, Wilhelm Linden- 
 schmidt (1829-1895), demands a conspicuous
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 617 
 
 place. Though his later works do not fulfill 
 the promise contained in his earlier paint- 
 ings, the latter have undeniable coloristic 
 merits, conspicuous in tiicir time. Tliis 
 may be said especially of some of his Luther 
 pictures and of his Venus and Adonis, and 
 also of his painting in the Schack Gallery of 
 the Young Man and the Water Nymph. As 
 a teacher at the Munich Academy Linden- 
 schmidt encouraged a healthy realism. His 
 ideas on govermental art education were 
 singularly sound and liberal, but failed to 
 find favor with the authorities. 
 
 Menzel, in Berlin, in his paintings of the 
 time of Frederick the Great, treated his- 
 torical painting as one who seemed to have 
 been an eye-witness. Nor does he care so 
 much for momentous state actions, as the 
 leading historical painters were wont to do, 
 but delights in the representation of cus- 
 toms and manners of that then not so very 
 remote period. He tells no anecdote and 
 attempts no moral lesson; he is simply 
 truthful and picturesque. These qualities 
 become the aim of Munich art after Piloty. 
 
 Wilhelm LeibI (1844-1901) is by far the 
 strongest representative, if not the initiator 
 of this new development of modern German 
 art. A pupil of Piloty at first and subsequent- 
 ly of A. V. Ramberg (1819-1875) neither of 
 whom influenced him very much, he showed 
 his strong leanings quite early, and a short 
 stay in Paris in 1869 did not draw him from 
 the course he appears to have planned. 
 Though an ardent admirer of Courbet, he 
 remains thoroughly German, and comes 
 nearer to the spirit of Holbein than any 
 other artist. Conscious of his aim and of 
 his ability to pursue it without further help 
 or hindrance, he settled in a Bavarian vil- 
 lage, where he devoted himself to his art, 
 painting the simple peasant people among 
 whom he lived. Leibl's best paintings 
 betray the closest attention to detail, but in 
 such a manner that the whole at first always 
 has the appearance of great breadth ; noth- 
 ing of all the marvelous detail is ever 
 obtrusive at first sight, though when once 
 your attention is drawn to it, nothing can 
 make you forget the unrivaled skill with 
 which it was rendered. But at times he is 
 fond of a broader handling; he then lays on 
 
 his color in flat tones and sacrifices all soft- 
 ness of modeling to a strong and vigorous 
 characterization of his subject. His very 
 first pictures, exhibited in 1869, commanded 
 attention ; a portrait exhibited at the Salon 
 in Paris in 1870 brought him a medal; and 
 he created a very deep impression with his 
 Peasant-Politicans, which appeared eight 
 years later. By this time Leibl had already 
 become an acknowledged leader, and when, 
 a year or two later, his painting, In the 
 Church was exhibited in a private studio at 
 r^Iunich, it was the unanimous opinion of 
 artists and laymen alike that the highest 
 perfection in this style of painting had been 
 achieved. Without ever having had pupils, 
 Leibl's influence became a factor in the 
 further development of Munich art. Though 
 no one ventured so far as to imitate his 
 marvelous technic[ue, the appreciation of 
 the simple and natural in art, of beautifully 
 luminous, pearly greys in flesh-painting 
 was wide-spread and sincere, and Leibl has 
 gained for himself the position of one of the 
 strongest German painters of the century in 
 which he lived. 
 
 T 
 
 HE IDEALISTS: BOCKLIN. RE- 
 LIGIOUS PAINTING: GEB- 
 HARDT.(i6) 
 
 With Arnold Bdcklin (1827-1901), 
 whose death, like that of Leibl, is just an- 
 nounced, Germany loses her greatest painter 
 of the nineteenth century. In the earlier 
 stages of the realistic era it was not surpris- 
 ing that Bocklin's art did not meet with 
 ready appreciation, for his romantic ideal- 
 ism seemed utterly opposed to the prevail- 
 ing tendencj', and people were ready to 
 class him among the artista of the past, be- 
 fore he had fairly begun his career in 
 earnest. It was only in later years that his 
 true position has come to be recognized, 
 and Germany now honors in him the 
 great color-poet of the century. Bocklin is 
 an artist of most striking originality, whose 
 development is not really traceable to the 
 influence of any definite school. Beginning 
 his studies under the landscapist Schirmer 
 at Diisseldorf in 1846, he soon thereafter
 
 6i8 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 went to Brussels, and then to Paris in 1848. 
 Two years later he went to Rome, where he 
 found the true inspiration for his art. In 
 the Campagna and in the mountains he com- 
 muned with Nature, whose beauty and 
 grandeur in her varying moods find a ready 
 echo in his strong, manlj' and sensitive 
 soul. The firm rocks, the tall trees, the 
 softly whispering reeds reveal to him their 
 secrets and every nook becomes alive with 
 
 resting on a solitary rock, the old Triton 
 blowing tender melodies on his horn, the 
 mermaid, a creature of exuberant strength, 
 toying with a huge sea-serpent. In the 
 wilds of the mountains huge centaurs are 
 engaged in a fierce struggle hurling great 
 rocks at each other, thus symbolizing the 
 crude forces of nature at their destructive 
 play. Or, on the other hand, as in Regions 
 of Joy, one sees the force and beauty of 
 
 By courtesy oj Berlin Photographic Co. 
 
 REGIONS OF JOY. BOCKLIN. 
 
 strange forms, such as the world had heard 
 of, but never before seen. Pan of old has 
 come to earth again to play his pranks, 
 frightening an honest Roman shepherd out 
 of his wits; or, going fishing, to his own 
 amazement and delight, draws a frightened 
 mermaid from the waters. In Sport of the 
 Waves, you see the mythical dwellers of the 
 sea at their merry play; strange, uncanny 
 creatures, the spirits of rollicking fun and 
 of mysterious dangers. An Idyl of the Sea 
 shows these wondrous beings peacefullv 
 
 nature interpreted as sturdy centaur and 
 sportive nymphs. 
 
 In all these works the figures and the 
 landscape constitute an inseparable whole. 
 With no other artist does the one seem so 
 natural an outcome of the other; nor has 
 any one rendered them with such convincing 
 realism. But Bocklin's realism is not de- 
 pendent on a close, literal transcription of 
 nature, like LeibTs, for instance; the forms 
 of his living beings are necessarily creations 
 of fancy, based on a study of nature, to be
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 (619 
 
 sure, but not mere copies of any existing 
 species. It is said that he rarely, if ever, 
 painted his pictures from nature; this may 
 explain his occasional offense against 
 anatomical possibilities, to the dismay of the 
 academical drawing master; but to say 
 therefore that Bocklin cannot draw is sheer 
 cant. Still it is undeniably true that his 
 greatest strength lies in color. And here 
 he is supreme. Though the greatest part of 
 his work was accomplished during the Piloty 
 era, it has nothing in common with the 
 awakening of the color sense then taking 
 place. Nor had his art need of the later dis- 
 covery of the prismatic composition of light, 
 which was the great triumph of nineteenth 
 century art. His green is always green; 
 his red, red; his blue, blue; the tone of his 
 pictures is always rich and deep, and aglow 
 with a sensuous color-harmony, such as no 
 other modern artist has achieved. Bocklin's 
 art is the product of a strong and healthy 
 nature, a true child of his mountain home. 
 He has been rightly compared to Wagner 
 for the essentially musical quality of his art 
 — with far more aptness indeed than the art 
 of IMakart — for his bold and glorious color- 
 harmonies appeal to the same sense of feel- 
 ing in healthy natures as do the grand tone- 
 harmonies of Wagner. 
 
 It may be too early to say that Bocklin's 
 art will constitute the foundation for the art 
 of the succeeding century ; but it has cer- 
 tainly had a formative influence with some 
 of the stronger men, Stuck and Klinger, for 
 instance, of the present time. 
 
 Max Klinger (1856-), is often men- 
 tioned with Bocklin in the same breath. 
 That neither Klinger nor Stuck would be 
 what they are, were it not for the advent of 
 a Bocklin, is, no doubt, quite true. Still, 
 there are more points of difference than of 
 sympathy between the three. Bocklin is 
 always thoroughly healthy and enjoyable; 
 Klinger's muse is tainted with a morbid 
 breath, which is never pleasant and at times 
 is very repulsive. Nor is it ever a direct 
 and spontaneous expression of his feeling, 
 but rather a learned and complicated expo- 
 sition of his thoughts, the thoughts of one 
 who is estranged from this life's more 
 agreeable side. Klinger's claims to fame 
 
 rest mainly on his etchings; he took up 
 painting comparatively late in life, and has 
 also devoted some time to modeling, with- 
 out, however, producing in either of these 
 two branches of art anything of real impor- 
 tance to its history. 
 
 Franis Stuck (1863-), is uuqestionably 
 one of the most remarkable of the younger 
 men. Beginning as a draughtsman he dis- 
 played a wealth of imagination in illustrative 
 and decorative designs. When he began to 
 devote himself to painting, his choice of 
 subjects pointed unmistakably to Bocklin, 
 but in color he leaned more towards the 
 modern school, displaying at the same time 
 
 By peymt^sion oj f. Han/statngt. 
 
 CRICIFI.XIDN. STUCK. 
 
 a strong individuality, which promised well 
 for the future. He soon began to display 
 his originality of conception in such paint- 
 ings as his Guardian of Paradise, his Satan, 
 and especially in his Crucifixion. While 
 neither of these can boast of. much charm of 
 color, but show more the vigorous draughts- 
 man, it does not follow that Stuck cannot 
 be ranked high among the painters, for, in 
 some of his smaller and less ambitious pro- 
 ductions, his color is exceedingly good, and, 
 of his future, we may expect very much. 
 
