ART “4”
“2”-DAY 07 June
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>Born on 07 June 1868: Charles
Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish Art
Nouveau architect, designer, and painter, who died on 10 December 1928.
— Born in Glasgow, the son of a police superintendent, Mackintosh is the most famous of the Glasgow Style designers and has become something of a cult figure of international importance. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art while being apprenticed to the architect John Hutchinson, transferring to the firm of Honeyman and Keppie in 1889. In 1891 a travelling scholarship enabled him to visit Italy, France and Belgium, and in 1902 he began to paint a series of mystical watercolors. Meanwhile his furniture designs were establishing a repertoire of forms which became the hallmarks of the Glasgow Style and his reputation as an architect was confirmed by his famous designs for Glasgow School of Art (1897-1909). In 1900 he married Margaret MacDonald, who collaborated with him closely and encouraged his painting. Although his work was highly acclaimed abroad, Glasgow proved increasingly restrictive, and in 1914 he left to concentrate on painting in watercolors. He lived in Chelsea until 1923 and thereafter in France. — In the pantheon of heroes of the Modern Movement, he has been elevated to a cult figure, such that the importance of his late 19th-century background and training in Glasgow are often overlooked. He studied during a period of great artistic activity in the city that produced the distinctive Glasgow Style. As a follower of A. W. N. Pugin and John Ruskin, he believed in the superiority of Gothic over Classical architecture and by implication that moral integrity in architecture could be achieved only through revealed construction. Although Mackintosh’s buildings refrain from overt classicism, they reflect its inherent discipline. His profound originality was evident by 1895, when he began the designs for the Glasgow School of Art. His decorative schemes, particularly the furniture, also formed an essential element in his buildings. During Mackintosh’s lifetime his influence was chiefly felt in Austria, in the work of such painters as Gustav Klimt and such architects as Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich. — LINKS — Fetges (1927, 46x46cm; 413x409pix, 40kb) — Yellow clover (1901 watercolor, 22x13cm; 522x316pix, 214kb) _ Watercolor botanical studies such as this have a long history in European art, and by Mackintosh's day were a necessary part of the training of artists and designers. Meticulous drawings of plant forms and an understanding of their basic structure were an essential source of ideas for students of design and tested their drawing skills. Mackintosh has almost a cult status as a Scottish architect and designer, and his work prefigured many developments in art and design throughout Europe in the 20th century. In his architectural work Mackintosh had used stylized patterns derived from a careful study of flowers and plants. He was a very skilled artist as well as an architect, and towards the end of his career concentrated only on painting. From 1901 he had made a collection of botanical studies of individual flowers and shrubs, usually sketched during holidays in England. Although often spare and linear, they have a powerful emotional appeal. Mackintosh took the traditional form of botanical drawing and modernized it. –- Wild Pansy and Wood Violet, Chiddingstone Heath (May 1910, 25x20cm; 510x411pix, 43kb) — (Batik-like furnishing fabric) (1922 roller printed cretonne, 78x88cm; 585x750pix, 565kb) _ The pattern mimics the compartmentalized areas filled with small-scale decoration found in Indonesian batik designs. The technique involves applying wax to the textile to protect the patterned areas before placing it in a dye bath. The process can then be repeated by removing areas of wax and dyeing the exposed parts with further colors. — (Furnishing fabric) (1918 printed cotton, 88x78cm; 680x513pix, 413kb) _ The purple and green colors are typical of the era. Mackintosh was ahead of his time in experimenting with geometrization and the flattening of forms. These were features that later became characteristic of Art Deco. From 1915 to 1923 Mackintosh lived in London, where he was unable to attract commissions as an architect. So he created designs for textiles. — Photo of Mackintosh and 7 architectural drawings (small images) —(070607) |
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Died on 07 June 1843: Georges Michel,
