The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) Revised edition continued by the author to the end of the XIX century

THE HISTORY OF
MODERN PAINTING

ANTON GRAFF PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

Printed by
Morrison & Gibb Limited
Edinburgh

CONTENTS

  PAGE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ix INTRODUCTION

Old and new histories of art.—Seeming “restlessness” of the nineteenth century.—To recognise “style” in modern art, and to prove the logic of its evolution, the principles of judgment in the old art-histories are also to be employed for the new.—The question is, what new element the age brought into the history of art, not what it borrowed eclectically from earlier ages

1 BOOK I THE LEGACY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CHAPTER I COMMENCEMENT OF MODERN ART IN ENGLAND

The commencement of modern art in England.—Two divisions of modern art since the sixteenth century.—Classic and naturalistic schools.—English succeed the Dutch in the seventeenth century.—William Hogarth: his purpose and his inartistic methods.—Sir Joshua Reynolds.—Thomas Gainsborough.—Comparison between them.—Reynolds, an historical painter; Gainsborough, a painter of landscape.—Pictures of Richard Wilson show the end of classical landscape.—Those of Gainsborough, the beginning of “paysage intime”

9 CHAPTER II THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF ART ON THE CONTINENT

English influence upon the art of the Continent from the middle of the eighteenth century.—Sturm-und-Drang period in literature.—Rousseau.—Goethe’s “Werther.”—Schiller’s “Robbers.”—Spain: Francis Goya, his pictures and etchings.—France: Antoine Watteau frees himself from “baroque” influences, and directs the tendency of French art towards the Low Countries.—Pastel: Maurice Latour, Rosalba Carriera, Liotard.—Society painters: Lancrat, Pater.—The decorative painters: François Lemoine, François Boucher, Fragonard.—“Society” turns virtuous.—Jean Greuze.—Middle-class society and its depicter, Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin.—Germany: Lessing frees the drama from the classical yoke of Boileau, and, following the English, produces in “Minna” the first domestic tragedy.—Daniel Chodowiecki as the portrayer of the German middle class.—Tischbein goes back to the national past.—Posing disappears in portrait painting.—Antoine Pesne.—Anton Graff.—Christian Lebrecht Vogel.—Johann Edlinger.—The revival of landscape.—Rousseau’s influence.—English garden-style succeeds the French style.—Disappearance of “nature choisie” in painting.—Hubert Robert.—Joseph Vernet.—Salomon Gessner.—Ludwig Hess.—Philip Hackert.—Johann Alexander Thiele.—Antonio Canale.—Bernardo Canaletto.—Francesco Guardi.—Don Petro Rodriguez de Miranda.—Don Mariano Ramon Sanchez.—The animal painters: François Casanova, Jean Louis de Marne, Jean Baptiste Oudry, Johann Elias Riedinger.—An event in the history of art: in place of the prevailing Cinquecento and the “sublime style of painting” degraded at the close of the seventeenth century, a simple and sincere art succeeds throughout the whole of Europe.—Return to what Dürer and the Little Masters of the sixteenth century and the Dutch of the seventeenth century originated

41 CHAPTER III THE CLASSICAL REACTION IN GERMANY

The influence of the antique at the end of the eighteenth century shows no advance, but an unnatural retrograde movement, and notes in Germany the beginning of the same decadence which had happened in Italy with the Bolognese, in France with Poussin, and in Holland with Gérard de Lairesse.—The teachings of Winckelmann, Anton Rafael Mengs, Angelica Kauffmann.—The younger generation carries out the classical programme in the value it sets upon technical traditions.—Asmus Jacob Carstens.—Buonaventura Genelli

80 CHAPTER IV THE CLASSICAL REACTION IN FRANCE

In France also the classical tendency in art was no new thing, but a revival of the antique which was restored to life by the foundation of the French Academy in Rome in 1663.—Influence of archæological studies.—Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun.—The Revolution heightens the enthusiasm for the antique, and once more gives Classicism an appearance of brilliant animation.—Jacques Louis David.—His portraits and his pictures in relation to contemporary history.—David as an archæologist.—Jean Baptiste Regnault.—François André Vincent.—Guérin