 Berlin has in Ludwig v. Hoffmann (18?) 
 an idealist of talent, though not of any pro- 
 nounced originality. His works are of very 
 unequal value, but at times of a certain
 
 620 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 poetical charm not otherwise to be found in 
 Berlin art. 
 
 Without entering into the causes which 
 have brought it about, it is sufficient here 
 to state that religious painting has, of late, 
 come to assume a very conspicuous place in 
 Germany, as elsewhere. During the reign 
 of historical painting and of the "historical 
 genre," which followed, it had fallen some- 
 what into neglect. Painters like Gentz, 
 who had gone to the Orient, brought with 
 them a good knowledge of the country, its 
 present inhabitants, the customs and cos- 
 tumes of the people. Out of this knowledge 
 
 DISCiri.ES AT KMMAUS. GEBHARLIT. 
 
 they proceeded to construct the apparatus 
 for their more or less historically correct 
 representations of the time of Christ, result- 
 ing in such spectacular pictures as Mun- 
 kacsy's Christ before Pilate, or such painted 
 falsehoods as Hofmann's famous Christ in 
 the Temple, the numerous reproductions of 
 which are doing more to retard a healthy 
 growth of intelligent art appreciation than 
 any other two modern paintings can hope to 
 counteract. Hofmann's painting shows 
 neither truth of characterization nor truth 
 of color; in fact, is not painting at all, but 
 merely "illumination," appealing to the love 
 
 of "prettiness," on the part of the artistic- 
 ally uneducated masses. 
 
 It was but natural that a reaction against 
 such false conception of painting should set 
 in. Foremost among the reformers must 
 be mentioned 
 
 Eduard v. Qebhardt (1838-). As the 
 son of a Protestant minister he did not, in 
 his earlier years, come into close contact 
 with religious art, which was ultimately to 
 become his specialty. After three years at 
 St. Petersburg he went to Diisseldorf, trav- 
 eled in Belgium and Holland, saw Vienna 
 and Munich, and then remained at Karlsruhe 
 for two years, after 
 which he returned to 
 Diisseldorf, where 
 Schadow, Bendemann 
 and Carl Sohn were the 
 leading spirits of Ro- 
 manticism. Religious 
 art was entirely under 
 the influence of the 
 Catholic Nazarene spirit 
 of Schadow, for which 
 the Protestant Gebhardt 
 naturally had no sym- 
 pathy. He did not en- 
 ter the Academy, there- 
 fore, but worked to- 
 gether with Wilhelm 
 Sohn (nephew of Carl), 
 and Carl Hertel in a 
 common studio. In 
 1863, he exhibited his 
 first ambitious compo- 
 sition, Christ's Entry 
 Into Jerusalem, in 
 which he at once emphasized his oppo- 
 sition to the prevailing Nazarene tend- 
 ency in religious art. When asked why 
 he chose the costume of the middle ages for 
 his figures, Gebhardt replied: "What else 
 should I do? Continue to paint like the 
 Nazarenes? At first, I thought so, too; but 
 these conventional gowns would not fit my 
 homely figures." "Well," said the wise- 
 acres, "you should paint them as they were: 
 they were Orientals!" "Strange! Nobody 
 has ever succeeded in producing a truly 
 devotional picture in the Oriental manner. 
 Why do they expect it of me? Do we not,
 
 CENTURY IX GERMANY 
 
 621 
 
 then, as Germans, paint for Germans?" 
 Because of its national character and its pic- 
 turesqueness he chooses the medieval cos- 
 tume; and his types are the people among 
 whom he dwells. Thus he rescues religious 
 art from the sweet, sickly sentimentality of 
 the Romantic school, and, though still in an 
 antiquated garb, brings it nearer to the 
 spirit of actuality. Gebhardt is a close stu- 
 dent of the old German and Flemish masters, 
 and an ardent admirer of their realism. If 
 he did not draw the final conclusion from 
 their works — that in order to be true to 
 nature, you must be true to your own 
 time — , we must not forget that such a step 
 could only have been taken by a genius, a 
 giant, while Gebhardt marks a stage in the 
 gradual evolution of religious art. What he 
 has given us marks the transition from the 
 artificial to the real ; it is not yet the real. 
 But one step farther! You feel, in looking 
 at such a picture, as his Disciples at Em- 
 maus that he could take it, and be entirely 
 with us! 
 
 But it was left to others to take this step. 
 
 R 
 
 ELIGIOUS PAINTING. Con- 
 tinued: LIEBERMANN, VON 
 UHDE. GERMAN PAINTING. 
 Concluded\ii) 
 
 The realist Mcnzel argued that inasmuch 
 as Christ was a Jew, living among Jews, he 
 should be repre- 
 sented as such, 
 and he* made a 
 drawing on stone, 
 representing the 
 youthful Jesus in 
 the Temple, where 
 his mother foimd 
 him among the 
 learned doctors. 
 His figures were 
 all faithful copies 
 of Berlin Jews of 
 the mostpro- 
 nounced type. At 
 the Munich Inter- 
 national Exhibi- 
 tion of 1879. 
 
 Max Liebermann (1849-), exhibited a 
 painting of Christ in the Temple, which was 
 quite in the spirit of Menzel's drawing, and 
 created no small amount of indignant pro- 
 test. Liebermann is the originator in Ger- 
 many of that latest development of realistic 
 art which has since found in Fritz v. Uiide 
 its most prominent representative. Taking 
 his cue from Millet's: "le beau c'est le 
 vrais, " he proceeded to choose for the mod- 
 els of his pictures the homeliest individuals 
 he could find, by way of protest against the 
 prevalent type of pretty faces, and, in his 
 choice of the boy Jesus he went about to the 
 farthest extreme. It is not possible to take 
 either Menzel or Libermann very seriously 
 in these two pictures; doubtless, they both 
 desired to be very emphatic in their protest, 
 but hardly expected to set an example. In 
 other works Liebermann has demonstrated 
 his singular powers as a painter far more 
 successfully and has established his claim 
 to leadership beyond the possibility of dis- 
 pute. His Old Men's Home at Amsterdam 
 is one of the noteworthy pictures of modern 
 art. His Flax Spinners, Woman with a 
 Goat, and others, painted with a freedom 
 and dash that is positively astounding, 
 prove him a master of modern realism. So 
 far as the writer is aware, Liebermann has 
 made no further attempts at religious art. 
 He no doubt soon realized that it was a 
 hopeless task to treat sacred history in the 
 spirit in which he conceived his first and 
 
 oj the Bt-rltn Photo. 
 
 FLAX SPINNERS. LIEBERMANN.
 
 b22 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 only attempt. There would appear to be no 
 very good reason why strictly historical 
 incidents should be represented otherwise 
 than in a manner conforming to historic 
 truth. But the teachings of Jesus, as era- 
 bodied in tlie Cliristian religion, are of the 
 same vital force and importance — nay, more 
 so — to-day as at the time of their first utter- 
 ance. Christ is with us to-day as he was 
 with our forefathers centuries ago, why then 
 should art not represent Christ among us? 
 This view was taken by Fritz v. Uhde 
 (1848-). Adopting the study of art after he 
 had risen in an active military career to the 
 
 CHRIST IN THE PEASANT 3 HOME. UHDE, 
 
 rank of captain of dragoons, he became a 
 pupil of Munkacsy, and as such painted 
 several pictures quite in the style of his 
 celebrated teacher. But Uhde soon discov- 
 ered the error of his ways and discarded 
 everything that he had accepted of his mas- 
 ter's teachings. The first picture he ex- 
 hibited after this disclosed the complete 
 revolution of his artistic conviction; the 
 Organ Grinder, a picture of street life in a 
 Dutch village was i^ainted in a light grey 
 tone, almostly devoid of color, compared to 
 his earlier works, but full of atmosphere and 
 truth. It was followed by other works of 
 
 similar character, betraying the unmistak- 
 able influence of Liebermann. Later, there 
 appeared a picture which rekindled the 
 angry strife that Libermann's religious 
 painting had started some years before, 
 Suffer the Children to Come Unto Me! 
 Here was a modern Dutch room of goodly 
 size, probably a village school-room in which 
 was seated on an ordinary reed-bottomed 
 chair a strange figure, clad in a long dark 
 gown, and the village children, in their 
 modern, every-day attire, came into the 
 room, alone, or accompanied by their elders, 
 some confidently approaching, others timor- 
 ously holding back; one 
 flaxen-haired little girl, 
 more confident than the 
 rest, has offered her 
 hand to the stranger. 
 This stranger is Christ, 
 the friend of children, 
 to-day, as of old. In 
 another picture Christ 
 has entered the room 
 of a peasant's house, 
 where the frugal meal 
 is about to be served. 
 In this spirit Uhde has 
 conceived religious art. 
 There followed a Last 
 Supper, The Sermon on 
 the Mount, and The 
 Annunciation to the 
 Shepherds. In these 
 pictures and others, the 
 actors are people of to- 
 day, ordinary, everyday 
 people, not selected for 
 any beauty of form or features, nor clad in 
 garments especially adapted for the occasion. 
 Slowly and reluctantly the opposition to 
 Uhde's conception of religious art has given 
 way, and his example has inspired others to 
 follow in his path, among whom the French- 
 men L'Hermitte and Beraud are conspic- 
 uous. 
 
 While Uhde has also turned his attention 
 to other fields, notably that of portraiture, 
 his fame will chiefly rest on his religious 
 paintings, which mark an era in modern art. 
 He has not yet spoken his last word, and it 
 will be interesting to watch his further
 
 CENTURY IN GERMANY. 
 