French painter born on 12 January 1763. — He came from a humble background, his father being an employee at the wholesale market Les Halles in Paris. At an early age, a farmer general, M. de Chalue, took an interest in him and found him a place with the curate of Veruts, on the plain of Saint-Denis, north of Paris. It was here that he first developed a love of the countryside. In 1775 he was apprenticed to a mediocre history painter called Leduc, but he preferred to go off and sketch out of doors. In order to assist him, M. de Berchigny, Colonel in the Hussars, engaged him in his regiment garrisoned in Normandy and arranged for him to take lessons in art. He remained there for more than a year and then returned to Paris, where he worked with M. de Grammont-Voulgy, who was Steward to the brother of Louis XVI. In 1789 Grammont-Voulgy took him to Switzerland, and Michel also visited Germany, where he stayed with the Duc de Guiche. Michel exhibited at the Salon between 1796 and 1814. Both his subject-matter and technique reveal the deep influence of seventeenth century Dutch landscapes by Koninck and Rembrandt. Michel's dark landscapes and dramatic lighting foreshadow the work of Daumier and Millet. — LINKS — Le Moulin d'Argenteuil (1839; 600x508pix, 137kb _ ZOOM not recommended to 1400x1185pix, 568kb, severely patterned especially in dark areas _ ZOOM+ not recommended to even worse 2264x1916pix, 2365kb, blurry and patterned all over) — Vaste Paysage avec Ciel Orageux (37x62cm) — An Extensive Landscape with Windmills (97x127cm) — Landscape With Windmills on a Hill (60x87cm) _ in shades of only three colors: grayish white, grayish violet (mostly for the clouds), and grayish brown (for the land). — La Plaine de Saint-Denis (1825, 32x45cm; 457x635pix, 99kb) _ This view of the plains to the North of Paris under a dramatic stormy sky is typical of Michel. The paint is swiftly and freely applied most dramatically in the bursting storm cloud where Michel has dragged the paint to mimic the sudden torrent of rain. In the foreground are two windmills, one in deep shadow the other in a pool of light. Such dramatic contrasts of light and shadow in the landscape help suggest the movement of the clouds in the sky above. — Landscape (1840, 74x102cm; 505x700pix, 46kb) _ George Michel made his living not only as a landscape painter, but also as a restorer of Dutch and Flemish paintings in the Louvre. Unlike other French landscape painters of the time, who looked to Italy and Greece for classical themes, Michel was inspired by the 17th-century Dutch landscape masters whose work he knew so well. Following their example, Michel chose scenes that were familiar to him, in this instance the countryside outside of Paris. The dominance of the stormswept sky over the panoramic sweep of flat farmlands may recall earlier Dutch compositions but Michel imbues his painting with the grandeur and drama of 19th century Romanticism. — Evening Landscape (1820; 600x800pix, 176kb) annoyingly patterned in the dark clouds. |
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Baptized as an infant on 07 June 1724:
Franz Anton Maulbertsch (or Malberz, Maubertsch,
Malpertsch), Austrian painter who died on on 07 August 1796 (he may have
been born on 04 June 1724). — His work as a painter of both oil paintings and frescoes on religious, mythological and occasionally worldly themes spanned the second half of the 18th century, adapting a Late Baroque training to the onset of Neo-classicism but remaining strikingly individual throughout. His fresco work, mostly still in situ in widespread central European locations, came at the end of an artistic tradition and was for long neglected, being far from major cultural centres; but it is now seen to establish him as one of the leading painters of his century and a colorist comparable to Giambattista Tiepolo. — Maulbertsch was the outstanding Austrian decorative painter of the 18th century. He was active and extremely productive over a wide area of central Europe and most of his works (altarpieces as well as frescoes) are still in the churches and secular buildings in Austria, the Czech republic, Hungary, and Slovakia for which they were painted. Maulbertsch's vivacious, colorful, and emotional style was almost completely resistant to Neoclassical influences, representing the last glorious flowering of the Baroque and Rococo tradition. His painterly dash is even more apparent in his oil sketches, which are well represented in the Barockmuseum, Vienna, and he was also an outstanding etcher. His oeuvre is well represented in Hungary. A major work of his early period was a series of frescoes for the parish church of Sümeg (1757-1759) followed by frescoes for the Erdõdy-castle and its chapel (1763), allegoric frescoes for the Féltorony-castle (1765), frescoes of the Gyõr cathedral (1772, 1781), the dome of the Vác cathedral (1774) , frescoes of Saint Stephen for the parish church in Vác (1781-1782) and frescoes of the episcopal see in Szombathely (1783). The frescoes of the chapel of the girls' school in Eger show the calmness of his late period (1792-1793). — Josef Winterhalder II was a student of Maubertsch. — LINKS — Rebecca and Eliezer (1750, 72x92cm) _ This painting and its companion-piece, Joseph and his Brothers (1750, 73x91cm), are early works showing the influence of Troger and the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Pittoni. — Annunciation (study) (1794, 81x52cm) _ This study was painted for the fresco on the nave ceiling in the Cathedral of Szombathely. — Adoration by the Shepherds _ detail (1758) _ The detail is a self-portrait. — Mary Magdalen (1754) _ This painting shows the influence of Piazzetta. — Saint Paul (1759, 200x113cm) — The Trinity (62x33cm) _ This sketch from the late period of the artist was a study for the altarpiece in the Parish Church in Wien-Reindorf. — Allegory of the Alba (1750, 67x53cm) _ The artist applied the same rococo style to all subjects whether religious, mythological, or allegorical subjects. — The Death of Saint Joseph (1767) — Apotheosis of a Hungarian Saint (1773) — 52 images at Bildindex |