98 BOOK II THE ESCAPE INTO THE PAST CHAPTER V THE NAZARENES

Influence of literature.—Wackenroder.—Tieck.—The Schlegels.—Instead of the antique, the Italian Quattrocento appears as the model for the schools.—Frederick Overbeck.—Philip Veit.—Joseph Führich.—Edward Steinle—Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.—Their pictures and their drawings

117 CHAPTER VI THE ART OF MUNICH UNDER KING LUDWIG I

Peter Cornelius.—Wilhelm Kaulbach.—Their importance and their limitations

141 CHAPTER VII THE DÜSSELDORFERS

On the Rhine, a school of painting instead of a school of drawing.—Wilhelm Schadow, Carl Friedrich Lessing, Theodor Hildebrandt, Carl Sohn, Heinrich Mücke, Christian Koehler, H. Plüddemann, Eduard Bendemann, Theodor Mintrop, Friedrich Ittenbach, Ernest Deger.—Why their pictures, despite technical merits, have become antiquated

157 CHAPTER VIII THE LEGACY OF GERMAN ROMANTICISM

Alfred Rethel and Moritz Schwind oppose the Roman with the German tradition.—Their pictures and drawings

167 CHAPTER IX THE FORERUNNERS OF ROMANTICISM IN FRANCE

Last years of the David school wearisome and without character, except in portrait painting.—François Gérard, the “King of Painters and Painter of Kings”; his portraits of the Empire and Restoration periods.—Commencement of the revolt: Pierre Paul Prudhon; his pictures and the story of his life; Constance Mayer.—Revival of colouring.—Antoine Jean Gros and his pictures of contemporary life; discrepancy between his teaching and his practice

189 CHAPTER X THE GENERATION OF 1830

The revolt of the Romanticists against Classicism in literature and art.—Théodore Géricault and his early works.—“The Raft of the Medusa.”—Eugène Delacroix: protest against the conventional, and renewed importance of colour.—Delacroix’s pictures; influence of the East upon him.—His life and struggles.—The Classical reaction.—J. A. D. Ingres and the opposition to Romanticism.—His classical pictures.—Excellence of his portraits and drawings

219 CHAPTER XI JUSTE-MILIEU

Moderation the watchword of Louis Philippe’s reign, in politics, literature, and art.—Jean Gigoux, a follower of Delacroix and an inexorable realist.—Eugène Isabey.—Middle position occupied by Ary Scheffer between the Classical and the Romantic schools; decline of his popularity.—Hippolyte Flandrin, as a religious painter a French counterpart to the Nazarenes.—Paul Chenavard, compared to Cornelius.—Théodore Chassériau; his short and brilliant career.—Léon Benouville.—Léon Cogniet and his pictures.—Transition from the Romantic school to the historical painters.—The great writers of history: renewed activity in this field: historical tragedies and romances.—Art takes a similar course: popularity and facility of historical painting.—Eugène Devéria; Camille Roqueplan.—Nicolaus Robert Fleury; Louis Boulanger.—Paul Delaroche; his popularity and its causes; his defects as a painter.—Delaroche’s pictures.—Thomas Couture

255 CHAPTER XII THE POST-ROMANTIC GENERATION

France under the Second Empire; the society of the period not represented in French art.—Continuation of the old traditions without essential change.—Alexandre Cabanel.—William Bouguereau.—Jules Lefébure.—Henner.—Paul Baudry: his pictures; decoration of the Grand Opera House.—Élie Delaunay: his pictures, decorative painting, and portraits.—The “Genre féroce”; predilection for the horrible in art.—Numerous painters of this school.—Laurens.—Rochegrosse and his pictures.—Henri Regnault

278 CHAPTER XIII THE HISTORICAL SCHOOL OF PAINTING IN BELGIUM

Belgium to 1830.—David and his school.—Navez, Matthias van Bree.—Gustav Wappers, Nicaise de Keyzer, Henri Decaisne, Gallait, Bièfve.—Ernest Slingeneyer, Guffens and Swerts.—The Exhibition of Belgian pictures in Germany