 623 
 
 progress, or, as some would already have it, 
 his decline. However, this may be, the 
 field, he has opened is no longer left to him 
 alone; imitators have appeared, and others, 
 equipped with strong powers of their own, 
 have been led to advance in the same path. 
 But the achievements of the latter are of too 
 recent a date to find room in a historical re- 
 view at this time, though it may be conceded 
 that some of them, at least, will retain the 
 position they have already gained in the esti- 
 mation of their contemporaries, even in tiie 
 eyes of the coming generation. 
 
 In Berlin Franz Skarbina (1849-) is, 
 next to Liebermann, the strongest repre- 
 sentative of the new art. He did not 
 arrive at his present conclusions until he had 
 passed through a number of stages, and it is 
 by no means certain that he has now reached 
 his final goal. Ludwig Dettman (i865-),Hugo 
 Vogel (1855-), Hans Herrmann (1858-), and 
 others in Berlin are all men of sound con- 
 victions and great ability as painters. 
 
 Among the Diisseldorf artists Arthur 
 Kampf (1864-), Eduard Kampfer (1859-), and 
 a few others show a progressive spirit. 
 
 In Stuttgart Otto Reinlger (1863-), has 
 displayed singular powers as a landscape 
 painter, while Robert Haug {185 7-), though 
 not entirely free from a sentimental vein, 
 paints pictures of soldiers with a fine feeling 
 for tone. 
 
 Of the landscape painters who succeeded 
 to the generation ending with Eduard 
 Schleich and Adolph Lier (1827-1882), men- 
 tion should be made of Gustav Schuenleber 
 (1851-), now professor at the Academy 
 at Karlsruhe. His work is notable for its 
 fine color and atmospheric qualities, in 
 which he is unsurpassed, though he may 
 have had his equal in his friend Hermann 
 Baisch (1846-1892), in whose cattle pictures 
 similar qualities are dominant. 
 
 Adolph Staebli (1842-), Louis Neubert 
 (1846-1892), who was clever, but never 
 seemed to find a method of his own. Carl 
 Heffner (1849-), Wilhelm Keller-Reutlingen 
 (1854-), Joseph Wenglein (1845-), Ludwig 
 Willroider, Peter Paul Miiller (1853-), Fried- 
 rich Kallmorgen (1856-), Ludwig Dill (1846-), 
 and many others are among the leading 
 landscape painters of the day. 
 
 By courleiy of Berlin Photo. Co. 
 
 C.IRL WEEPING. LHDE. 
 
 Munich harbors a greater number of the 
 advanced artists than the rest of Germany 
 combined. The leading desire there has 
 been for a long time to induce foreign 
 artists to either come or send their works 
 to the exhibitions at the Glass Palace, and 
 when there seemed some danger of the 
 opponents of progress restricting such hos- 
 pitality, the younger element forthwith 
 severed its connection with the Conserv- 
 atives and opened an annual exhibition of 
 their own, where foreigners of note shared 
 equal rights with the native artists. 
 
 At the head of the new movement stood 
 Bruno Piglhein (1848-1894), a man of re- 
 markable ability, who was but once in his 
 life given a fair opportunity of displaying 
 his power, in the ])ainting of a panorama, 
 representing the crucifixion of Christ, which 
 has since been dcstroj'ed by fire. He first 
 attracted greater attention to himself by the 
 exhibition, in 1879, of ^ picture of the cruci- 
 fixion, Moritur in Deo, which represented 
 the Angel of Death bending over the cross 
 to kiss the lips of the Savior. After this 
 first serious effort he was led into experi- 
 menting with pastels, producing a series of
 
 624 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 drawings that in freedom and originality of 
 conception and skillful treatment suggested 
 rather the work of some clever French- 
 man. About the year 1887 he conceived 
 the design of representing the scene of 
 the crucifixion in the form of a panorama- 
 painting. By the assistance of a few 
 chosen companions he set to work and 
 completed the painting in a short time, scor- 
 ing a most decided and remarkable success. 
 In after-years, in America, his former assist- 
 ants repeated the performance writh more or 
 less success ; but the originator, the creative 
 genius, was Piglhein. What he might still 
 have accomplished, had he been offered the 
 proper opportunity, it is not possible to say; 
 certain it is, that his mind was replete with 
 
 By permission of F. Hanfsiaengl. 
 
 SHEEr FAMILY. ZUGEL. 
 
 untold designs easy of fulfillment by means 
 of his remarkable technical skill. Person- 
 ally he lacked aggressiveness to overcome 
 the difficulties in the way of procuring im- 
 portant commissions. His was an easy- 
 going nature, not satisfied with the way 
 things were going, it is true, but unwilling 
 to exert himself in producing a change. 
 
 Piglhein's art is neither entirely modern 
 nor old-fashioned. It has the stamp of 
 originality which will preserve for it the 
 admiration of artists present and to come. 
 He died with promises unfulfilled through 
 no fault of his own, and Germany has lost 
 another artist who might have been one of 
 her greatest sons. 
 
 His friend. Baron Hugo von Habermann 
 
 (1849-), has allowed a similar persistent 
 neglect of his merits to influence his art. 
 A gifted colorist and with an easy mastery 
 of the brush, he changed from an ardent 
 admirer of the old masters to a follower of a 
 class of French painters whose easel is set 
 up in hospitals and doctor's offices. 
 
 Albert Keller (1845-), a pupil of Arthur 
 von Ramberg, is one of Germany's nota- 
 ble colorists. Whatever he paints is the 
 outcome in the first place, not of any 
 definite idea, but of some color-scheme that 
 appeals to his senses. His range of subjects 
 is of a most varied character: portraits of 
 fashionable women, modern interiors with 
 children, a gathering at a dinner party, a 
 mythological or a religious subject, but all 
 are chosen solely with an eye to their color- 
 istic opportunities. His color is notable for 
 its refined grey tones, and is especially 
 admirable in works that are more sketchy 
 than finished in workmanship. 
 
 A colorist of a different kind is Gotthard 
 Kuehl (1851-), whose pictures of Dutch 
 and of church interiors are sparkling with 
 light and atmosphere, painted with rare 
 skill and a thorough mastery of drawing. 
 
 Paul Hoecker (1854-), delights in paint- 
 ing the tile-covered interiors of pictur- 
 esque Dutch houses. With him it is also 
 the color-scheme which forms the basis of his 
 picture; this once decided upon, he carries 
 out his work with great conscientiousness, 
 producing a picture of charming qualities. 
 
 Of artists who have achieved great re- 
 nown, more or less deserved, there are 
 many; their mere enumeration would fill 
 many pages. Among the older are Ferdi- 
 nand Keller, of Karlsruhe; Hermann Prell, 
 of Dresden; Paul Meyerheim, of Berlin; 
 Heinrich v. Angeli and Hans Canon, of 
 Vienna; Hans Thoma, of Frankfort. The 
 ranks of the younger contain such men as 
 Ludwig Herterich, Wilhelm Diirr, Louis 
 Corinth, Julius Exter, Max Slevogt, and 
 Wilhelm Triibner. Nor should a group 
 of artists go without mention who have 
 founded, in a small North-German town, 
 a school of their own and have become 
 known to fameasthe "Worpsweder. " Fritz 
 Mackensen, Otto Modersohn and Fritz 
 Overbeck appear as the strongest repre-
 
 CENTURY IN HOLLAND- 
 
 63S 
 
 sentativcs of this group, whose aim it is to 
 render nature in a simple, broad manner, 
 with great charm of color and a true and 
 health)' sentiment for the poetical. 
 
 Among the older cattle-painters the name 
 of Friederich Voltz (1817-1886) will always 
 be cherished, as will that of Anton Braith 
 (1836-), though both have been far sur- 
 passed by Heinrich ZuKel (1850-), who- 
 may safely be accorded the first place, and 
 one of the leading artists of the nineteenth 
 century in this specialty. With a thorough 
 knowledge of animals, especially of sheep, 
 he combines a keen observation of the fine 
 atmospheric tones in landscape, is a colorist 
 of very high rank, and a vigorous champion 
 of progressive ideas in art. 
 
 PAINTING IN HOLLAND. (18) 
 The development of art in Hol- 
 land and in Scandinavia during 
 this period is in many respects 
 analogous to that just considered, the chief 
 difference being in the identity of the actors. 
 The early part of the century finds the art 
 of Holland under the influence of Classic- 
 ism, and the traditions of the old Dutch 
 masters were for the time forgotten. Then 
 there followed the period of Romanticism, 
 which seemed even more foreign to the 
 national spirit of phlegmatic conservatism. 
 The spirit of their great ancestors of the 
 seventeenth century seemed to have fled the 
 country and it was not until foreign nations 
 had claimed the inheritance, that the Dutch 
 finally awoke to the necessity of claiming 
 their share. 
 
 B. C. Koekkoek (1803-1862), was the first of 
 the landscape painters to depart from the 
 ways of the Romanticists and return to a 
 closer observation of nature. Though his 
 landscapes are exceedingly petty in execu- 
 tion, like Verboeckhoven's sheep, they did 
 not, at least, depend on any alien idea for a 
 title to existence. Petrus van Schendel (1806- 
 1870), shared, to a certain extent, Koek- 
 koek 's merits and defects as a landscape 
 painter. 
 
 Among the figure painters it was David 
 Bles (1821-), and Hermann F. K. ten 
 
 Kate (182 2-), who modeled their work 
 on that of the old masters, while in Charles 
 Rochussen, there lived the foremost his- 
 torical painter of Holland. Meanwhile, the 
 transition from the teachings of the older to 
 the younger school was gradually taking 
 place. Men like Johannes Bosboom (1817- 
 1891), and J. W. Welssenbruch (1822-1880), 
 were not only paving the way, but them- 
 selves absorbed much of the new spirit, 
 which was really that of the old Dutch mas- 
 ters returning to earth again and adjusting 
 itself to the new conditions. 
 
 The father of modern Dutch art, and still 
 its strongest representative is Joseph Israels 
 (1824-). When twenty years of age he 
 began to seriously take up the study of art 
 at Amsterdam, where he worked in the 
 studio of Jan Krusemann, a historical 
 painter of some note. In 1845 he went to 
 Paris, studying at first with Picot, then 
 entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, under 
 Delaroche. Returning to Amsterdam in 
 1848, he began by painting historical pic- 
 tures in the style of his late master, and had 
 a hard time of it. Then he was taken seri- 
 ously ill and was compelled to change his 
 abode, going to the little fishing village 
 Zandvoort, where he not only regained his 
 health, but also a new inspiration for his 
 art. The dingy little interior of the fisher- 
 men's huts disclosed their picturesque 
 charms to his artistic perception, and he 
 found the life of the poor people, both at 
 home and on the sea, so full of artistic pos- 
 siblities, that his interest in the heroes of 
 old began to fade like the mist before the 
 rising sun. Henceforth he devotes himself 
 to the painting of the people. While his 
 first attempts are naturally still strongly 
 influenced by his academical training and 
 still lay great stress on the 4dea, he gradu- 
 ally develops into the painter of the people 
 of his country, as Millet had become the 
 painter of the French peasant. With the 
 deepest sympathy for the woes of the lowly, 
 Israels represents the tragedies of their life 
 in the most faithful and touching manner. 
 In the picture. Alone in the World, the dim 
 twilight of the room but partially reveals 
 the stern, hard truth of actuality — the gray 
 dusk kindly hides the full horror of all this
 
 626 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 ALONE I.N THE WOKLD. ISRAELS. 
 
 wretched povert_v, with its added grief of 
 separation by death. 
 
 With equal trutli Israels presents us the 
 happy side of life, the gay and innocent joys 
 of childhood. Or he takes us out to the 
 toilers of the sea, strong, square-built, 
 weather-beaten men, clumsy in their out- 
 ward appearance, plying their trade with the 
 dull regularity of a machine. Israels is 
 at once the lyric poet and the histo- 
 rian of the people, and in art the founder 
 of that realistic school which places Hol- 
 land once more in the front rank of 
 nations. The Dutch are essentially paint- 
 ers; when they awoke from a century's 
 wanderings after strange ideals, they were 
 quick to take up the brush that had been 
 laid down by their great forefathers, and 
 soon discovered that they still lived in the 
 same land, that nature still offered the 
 same material to them as it did to the mas- 
 ters of the seventeenth century, and their 
 eyes began to grow stronger, detecting new 
 and deeper truths. While Israels' fondness 
 for sober greys is cultivated by men like 
 Albert Neuhuys (1844-), Adolph Artz 
 (1837-1890), and others; Christoffel Bisschop 
 (1828-) is devoted to the brilliant color 
 effects of sunshine in richly furnished inte- 
 riors, inhabited by the men and women of 
 Friesland in their picturesque costumes. 
 Pieter Oyens (1842-) also delights in 
 strong color harmonies, which he produces 
 in pictures of studio interiors and the like. 
 
 Modern Dutch landscape 
 painting owes its liberation 
 from the tiresome prettiness of 
 Koekkoek and Schendel in the 
 first place to the influence of 
 the masters of Fontainebleau. 
 J. B. Jongkind (1819-1891), 
 must be considered the con- 
 necting link. He was indeed 
 contemporaneous with the great 
 Frenchmen, among whom he 
 lived and worked most of the 
 time, and by whom he was 
 greatly esteemed for the fine 
 atmospheric qualities of his 
 work. 
 
 The brothers Willem (1815-) 
 and Jacob Maris (1837-1889), 
 are the foremost representatives of the 
 new Dutch school of landscape paint- 
 ing. Willem is particularly fond of the rich 
 green turf and marsh reeds after a passing 
 storm has lent new freshness to their 
 aspect; while Jacob's was a more tender 
 nature, finding expression in soft delicate 
 greys and greyish browns. His technique 
 is remarkably bold and broad, and he has a 
 refined feeling for the dreamy and poetic in 
 nature. This is also true of Anton Mauve 
 (1838-1888), whose landscapes with sheep are 
 the creations of a tender poetic feeling. 
 
 P 
 
 AINTING IN HOLLAND. Con- 
 cluded. (19) 
 
 A man of robust strength and un- 
 compromising realism is the marine 
 painter 
 
 H. W. Mesdag (1831-). It has been said that 
 Mesdag is the greatest of all marine paint- 
 ers, living or dead; and in a certain sense 
 that is true, no one having rendered the 
 sea — more particularly the North Sea, off 
 the coast of Holland — with so much con- 
 vincing truth and realism. With him art is 
 not an expression of moods and poetic feel- 
 ing, but of stern realism. True, he renders 
 the sea in various moods; but it is the result 
 always of a clear vision and intellectual 
 analysis, not the outcome of spontaneous 
 feeling.
 
 CENTURY IN HOLLAND. 
 
 627 
 
 MUK.MNli O.N Tllli BAY. ME?;iiAG. 
 
 K. Klinkenberg (1852-), a pupil of Bis- 
 schop's, paints the effect of sunlight on the 
 picturesque brick houses along the canals 
 intersecting Dutch cities and villages with 
 startling reality, though withal rather 
 photographic in truthfulness. 
 
 F. H. Apol (1850-), is a most success- 
 ful painter of winter landscapes. 
 
 J. H. L. De Haas (1832-1900), has become 
 famous as a ])ainter of cattle and donkeys. 
 
 One of the most delightful of Dutch land- 
 scapists is Paul E. C. Gabriel (1828-), whose 
 pictures are full of a bright, clear light and 
 transparent air, stretching into boundless 
 space. W. Roelofs (182 2-), is a kindred 
 spirit, fond of treating the fiat expanse cf 
 pasture lands, with the picturesque wind- 
 mills set broadly against the luminous sky. 
 H. J. van der Weele, a j-oungcr man, shows 
 remarkable strength in his landscape and 
 cattle pieces. 
 
 Modern impressionism has not been with- 
 out influence on Dutch art; but, thanks to 
 national conservatism, it has made no 
 serious inroads with its vagaries. One of the 
 leading, and probably the strongest repre- 
 sentative of this new school is G. H. Breit- 
 ner (185 7-), who shows the healthy influ- 
 
 ence of Manet in his military pictures, which 
 reveal in their broad, free, treatment, the 
 truthful outward appearance of things. 
 Isaac Israels is a prominent figure in this 
 group- and in his later work B. J. Blommcrs 
 (1845), sIidws the influence of iniprtssion- 
 ism to great advantage. 
 
 There is still to be considered a group of 
 artists, whose nationality did not prevent 
 them from falling vinder the influence of 
 foreign mysticism. Mathew Maris (1835-), 
 a brother of Jacob and Willem, was the 
 first to lie influenced in this direction. A 
 healthy, realistic conception gave way to 
 a dreamj', mystical contemplation of life. 
 
 By far the most pronounced individuality 
 of this group is Jan Toorop (i86o-). His ideas 
 take the shape of "designs," which are to 
 serve decorative purposes, as tiles, windows, 
 panels and wall-paintings. Though relying 
 greatly on color combinations for their value, 
 a peculiarly graceful arrangement of lines 
 forms a strong attraction of his singular 
 conception. For instance, in the illustration 
 here given, the arrangement of lines is one 
 of a beautiful rhythm, pleasing in the ex- 
 treme, without our at once detecting or 
 caring that they are all really the outlines
 
 628 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 LAMENTATION OF THE IDEAL ON EARTH OVER THE 
 SHATTERED CROSS. TOOROP. 
 
 of human figures. The design is likewise 
 remarkable for its skillful arrangement of 
 light and dark masses. 
 
 PAINTING IN SWEDEN. {20) 
 Swedish art of the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century was derived 
 directlj' from Paris. The foremost 
 representatives were David's pupil Per 
 Kraft and Frederic Westin and in landscape 
 art Elias Jlartin. 
 
 As elsewhere, the Romantic followed upon 
 the Classic period, and, though timidly 
 enough at first, the desire for color began to 
 make itself felt. 
 
 The Overbeck of Sweden was Karl Plage= 
 inann (1805-?); while the position of 
 Schwind may be said to have been occupied 
 by Nils Johan Blommer (1816-1858), whose 
 fine poetic fancy sought to give form to the 
 sagas and folk-songs of the North. 
 
 The landscapists of the period were K. J. 
 Fahlcrantz (i 774-1861), and G. V. Palm (1810- 
 1S90), the former of whom attempted an 
 idealization of nature, while the latter was 
 painstaking and scientific in his attention to 
 detail. 
 
 In Sweden it was also the military painter 
 
 who first devoted his attention to modern and 
 national life. J. P. Soedermark (1822-1889), 
 was the ablest among these, though his 
 more ambitious battle-pictures do not com- 
 pare in artistic value with some of the por- 
 traits from his brush. The transition from 
 the soldier to the peasant picture is marked 
 by J. G. Sandberg (1782-1854), who was cap- 
 tivated by the picturesque costumes of the 
 peasants. 
 