301 CHAPTER XIV THE REVOLUTION OF THE GERMAN COLOURISTS

Anselm Feuerbach, Victor Müller.—The Berlin school: Rudolf Henneberg, Gustav Richter, Knille, Schrader, and others.—The Munich school: Piloty, Hans Makart, Gabriel Max.—The historical painters and the end of the illustrative painting of history

317 CHAPTER XV THE VICTORY OVER PSEUDO-IDEALISM

The Historical Picture of Manners as opposed to Historical Painting, an advance in the direction of intimacy of feeling.—The Antique Picture of Manners: Charles Gleyre, Louis Hamon, Gérôme, Gustave Boulanger.—The Picture of Costume from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.—France: Charles Comte, Alexander Hesse, Camille Roqueplan.—Belgium: Alexander Markelbach, Florent Willems.—Germany: L. v. Hagn, Gustav Spangenberg, Carl Becker.—The importance of Hendrik Leys, Ernest Meissonier, and Adolf Menzel as mediators between the past and ordinary life, between the heroic art of the first half of the nineteenth century and the intimate art of the second half

363

BIBLIOGRAPHY

391

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES IN COLOUR   PAGE Anton Graff: Portrait of Himself Frontispiece Reynolds: Mrs. Siddons 20 Gainsborough: The Sisters

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@43792@[email protected]#page38" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">38 Greuze: The Milkmaid 58 Chardin: The House of Cards 64 Watteau: Fête Champêtre 74 Angelica Kauffmann: Portrait of a Lady as a Vestal 86 Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun: Portrait of the Painter with her Daughter 100 Cornelius: “Let there be Light” 144 Schwind: The Wedding Journey 182 Regnault: General Prim 300 Meissonier: A Cavalier 378 IN BLACK AND WHITE Baudry, Paul. Portrait of Baudry 286 Charlotte Corday 287 Truth 288 The Pearl and the Wave 289 Cybele 290 Leda 291 Edmond About 292 Bendemann, Eduard. The Lament of the Jews 165 Bièfve, Edouard. Portrait of Bièfve 314 The League of the Nobles of the Netherlands 315 Bouguereau, William Adolphe. Brotherly Love 281 Cabanel, Alexandre. Portrait of Cabanel 279 The Shulamite 280 Carstens, Asmus Jacob. Portrait of Himself 88 Scylla and Charybdis 90 Argo Leaving the Triton’s Mere 91 Children of the Night 92 Priam and Achilles 93 Chardin, Jean Siméon. Portrait of Himself 63 Grace before Meat 65 Chassériau, Théodore. Apollo and Daphne 259 Chodowiecki, Daniel. Portrait of Chodowiecki 66 The Family Picture 67 All Sorts and Conditions of Women 68, 69 The Morning Compliment 70 The Artist’s Nursery 71 Cogniet, Léon. Tintoretto Painting his Dead Daughter 261 The Massacre of the Innocents 263 Cornelius, Peter. Portrait of Cornelius 143 From the Frescoes in the Friedhofshalle, Berlin 145 Marguerite in Prison 146 The Apocalyptic Host 147 The Fall of Troy 149 Couture, Thomas. Portrait of Couture 271 The Love of Gold 273 The Romans of the Decadence 275 The Troubadour 277 David, Jacques Louis. Portrait of David 102 Madame Récamier 103 The Oath of the Horatii 105 The Rape of the Sabines 107 Helen and Paris 109 Belisarius asking Alms 111 The Death of Marat 113 Delacroix, Eugène. Portrait of Delacroix 226 Dante’s Bark 227 Hamlet and the Grave-diggers 230 Tasso in the Mad-house 231 Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople 233 Jesus on Lake Gennesaret 235 Horses Fighting in a Stable 237 Medea 238 The Expulsion of Heliodorus 239 Delaroche, Paul. Portrait of Delaroche 264