 K, A. Dahlstroem (-1869), his contempo- 
 rary, had a keener perception of the artistic 
 possibilities of the people, and rendered them 
 with more intimate knowledge. The old 
 Dutch masters were studied successfully by 
 Per Wickenberg (1812-1846), Karl Wahlbom 
 (1810-1858) andnotably by Lindholm (1819-?). 
 About the middle of the century Diisseldorf 
 became the Mecca of Swedish artists. The 
 fame of this continental school of painting 
 had spread far and wide, and the Swedish 
 artists began eagerl}' to study its methods to 
 such an extent, that, though they continued 
 to paint Swedish subjects, they became 
 really German painters and fairl}' out-Diis- 
 seldorfed Diisseldorf. Knaus and Vautier 
 became the models after which D'Uncker 
 Nordenberg, Wallander (1862-), Jernberg 
 {1855-), and others fashioned their pictnres. 
 
 With the advent of Piloty to Munich the 
 attraction of Diisseldorf came to an end, 
 and artists from Sweden went either to the 
 Bavarian capital or else to the fountain-head 
 of the new school of painting, to Paris. 
 
 J. K. Boklund (1817-1880), studied at first 
 under Piloty and then with Couture. Re- 
 turning to Sweden, he became director of 
 the Academy at Stockholm, and exerted 
 there much the same influence that Piloty 
 did at Munich. 
 
 J. F. Hoeckert (1826-1866), avoided history- 
 painting and found in the life of his people 
 fit subjects for his brush. He was the first 
 who did this with remarkable skill, a fine 
 feeling for color, and an avoidance, at the 
 same time, of the anecdotal in his themes. 
 An Interior of a Lapland Hut, painted in 
 1857, was seen at the Paris Salon; while his 
 Divine Service in Lapland received a first 
 class medal at the World's Fair of the same 
 year. 
 
 Georg von Rosen (1843-), who sue-
 
 CENTURY IN SCAN DIN A VIA. 
 
 629 
 
 ceeded Boklund as director of the Stockholm 
 Academy, is a man of good training, which 
 he received at Paris, Munich, Weimar and 
 Brussels. While the influence of the 
 theatrical, historical school is apparent in 
 even such works as his otherwise fine por 
 trait of the famous explorer of the polar 
 regions, Nordenskjold, he devotes himself 
 with like skill to archaic subjects in the 
 style of Hendrik Leys. 
 
 Julius Kronberg (1850-), is influenced 
 by the art of Makart. 
 
 History-painting found in Gustav Hellquist 
 (185 1- 1890) a painter of rare qualities and 
 greater promise, who, had not a cruel fate 
 bereft him of reason and life, might have 
 exerted a strong influence upon the art of his 
 country. By training largely German, his 
 observation of nature was far keener and 
 truer than that of his teachers; in his paint- 
 ing he emploj-s a fine gre\- tone, quite unlike 
 anything at that time known to Munich, 
 where his King Waldemar Atterdag at 
 AVisby, set the art critics to pondering over 
 its merits. It was painted from studies in 
 the open air, to which Hellquist was one of 
 the first to devote himself with intelligence 
 and great success. 
 
 Gustav Cedarstroem (1845-) and Nils 
 Forsbcrg (1841-) are two other able histor- 
 ical painters. 
 
 Among landscapists M. Larsson (1825- 
 64) used brilliant but crude color-effects ; and 
 Alfred Wahlberg (1834-) drew inspiration 
 from Dupre. 
 
 Eduard Bergh (1828-1880), paved the way 
 for the more recent conception of landscape 
 painting, which does not seek its excuse in 
 the heroic, "grand" style, or the brilliantly 
 effective, though he had paid tribute to it 
 when under the influence of Calame, after 
 first having studied at Diisseldorf. It was 
 not until he finally settled in Sweden that 
 his true feeling found expression in the lov- 
 ing and poetic rendering of quiet bits of 
 nature. 
 
 Paris had the most powerful influence 
 over the younger school of Swedish paint- 
 ers. While some have taken up their per- 
 manent abode in the French capital, others 
 returned to their native country and there 
 led Swedish art into new channels. 
 
 Hv courUsy of Bfrlin Photo. Co. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF NORDENSKJOLD. ROSEN. 
 
 Per Eckstrom is attracted by the lonely 
 and desolate spots in landscape and suc- 
 ceeds in rendering them in a fascinating 
 manner. 
 
 A remarkable success in painting night 
 and twilight scenes has been achieved by 
 Karl Nordstrdm (1855-) ; and similar mo- 
 tives are treated with hardly less skill bj' 
 Nils Kreuger (1858-). An enviable posi- 
 tion has been gained by Prince Eugene 
 of Sweden (1864-), whose landscapes, in the 
 spirit of modernity, show a decided indi- 
 vidual conception and are beautifully poetic 
 in feeling. 
 
 The Swedes of great prominence and 
 strong influence on their native brethren 
 in art who have taken up their permanent 
 abode in Paris are Salmson and Hagborg 
 and Gegerfelt. Hugo Salmson (1845-) 
 was influenced bj' Bastien-Lepage to study 
 figures out of doors, and in turn set the ex- 
 ample for his younger countrymen for a 
 closer observation of nature than had 
 hitherto obtained. His pictures are always 
 refined in tone and painted with a skillful
 
 630 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 hand, which gained for t'.iem great popu- 
 larity, even in Paris, where stronger men 
 abound. In 1S78 he exhioited the picture, 
 Laborers in the Turnip Field, which marks 
 the turning point not only in his own art, 
 but also in the art of Sweden. 
 
 August Hagborg's career (1852-) is 
 in many respects identical with that of 
 Salmson. He too, like the latter, was at 
 first addicted to the costume picture, until 
 he found in the dwellers by the seashore 
 fit subjects for his brush. While he en- 
 deavors to make his fisherman and maidens 
 acceptable in "good society" by smooth 
 painting, graceful bearing and a certain 
 handsomeness, j'et he succeeds in rendering 
 an unmistakable out-of-door truth, which 
 places him among the notable leaders of tlie 
 movement initiated by Lepage. 
 
 Vv'^ilhelm v. Qegerfelt (1844-) a land- 
 
 HATHERS. ZORN. 
 
 scape painter of considerable ability at the 
 time, has now been left somewhat behind. 
 But he was a man of considerable merit and 
 of great influence among his countrymen. 
 
 Among animal painters, none have 
 achieved such success as Bruno Liljefors 
 (i860-). It was left to the artists of 
 Munich to discover his merits in 1892, and 
 since then he has become famous. Liljefors 
 is mainly self-taught; for when he was 
 dropped from the list of academy students at 
 Stockholm as without talent, he betook him- 
 self to the country, where he became aclose 
 observer of animal life and nature generally. 
 
 Of the younger figure painters the names 
 of Richard Bergh (1858-), Alf Wallander 
 (1862-), Oscar Bjorck (i860-), and Carl 
 Larsson (1855-), represent artists of more 
 than usual ability. Larsson is no doubt 
 the one of greatest versatility. Beginning 
 as an illustrator, he took up in the course 
 of time every branch of art, made him- 
 self familiar with every technique and 
 material, until he felt himself fully equipped 
 for monumental painting, to which he finally 
 devoted himself with much success. 
 
 The most commanding figure in Swedish 
 art of to-day, the one marking its farthest 
 progress, and consequently one of the most 
 advanced and best known artists of the day, 
 is Anders Zorn (i860-). His early am- 
 bition was to became a sculptor. But when 
 he adopted the study of painting, he made a 
 success of portraiture, while still at the 
 Academy. Then he began to travel, going 
 to Italy and Spain, and settled in London, 
 in 1885, where he at once became popular. 
 From here he made frequent journeys, and 
 continued to experiment in his art, painting 
 now in water color, now in oil. Among his 
 striking studies are the figures of bathers, 
 in which the effect of light on the nude 
 bodies and the ripple of the water are ren- 
 dered with most remarkable truth. His 
 portraits are handled with a boldness and 
 dash that at times verges on the brutal, but 
 in his best efforts command highest admira- 
 tion. Among his notable paintings is the 
 iuterior of a Paris omnibus, and a ball-room 
 scene, which shows a keen observation of 
 the figures in graceful motion. Zorn is no 
 less remarkable as an etcher.
 
 CENTCRY IX SCANDINAVIA. 
 
 631 
 
 PAINTING IN NORWAY. (2 1 ) 
 The spirit of the strong, bold, ad- 
 venturous Viking is easily dis- 
 cernible in Norwegian art. As yet 
 it has hardly a history; none, at least, that 
 would seem to pay for the pains of a 
 thorough investigation beyond the begin- 
 ning of the century, oreren of the first third 
 of the century. The first Norwegian artist 
 of any note is C. Dahl (1788-1857), who has 
 been already considered in his relation to 
 German landscape art. 
 
 Adolf Tiedemand (1814-1876), the first 
 Norwegian figure painter of note, we have 
 also met in Germany, where, at Diisseldorf, 
 he was a leader in the Scandinavian colony. 
 Hans Dahl (1849-) also owes his art edu- 
 cation to the same school, and though he is 
 not free from its weaknesses, he ap- 
 proaches nature in the spirit of love for 
 truth, though always with the purpose cf 
 eliciting a happy smile. Ludwig Munthe 
 (1843-), and A. Normann (1848-), are exceed- 
 ingly able landscape painters, displaying 
 vigor and strength in their work. 
 
 When Munich began to crowd Diisseldorf 
 from its leading position, the Norwegians 
 also were attracted to the school of Piloty 
 and the men working with him ti) build up a 
 new school of painting. While some few 
 remained permanently in Germany, many 
 returned to their native land, having, not 
 infrequently, first stopped at Paris for a 
 while. Under their influence the crudeness 
 of native art began to disappear, and a 
 strong, healthy, realistic art of unmistakable 
 nationality to take shape. 
 