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise 265 The Princes in the Tower 267 Strafford on his Way to Execution 269 Delaunay, Élie. Diana 293 Boys Singing 294 Madame Toulmouche 295 Feuerbach, Anselm. Portrait of Himself 318 Hafiz at the Well 319 Pieta 321 Iphigenia 322 Portrait of a Roman Lady 323 Mother’s Joy 325 Medea 327 Dante Walking with High—born Ladies of Ravenna 329 Führich, Joseph. Portrait of Führich 126 From the “Legend of St. Gwendolin” 127 Ruth and Boaz 128 The Departure of the Prodigal Son 129 Jacob and Rachel 130 Gainsborough, Thomas. Portrait of Gainsborough 34 Mrs. Siddons 35 Wood Scene, Village of Cornard, Suffolk 36 The Market Cart 37 The Duchess of Devonshire 38 The Watering Place 39 Gallait, Louis. Portrait of Gallait 312 Egmont’s Last Moments 313 Genelli, Bonaventura. The Embassy to Achilles 94 Thetis lamenting the Fate of Hector 95 Odysseus and the Sirens 96 Portrait of Genelli 97 Gérard, François. Portrait of Gérard 190 Mlle. Brongniart 191 Madame Visconti 192 Cupid and Psyche 193 Madame Récamier 194 Géricault, Théodore. Portrait of Géricault 221 The Wounded Cuirassier 222 Chasseur 223 The Raft of the Medusa. 224 The Start 225 Gérôme, Léon. The Cock-fight 367 Gessner, Salomon. Landscape 75 Landscape 76 Goya, Francisco. Portrait of Himself 42 The Majas on the Balcony 43 The Maja Clothed 44 The Maja Nude 45 De Que Mal Morira (from “Los Capriccios”) 46 Soplones (from “Los Capriccios”) 47 Se Repulen (from “Los Capriccios”) 48 Que Pico de Oro (from “Los Capriccios”) 49 Volaverunt (from “Los Capriccios”) 50 Quien lo Creyera (from “Los Capriccios”) 51 Linda Maestra (from “Los Capriccios”) 52 Devota Profesion (from “Los Capriccios”) 53 Otres Leyes por el Pueblo 54 Greuze, Jean Baptiste. Portrait of Greuze 58 Head of a Girl 59 Girl carrying a Lamb 60 Girl looking up 61 Girl with an Apple 62 Gros, Antoine Jean (Baron). Saul 215 Portrait of Gros 216 The Battle of Eylau 217 Guardi, Francesco. Venice 77 Hamon, Louis. My Sister’s not at

Home 365 Henneberg, Rudolf. The Race for Fortune 330 Henner, Jean Jacques. Susanna and the Elders 284 The Sleeper 285 Hildebrandt, Theodor. The Sons of Edward 161 Hogarth, William. Portrait of Himself 12 The Harlot’s Progress (Plate VI.) 13 The Rake’s Progress (Plate II.) 14 The Rake’s Progress (Plate VII.) 15 The Rake’s Progress (Plate VIII.) 16 Marriage à la Mode (Plate V.) 17 The Enraged Musician 18 Gin Lane 19 Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique. Portrait of Ingres 242 The Maid of Orleans at Rheims 243 Portrait of Himself as a Youth 244 Bertin the Elder 245 Study for the Odalisque in the Louvre 247 The Source 248 Œdipus and the Sphinx 249 Paganini 251 Mlle. de Montgolfier 252 The Forestier Family 253 Kauffmann, Angelica. Portrait of Herself 86 Kaulbach, Wilhelm. Portrait of Kaulbach 151 The Deluge 152 Prince Arthur and Hubert 153 Marguerite 156 de Keyzer. Portrait of de Keyzer 308 The Battle of Woeringen 309 Laurens, Jean Paul. The Interdict 298 Lefébure, Jules. Truth 283 Lessing, Carl Friedrich. The Sorrowing Royal Pair 164 The Hussite Sermon 335 Leys, Hendrik. Portrait of Leys 369 A Family Festival 370 The Armourer 371 Mother and Child 372 Luminais, Evariste. Les Énervés de Jumièges 297 Makart, Hans. Portrait of Makart 341 The Espousals of Catterina Cornaro 343 The Feast of Bacchus 345 Max, Gabriel. Portrait of Max 347 A Nun in the Cloister Garden 349 The Lion’s Bride 351 Light 353 The Spirit’s Greeting 355 Adagio 356 A Winter’s Tale 357 Madonna 359 Mayer, Constance. Portrait of Mayer 201 The Dream of Happiness 202 The Tomb of Prudhon and Constance Mayer at Père-Lachaise 203 Meissonier, Ernest. The Man at the Window 373 A Man reading 374 Reading the Manuscript 375 Polcinello 376 A Reading at Diderot’s 377 A Halt 378 Mengs, Anton Rafael. Portrait of Himself 84 Mount Parnassus 85 Menzel, Adolf. Portrait of Menzel, 1837 379 Frederick the Great and his Tutor 380 The Round Table at Sans-Souci 381 Frederick the Great on a Journey