 N. G. Wenzel (1859-), is one of these 
 typical artists. He is fond of strong light 
 effects, caring nothing for finer gradations 
 of tone. The same may be said of Frederick 
 Kolstoe (1S60-), who shows probably a 
 little less crudity in his treatment of the fig- 
 ures. Christian Krohg (1852-), is justly 
 considered the strongest among the painters 
 of the fisher-folk. Krohg, the painter, is 
 inseparable from Krohg, the author; in 
 both callings it is the naturalist of the most 
 pronounced type who expresses himself in a 
 forceful, uncompromising manner. As a 
 painter his greatest successes liave been 
 
 achieved by his pictures from the hazardous 
 life of the pilots. 
 
 A man cf tender feeling is Christian 
 Skredsvic (1854-). He is fond of quiet 
 ctTects and soft tones, and his pictures are 
 veiy poetic in sentiment. He has also 
 entered the realm of religious painting, 
 which he approaches in the modern spirit of 
 Uhde with undeniable success. 
 
 Eilif Peterssen (185 2-), who, as a pupil 
 
 By prrmisUon of F. Hanfstaengl. 
 
 SLI(;Hr SKIRMISH. DAHL. 
 
 of Lindenschniidt at first painted histor- 
 ical subjects, has latterly turned his atten- 
 tion with great success to modern life and 
 to landscape. Under the influence of the 
 old masters of the Venetian school he 
 painted a number of altar-pictures; but, 
 after returning to his native land, he learned 
 to love and paint the landscape of liis home 
 in all its charm of quiet refinement. 
 
 Otto 5inding (1842-), is a man of no
 
 632 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 definite convictions, now coming under the 
 influence of the Diisseldorf School, then 
 under that of Munich, and again paying his 
 tribute to Bocklin, and to the plein-airists. 
 Something good will always be found in 
 whatever he paints, but he is never him- 
 self. 
 
 The artist who first discovered the true 
 charm of Norwegian landscape in the quiet, 
 out-of-the-way corners of nature, where 
 she took no trouble to appear majestic 
 and grand, was Amandus Nilson (1833-). 
 Though his first impressions were received 
 under the training of Diisseldorf, he began 
 to see "with his own eyes" after returning 
 to Norway, where the po3try of desolate, 
 waste pieces of scenery appealed to his 
 feeling. 
 
 Robust and healthy, sparkling in the 
 fresh, clear light of the northern sun, such 
 is the art of Fritz Thaulow (1847-). He 
 is particularly fond of winter effects, and 
 chooses the simplest of "motifs'" for his 
 pictures: a little red house, half hid in the 
 snow, with a figure or two, and a clear blue 
 sky above. Or a river, struggling to free 
 itself from its burden of ice and snow; or 
 the angry whirl marking the track of a huge 
 steamer. No one has ever rendered the 
 motion of water with greater truthful- 
 ness. 
 
 A healthy realist among the figure paint- 
 ers is Erik Werenskiold (1S55-), To judge 
 him correctly, however, he must not be con- 
 sidered as painter only; for in his illustra- 
 tions to Northern fairy-tales he gives us a 
 series of charming creations. 
 
 A thoroughly able and conscientious 
 painter is Jan Ekenaes (r847-). He paints 
 the Norwegian fishers at their various occu- 
 pations in summer and winter in a style 
 which is neither antiquated nor quite mod- 
 ern, and therefore entirely acceptable to 
 most people. 
 
 Strangely enough, neither Sweden nor 
 Norway has produced any really great 
 marine painter. The shore pictures of Karl 
 Edvard Dircks (1855-), are certainly not 
 without considerable merit, and peaceful 
 seascapes of Nils Hansteen (1855.), are ad- 
 mirable in their harmonious coloring, but 
 neither of these call for any special praise. 
 
 PAINTING IN DENMARK.(22) 
 "The same mysterious fra- 
 grance which breathes from the 
 works of Jacobsen, the dreamy 
 disposition to lose consciousness of self, 
 that melting away and vanishing in mist, 
 suggesting the soft outlines of the coasts of 
 Zealand, is likewise peculiar to Danish art. 
 It, too, has something abashed in spirit, an 
 infinite need for what is delicate and re- 
 fined, introspective, diffident, irresolute, 
 fainting and despondent, youthful and 
 innocent, and yet glimmering with tears, a 
 yearning that is like sadness, a renunciation 
 that finds vent in elegies that are still and 
 keenly sweet. It also avoids the cold, clear 
 day, and the sun, so indiscreet in his revela- 
 tions. Everything is covered with a soft, 
 subdued light; everything is silent, myste- 
 rious, luxuriating in pleasant and yet mourn- 
 ful reveries. Melting landscapes are 
 presented in lines that vanish in mist, and 
 with indecisive depths and tones. Or there 
 are dark rooms, where tea is upon the table 
 and quiet people are leaning back in their 
 chairs." Nothing could give a more truth- 
 ful general picture of Danish art than the 
 above excerpt from Dr. Muther's "History 
 of Modern Painting." 
 
 Before the Munich International Exhibi- 
 tion of 1888 comparatively few people out- 
 side of little Denmark knew much of its art. 
 The writer, witnessing the advent to Munich 
 of these artists, was among the first to be- 
 speak for them a lasting success, and later 
 years have justified this claim. An ex- 
 tended review of Danish art is unfortunately 
 at this moment out of question; let no one 
 misconstrue the brevity of this account into 
 a refusal to recognize the full importance of 
 Danish art, which is older than that of 
 Sweden and Norway, and has good claims 
 for our attention next to that of Holland. 
 
 At the beginning of the century the sculp- 
 tor Thorwaldsen was the reigning spirit ; he 
 dominated the art of all countries at the time 
 as the great leader in Classicism, and paint- 
 ers like Carstens — if painter he can be called 
 — were of the same spirit. 
 
 C. V. Eckersberg {1783- 1853), had received 
 the same early training at the Copenhagen
 
 CENTURY IN SCAN DIN A 17.1. 
 
 ^Zi 
 
 Academy. He then studied for awhile 
 under David at Paris and afterwards went 
 to Rome. Very naturally his early works 
 were all in the classic spirit; but even in 
 Rome he developed a fondness for the 
 purely picturesque, to find which he did not 
 consider it necessary to look for classic 
 ruins; and, after his return to Copenhagen, 
 he cultivated a closer observation of nature 
 than had been the custom with the artists (,f 
 the time. In looking at his paintings to-day, 
 we must not forget how little artists knew 
 of or cared for color and painting at the time 
 in the rest of Europe. Danish painters had 
 never gone so far as to consider the use of 
 color detrimental to art; Eckersberg's pre- 
 decessors had indeed borrowed from the old 
 masters a certain equality of tone, but Eckers- 
 berg relied on his own eyes to discover the 
 qualities of nature, and in teaching he con- 
 stantly dwelt on the importance of using 
 nature, and not tradition, as a model. Thus 
 he laid the foundation for an early develop- 
 ment of a truthful and realistic ari in Den- 
 mark. His pupils for the most part followed 
 him in his love for nature and painted 
 scenes from contemporaneous life with much 
 care for detail, thoutjh of little coloristic 
 merit, a quality which was developed later. 
 
 "With few exceptions his pupils avoided 
 the story-telling (juality in their pictures. 
 One such exception is Vilhelm Marstrand 
 (1810- 1 873), whose works are genre pictures 
 with a humorous satirical vein much ad- 
 mired in his time. Nothing is so sure of 
 success in art as something aniusini^, to find 
 which the people go to the theater, read 
 funny stories, and scan political cartoons, 
 often to the neglect of worthier material. 
 Marstrand traveled a good deal, spending 
 much time in Italy, where, for a time, he 
 came under the sway of Ricdel. Finally, 
 his humor deserted him and he became 
 very sober and serious. His example led 
 other artists to desert Denmark for the 
 South and the East. In Rome they asso- 
 ciated with the German Romanticists, and 
 learned to replace the study of nature by an 
 imitation of the old Italian masters 
 
 The revolutionary period from 184S to 
 1850 put an end to this danger to Danish 
 art and led the painters back to the spirit of 
 
 Eckersberg. They again devoted their 
 attention to native landscape and native life 
 in all its simple truth, without the humor- 
 ous anecdote. Such artists were Julius 
 Exner (1825-), Frederick Vermehren (1823-) 
 and Christen Dalsgaard (1S24-). 
 
 While elsewhere laudscape painting was 
 still under the ban of Romanticism, the 
 Danes developed an intimacy of feeling for 
 the simple, quiet beauty of their own coun- 
 try. Artists like Christen Kobke (1810- 
 1S48) and P. C. Skovgaard (1.S17-1876), Vil- 
 helm Kyhn (1819-) and Gotfred Rump (1816- 
 1 880), are all men with an appreciation of the 
 picturesiiue qualities of their native land. 
 
 Among the marine painters the foremost 
 rank must be accorded to Anton Melbye 
 (1818-1875.) 
 
 P 
 
 AINTIXG IN DENMARK.— a<«- 
 
 But the excellent qualities all these 
 artists possessed cannot make one 
 overlook their weak technique. In this 
 respect the rest of Europe was making 
 rapid strides forward, while the Danes were 
 still laboring in their quiet, diligent, old- 
 fashioned way. In 1867 at the Exposition 
 in Paris, where Denmark was represented 
 by a collective exhibit, their great shortcom- 
 ing was revealed to thein, and they very 
 soon determined upon learning to paint. 
 Artists again began to travel to foreign 
 countries in order to study the methods of 
 foreign masters. As is but natural, the first 
 result was that many were alienated from 
 home traditions to sucli an extent that they 
 became foreigners to Danish art. Such was 
 Carl Bloch (1834-1890), who became a clever 
 genre painter and also a historical painter 
 of note. Axel Helsted (1847-), Vilem 
 Rosenstand (1838-), Mrs. Elizabeth Jeri- 
 chan-Bsumann (1S19-1S81) and others 
 studied in Paris, and in Germany, sacrificing 
 much, if not all, of their national sentiment. 
 The one man who succeeded in preserving 
 his strong nationalitv in spite of foreign study 
 was Christian Zahrtmann (1843-). He 
 is a staunch realist of the type of Rembrandt. 
 In t!ie reproductions, his paintings of the
 
 634 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 Princess Eleonora Christina bear a strong 
 resemblance to the works of this master, 
 though in color effect they are more akin to 
 the works of modern painters. 
 
 A further step forward in Danish painting 
 dates from the influence of Millet and 
 Bastien-Lepage. Artists had fully realized 
 that above all they must equip themselves 
 with a good technique, though they need not 
 therefore sacrifice their nationality and their 
 old-time devotion to simple truth to nature. 
 
 The chief representative of this latest de- 
 velopment in the art of Denmark is P. S. 
 Kroyer (1851-). Beginning his studies at 
 Copenhagen, he received, at the Academy 
 in 1874, a traveling scholarship, whereupon 
 he went to Paris and studied first under 
 Bonnat, then spent Siime time in Brittany, 
 painting numerous studies of the peasants 
 
 FISHERMEN. ANCHfK. 
 
 and laborers, and finally visited Spain and 
 Italy. His painting of the Italian Village 
 Hatter gained for him the first medal in 
 the Paris Salon of 1881, and when it was 
 exhibited in Denmark it created a profound 
 impression, marking, indeed, the beginning 
 of a new period in Danish art. Returning 
 to his native land he at once began to 
 devote himself to native subjects, painting 
 the sturdy fishermen at their toil. He 
 brought to bear on his work not only re- 
 markable skill in technique, which he had 
 acquired under French training, but also 
 strong characterization and a refinement of 
 feeling for tone entirely his own. Kroyer 
 is a manysided artist and paints figure, land- 
 scape and marine subjects with equal skill, 
 and has also shown ability of a high order 
 as a sculptor. One of his most notewcirthy 
 
 paintings is the large portrait group, repre- 
 senting the Committee of Frenchmen for the 
 Exhibition at Copenhagen in 1888. It con- 
 tains thirty-one figures, all of whom are men 
 of great fame, seated or standing around a 
 long table, on which are placed two petro- 
 leum lamps, shedding their warm light on 
 the immediate surrounding, while through 
 the window in the background the colder 
 rays of waning daylight fall on the figures 
 near by. The effect of this double lighting 
 is rendered in a most skillful manner, which 
 makes this picture one of the most impor- 
 tant productions of modern painting and 
 places its author in the very front rank of 
 living painters. (See the full page cut, 
 p. 637.) Kroyer's influence on Danish 
 art proved most healthful and far-reach- 
 ing. To a great extent this may also 
 be said of his friend and fellow-student, 
 L. Tuxen (1853-), who acquired his great 
 skill also under French teaching. But he 
 has not, like Kroyer, remained fully the 
 Dane at heart, and is more of a cosmopoli- 
 tan. He has executed many important 
 state commissions, mural decorations and 
 portraits. As a portrait painter A. A. Jern- 
 dorff (1846-) displays great ability and strong 
 power tif characterization. The painting of 
 more intimate Danish life finds its foremost 
 representative, in 
 
 Viggo Johansen (185 1-), and the same in- 
 timacy of feeling, the same quiet, poetic charm 
 is to be found in his landscapes. Johansen's 
 example is followed by numerous other paint- 
 ers, most of whom, however, confine them- 
 selves more or less to some specialty. 
 
 The little village of Skagen, on the north- 
 ern end of Jutland, has become a favorite 
 resort for a group of painters of great 
 ability. Kroyer is one of these, while to 
 Michael Ancher (1849-), and his wife, 
 Anna (1859-), belongs the credit of having 
 discovered its artistic possibilities. Mrs. 
 Ancher was born at Skagen and when about 
 sixteen years old began to study art at 
 Copenhagen under Kyhm. Then she re- 
 turned to her native village and painted 
 the fisher-folk in their quiet little homes. 
 Michael Ancher paints the fishermen on 
 the sea or on the strand, in a broad, direct 
 manner without grace or refinement, which
 
 CENTURY JX RUSSIA, HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA. 
 
 635 
 
 would fail to agree with these big, heavy 
 toilers of the sea with their weather-beaten 
 skin and coarse, heavy garments. 
 
 Other painters of the sea are Carl Locher 
 and Thorolf Pedersen, with whom the sea 
 is generally sufficient without the introduc- 
 tion of ships or figures; it is a somber and 
 majestic, endless waste. 
 
 The dreamy melancholy of Danish land- 
 scape is successfully rendered in the works 
 of the younger school. There is a strange 
 fascination in the works of Julius Paulsen 
 (i860-), for instance, with tlicir broad, 
 soft and deep effects, at first sight not at all 
 attractive. Paulsen is also a figure painter 
 of singular strength, revealed especially in 
 his portraits. Among his figure pieces an 
 Adam and Eve created much comment both 
 on account of its singular daring in composi- 
 tion and the somewhat too broad treatment 
 of the landscape background. 
 
 Plein-air painting finds noteworthy repre- 
 sentation in a number of young men. Viggo 
 Pedersen (1851-) is one of these; he has 
 studied French impressionism, and applies 
 his skill and knowledge mainly to Italian 
 subjects. Theodor Philipsen (1840-), Chris- 
 tian Zacho (1843-) and G.Jttfred Christensen 
 (1845-), are likewise noteworthy for the 
 influence they exercised on Danish landscape 
 painting by emphasizing the element of 
 color. A reaction against pure naturalism 
 has also set in among the Danes; there is 
 the same conviction that art has a still wider 
 field and may legitimately deal with the 
 purely suggestive and decorative. Begin- 
 ning their career mostly as naturalistic paint- 
 ers, such artists as Joachim and Nils Skov- 
 gaard (sons of the famous landscape painter), 
 Harald (1864-) and Agnes (1862-) Slott- 
 Mbller and notably J. F. Willumsen (1863-), 
 and V. Hammershoy (1S64-), are forming 
 an entirely new school in Danish art, which 
 has replaced the strong and direct natural- 
 ism of their predecessors by a soft, dreamy 
 suggestiveness, mainly decorative in effect. 
 
 As in other countries, the more advanced 
 painters of Denmark foiuid it advisable to 
 form a closer union among themselves, and 
 to bring their works before the public in 
 separate exhibitions. These have become 
 known as "The Free Exhibitions." 
 
 P 
 
 AINTIN'G IN RUSSIA, HUN- 
 GARY AND BOHEMIA. (24) 
 
 The art of Russia is still little 
 known in western countries, and is 
 not likely to become a subject of very deep 
 interest for some time. Perhaps unjustly. 
 To the student of art, who draws his lessons 
 as well from the shortcomings as from the 
 merits of others, the struggles of these 
 artists to find an adequate expression for 
 their intenfe, pent-up feelings have some- 
 thing pathetic. Before we gain a more 
 thorough knowledge of the people than we 
 now possess, we cannot expect to have any 
 very deep sympathy with their art; and the 
 praises sung — not loudly, either! — by their 
 native writers anent the achievements of 
 Russian painters, bring no conviction to 
 our unprepared minds. Even in Repin, 
 whom they delight to honor as their greatest 
 artist, we fail to find any element of refine- 
 ment which alone could make his art 
 thoroughly palatable. At the World's Fair 
 at Chicago he was represented by one paint- 
 ing, the Cossack's Answer, which shows the 
 artist at the height of his powers. But even 
 here, in spite of his skillful technique, ac- 
 quired in Paris, one could not help being 
 repulsed by the brutality of it all. Still, it 
 would be unjust to weigh the merits of 
 R6pin by this one picture. 
 
 The first artist of the century who com- 
 mands our attention is Orest Kiprensky 
 (1783-1836), who has undeniable merits as a 
 portrait painter. His contemporar)', Alex- 
 ander Orlovsky (i 777-1832), was the first 
 battle painter of any note. As elsewhere, 
 the painter of peasants appeared next; 
 Alexei Venezianov (1779-1845), became the 
 Biirkel of Russia. The following period 
 was that of historical painting, in which 
 Karl Briilov (1799-1852), achieved an unpar- 
 alleled success by his sensational painting. 
 The Fall of Pompeii, which created bound- 
 less admiration wherever it was exhibited; 
 and yet, it is a poor work of art, a combina- 
 tion of conventional stagesettings and Ben- 
 gal fireworks. Still, it awakened in Russia a 
 desire for color in painting; unfortunately, it 
 also served as an example for artists, whose 
 only ambition it became to equal Briilov.
 
 PAIXTLXG OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 After a flood of historical art had swept 
 over the land, there arose those who desired 
 to express reality. Alexander Ivanov 
 (1806-1858) devoted himself to a close and 
 conscientious study of nature and after pre- 
 paring himself fur some twenty odd years, 
 produced the Messiah Appearing Amongst 
 the People, a work falling far short of the 
 promising sketches, but interesting, none 
 the less, as an example of early attempts at 
 realism. 
 