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">383 Illustration to Kugler’s History of Frederick the Great 384 Portrait of Frederick the Great 385 Reifspiel 387 When will Genius Awake? 388 Overbeck, Frederick. Portrait of Overbeck 118 The Annunciation 119 The Naming of St. John 120 Christ Healing the Sick 121 Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem 122 The Resurrection 123 The Seven Lean Years 124 Portrait of Himself and Cornelius 140 Pesne, Antoine. Portrait of Himself and Daughters 72 Piloty, Carl. Portrait of Piloty 336 Girdonists on the Road to the Guillotine 337 Under the Arena 339 Prudhon, Pierre Paul. Portrait of Himself 195 Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife 196 Study directs the Flight of Genius 197 Le Coup de Patte du Chat 198 Cupid and Psyche 199 The Unfortunate Family 204 The Rape of Psyche 205 Le Midi 206 La Nuit 207 L’enjouir 208 Marguerite 209 Les Petits Dévideurs 210 The Vintage 211 The Virgin 212 Christ Crucified 213 Madame Copia 214 Regnault, Henri. Salome 299 The Moorish Headsman 300 Rethel, Alfred. The Emperor Otto at the Tomb of Charlemagne 169 The Destruction of the Pagan Idols 170 Hannibal’s Passage over the Alps 171 Death at the Masked Ball 172 Death the Friend of Man 173 Reynolds, Sir Joshua. Portrait of Himself 20 Dr. Johnson 21 Garrick as Abel Drugger 22 Heads of Angels 23 Samuel Richardson 24 Miss Reynolds 25 Edmund Burke 26 Mrs. Abington 27 Edmund Malone 28 Oliver Goldsmith 29 Lady Cockburn and her Daughters 30 Bishop Percy 31 The Girl with the Mousetrap 32 Dr. Burney 33 Richter, Gustav. Portrait of Himself 331 A Gipsy 332 Scheffer, Ary. Portrait of Scheffer 257 Marguerite at the Well 258 Schnorr von Carolsfield, Julius. Portrait of Schnorr 125 Adam and Eve after the Fall 125 Schrader, Julius. Cromwell at Whitehall 333 Schwind, Moritz. Portrait of Schwind 175 From the Wartburg Frescoes 176 From the Wartburg Frescoes 177 Wieland the Smith 178 From the Story of the Seven Ravens 179 A Hermit leading Horses to a Pool 181 Nymphs and Stag 184 Rübezahl

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@43792@[email protected]#page185" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">185 The Fairies’ Song 187 Slingneyer, Ernest. The Avenger 311 Sohn, Carl. The two Leonoras 163 The Rape of Hylas 166 Steinbruck, Eduard. Elves 162 Steinle, Eduard. The Raising of Jarius’ Daughter 131 “I have trodden the Winepress alone” 132 Portrait of Steinle 133 Book Illustration 134 The Violin Player 135 Sylvestre, Joseph Noël. Locusta Testing in Nero’s Presence the Poison prepared for Britannicus 296 Veit, Philip. Portrait of Veit 136 The Arts introduced into Germany by Christianity 137 The two Marys at the Sepulchre 139 Wappers, Gustav. Portrait of Wappers 303 The Sacrifice of Burgomaster van der Werff at the Siege of Leyden 305 The Death of Columbus 307 Watteau, Antoine. Portrait of Watteau 56 La Partie Carrée 57 The Music Party 73 The Return from the Chase 74