 Artists now began to paint t!ie life of the 
 people around them, after literature had 
 shown the way. Genre-painting scored its 
 first decided success with P. Fedotov (1815- 
 
 COSSACK.S ANSWKR TO THE SULTAN. REPIN 
 
 1852), who was followed b)^ a number of 
 painters, laying special stress on the humor- 
 ous point of their compositions. 
 
 With changing political conditions the 
 picture "with a social purpose" came into 
 existence. Vassily Perov (1833-1882), is 
 the most important and withal the health- 
 iest among the artists devoting them- 
 selves to this particular realm ; while the one 
 who has become mc.st widely known is Vas- 
 sily Verestchagin (1S42-), who attempted to 
 become the apostle of peace by picturing the 
 horrors of war. 
 
 Through the careful observation of nature 
 by the landscape painters, the simple and 
 truthful rendering of figures was again 
 brought to the attention of artists, who 
 
 gradually learned to dispense with the use 
 of anecdote in their paintings. This move- 
 ment culminated in the revolt of a number 
 of Academy students at St. Petersburg, in 
 1863, who refused to be dictated to concern- 
 ing a choice of subject for a competitive com 
 position. The leader of this group was Ivan 
 Kramskoi (1837-18S7), whose ideas were far 
 ahead of his ability, though it was he who 
 gave to Rus.^ian art a new life. These young 
 secessionists formed the nucleus around 
 which the artists of advanced and modern 
 ideas soon began to cluster. The "Society 
 for Traveling Exhibitions" is the medium 
 through which their ideas and works are 
 
 carried to all parts 
 of the empire, and 
 they thus consti- 
 tute the most effec- 
 tive national 
 school of art. Not 
 all of these young 
 men have attained 
 to any great emi- 
 nence; some, in- 
 deed have rather 
 early deserted the 
 fundamental doc- 
 trines advanced by 
 the original "thir- 
 teen," like the 
 much admired 
 Contantin Ma* 
 kovsky (1839-) 
 for instance, who 
 has done so much to misrepresent Russian 
 art. Nor is his younger brother Vladimir 
 (1846-), characteristic of what these young 
 enthusiasts aspired to become. 
 
 All that was best and genuine in their 
 ideas seems to have finally centered in Elias 
 Repin (1844-). In Paris and Italy he 
 acquired his remarkable technique without 
 losing his national traits, and when he 
 returned home established at once his claim 
 to being the greatest painter of his country 
 by producing a remarkable picture. Men 
 Towing a Ship Up the River Volga. 
 Though not ostensibly animated by any social 
 purpose, the pictures of Repin appear to 
 offset those of Verestchagin: the latter 
 pleads for peace through the horrors of war.
 
 CENTURY IN RUSSIA, HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA. 
 
 639 
 
 while Repiii would seem to justify revolu- 
 tion by picturing the horrible oppression 
 and debasement of the masses. In the pic- 
 ture mentioned, a number of beings, scarcely 
 human in their dull resignation, are yoked 
 together, not unlike oxen, pulling a clumsy 
 bark up stream, while the sun is beating 
 down hotly upon their shelterless path. 
 
 This same sad note of oppression is ever 
 present in his pictures of the people, whom 
 he paints with profound knowledge. When 
 he ventures into history, he delights in the 
 horrible and bloody, as in his Ivan the 
 Cruel, who is represented, with sickening 
 realism, having slain his son in a fit of 
 anger. Where he tries to be neither sad 
 nor horrible, his humor takes the shape of 
 brutal Cossack jokes. 
 
 Such, then, is the final stage of Russian 
 art at the end of the nineteenth century. 
 Of all the art we have considered, it is 
 the least sympathetic, is, in fact rather 
 repulsive to our finer sensibilities. Still, 
 we cannot help acknowledging that it con- 
 tains the elements of progress, because it is 
 
 based on truth; if this truth is of a kind to 
 make us shudder, we can only hope that it 
 may serve a beneficent purpose in the 
 end. 
 
 If the mere choice of national subjects by 
 artists were sufficient to establish a national 
 art, then, truly, Hungary has ample cause 
 to boast of such; for, in whatever country 
 the Hungarian painters may have estab- 
 lished their temporary or permanent home, 
 they almost invariably resort to the life of 
 their native country in their choice of sub- 
 jects. But the language of their brush is 
 that of the foreign schools: Munich, or 
 Vienna, or Paris, notably the first, where 
 the majority of their famous masters have 
 absorbed the teachings of Piloty and his 
 followers. 
 
 The most \videly-known of Hungarian 
 painters is undoubtedly Michael Munkacsy 
 (1844-1900). While history will probably 
 not accord him the eminent position claimed 
 for him by his admirers, it cannot be denied 
 that he achieved brilliant success during his 
 lifetime. He studied awhile at Munich, then 
 
 CHRIST BKFORK IMLATF,. Ml'NKACSY.
 
 640 
 
 PAINTING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY IN BOHEMIA 
 
 at Diisseldorf, under Knaus, and, against 
 the latter's advice, undertook to paint the 
 picture which at once assured him great 
 fame, The Last Days of a Condemned 
 Criminal. Thereupon he went to Paris 
 where he entered upon a most prosperous 
 career, painting, at first, a number of genie 
 pictures illustrative of Hungarian life. A 
 picture of himself and wife in his stiulio 
 (now at the Layton Gallery in Milwaukee) 
 and, soon after, his Milton Dictating Para- 
 dise Lost to his Daughters (now at the 
 Lennox Librar}', New York), served to 
 make his fame secure, although he continued 
 to feel dissatisfied with himself. Spurred 
 to the utmost by his own ambition as well 
 as that of speculating art dealers, he em- 
 barked on the field of historical painting, 
 producing at first Christ Before Pilate, soon 
 followed by an equally large canvas Gol- 
 gotha. Both pictures were exhibited in 
 nearly all the principal cities of Europe and 
 America, being heralded everywhere as the 
 unsurpassable masterpieces of modern art. 
 Thereafter, numerous portraits, especially 
 of ladies in richly furnished surroundings, 
 and genre pictures of more or less merit 
 emanated from his prolific brush. But 
 under the stress of more ambitious works 
 his mental and physical powers gradually 
 began to give wa}', until after the comple- 
 tion of an Ecce Homo, in 1S97, he laid down 
 his brush forever. 
 
 Julius Benczur (1844), at present director 
 of the Hungarian Academy at Buda-Pesth, 
 is known as the most skillful imitator of 
 his master, Piloty. Of late he has devoted 
 himself mainly to portraiture, though his- 
 torical painting still occupies his attention. 
 
 Alexander Wagner (1838-), and Alex- 
 ander Liezen-Mayer (1S39-1898), both pupils 
 of Piloty, became professors at the Munich 
 Academ)', and have done but little to ad- 
 vance their country's art. 
 
 Though many also desire to pose as his- 
 torical painters, the majority of Hungarian 
 artists devote themselves to the painting of 
 genre pictures. They have added nothing 
 new to modern art, and seem mostly content 
 
 tT aspire to the distinction of becoming 
 Hungarian Defreggers, Knauses, Griitz- 
 ners, etc., replacing the German by Hun- 
 garian peasant's costumes or uniforms. 
 They are, largely, clever painters, and not 
 slow to adapt themselves to modern 
 thoughts and methods prevailing at the 
 foreign schools where they study. 
 
 Much the same applies to the modern art 
 of Bohemia, the majority of whose painters 
 owe their education to Munich. 
 
 Vacslav Brozic (1852-igoi) after vainly 
 attempting to enlist the interest of Piloty, 
 finally turned to Paris, where he rose to 
 prominence as a painter of historical sub- 
 jects, and, on the whole, though in a less 
 brilliant fashion, had a career similar to that 
 of Munkacsy. He, too, was induced by 
 circumstances and the commercialism of art 
 dealers lo devote his great talent to his- 
 torical pictures on a large scale, and, thus, 
 like the great Hungarian, remained uninflu- 
 enced by the spirit of progress in modern 
 art, A picture typical of his style is Colum- 
 bus Before the Council at Salamanca, now 
 at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. 
 
 In spite of their stubborn attempts to 
 impress upon the world the importance of 
 their independent Slavonic nationality, the 
 Bohemians do not display any strong 
 national traits in art; with them, too, it is 
 merely in the selection of local themes, 
 while the manner of their expression is 
 entirely that of their neighbors among 
 whom they chiefly dwell. 
 
 So, too, it is with the Poles. Their best 
 known artists have, to all intents and pur- 
 poses, become either Germans, or Austrians, 
 or Frenchmen ; and a Polish art exists almost 
 in name only. Joseph Brandt (1841-), Al- 
 fred Kowalski-"Wierusz and Jan Rosen, 
 though all painting Polish subjects, owe 
 their art education to Munich, where they 
 also have their permanent residence. Jan 
 Matejko (1838-1892) .who was director of 
 the Academy at Crakow, may be called the 
 Polish Piloty; but though coming after him, 
 he has not advanced art much beyond the 
 latter's doctrine.
 
 Universityof California Libraiy 
 
 This bookit Dl E an the 
 
 JULlgB! 
 JAN 3 1997 
 RECEIVED 
 
 FEB 031997 
 
 /\RTS UtSHMnV 
 
 UBH/ 
 
 r- ? WKS FHiiw Ohtt iWm 
 UCLALRUSLL 
 
 THK LllJKAKi 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 UCLA-Art Library 
 
 'ND190K81P 
 
 L 006 247 056 2 
 
 UC SOHTHFRkl RFGinNai_ i IRRARV FACILITY 
 
 null III III II I II 
 D 000 997 411 4