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Buried on 07 June 1667: Thomas
Dirk de Keyser, Amsterdam Baroque
painter born in 1596. — Following an apprenticeship with an unidentified master in painting, Thomas de Keyser was trained in architecture from 1616 to 1618 by his father. Although he ultimately followed his father and two brothers, Pieter and Willem, into service for the city of Amsterdam as city mason (1662–1667), no designs for buildings by Thomas are known, with the exception of an unbuilt triumphal arch published in Salomon de Bray’s Architectura moderna (1631). Thomas de Keyser turned to painting, producing highly original portraits. He played a significant role in creating innovative portrait types that were favoured by members of the newly risen class of Dutch burghers. He worked in nearly every type of portrait format produced in the northern Netherlands in the 17th century. — Son and student of sculptor and architect Hendrick Corneliszoon de Keyser I [15 May 1565 – 15 May 1621], Thomas de Keyser was municipal architect to the City of Amsterdam from 1662 until his death (he added the cupola to van Campen's Town Hall), but he is better known as a portrait painter. He was indeed, Amsterdam's leading portraitist before being overtaken in popularity by Rembrandt in the 1630s. His life-size portraits look stiff compared with Rembrandt's and he is more attractive and original on a small scale. Constantin Huygens and His Clerk (1627) is an excellent example of one of his small portraits of full-length figures in an interior, forerunners of the conversation pieces. His small equestrian portraits were also a new type (Pieter Schout, 1660). — Henry Stone was a student of de Keyser. — LINKS — The Company of Captain Allaert Cloeck and Lieutenant Lucas Jacobszoon Rotgans, Amsterdam [giant size] — The Militia Company of Captain Allaert Cloeck [regular size] (1632, 220x351cm) _ Here de Keyser follows the Amsterdam tradition of showing civic guards standing full-length that was established by Cornelis Ketel in the previous century (1588). De Keyser accentuated the middle group by placing it in front of the other guardsmen, who are on different levels and appear to be on the way to join their officers. Nevertheless, the result is not very satisfactory. There is no indication of a unity between the sixteen figures, and de Keyser's attempt to combine a horizontal setting with the effect of depth by placing symmetrical groups at various distances fails by its stiffness. The painting was commissioned by the guards for the Kloveniersdoelen, where it was mounted with other group portraits of Amsterdam civic guard companies that used the building. Rembrandt's Nightwatch was hung there a decade later. It is no easy task to paint a group portrait in which everyone is clearly visible without it looking forced. Thomas de Keyser found an unusual solution to this problem. In his militia piece the most important figures are in front on a sort of platform. They are somewhat larger than the other militiamen. The captain is on the left. He is recognizable from his walking stick and his gesture. The man next to him, with the banner, is the ensign. The lieutenant on the right, true to tradition, is holding a halberd, a “partisan“ which is a weapon with a shaft of some three to four meters and a long flat iron blade, culminating in a broad point. At the base of the blade are tiny hooks. Partisans were employed as weapons in battle from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. By the 17th century it had become the lieutenant's symbol in the Dutch militias. Today a few regiments of guardsmen still carry partisans. On both sides of this group are three junior officers, with one foot on the platform,. The men in the background are both the lowest in rank and the smallest in size. The names of all the militiamen are written on two pieces of paper on the left. De Keyser attempted to achieve perspective by giving his figures different positions and sizes. In the original designs this was more convincing than in his finished painting. This is clear from two preliminary studies that have been preserved. On these drawings the composition is broader and the figures stand more freely in the space. Presumably De Keyser had expected to be able to paint a broad canvas. In the end the space available was divided between two paintings. The two canvases hung above the stairs in the entrance hall of the arquebusiers' building, the Kloveniersdoelen. — Equestrian Portrait of Pieter Schout (1660, 86x70cm) _ In his group portraits de Keyser follows the Amsterdam tradition of showing civic guards standing full-length. The result is not very satisfactorily. He is more original and successful in his small scale, full-length portraits of one or two figures in interiors surrounded by objects that allude to their interests and achievements. His masterwork in this branch of genre-like portraiture, which he principally formulated and popularized, is Constantijn Huygens and his Clerk dated 1627. In addition to portraits, de Keyser's oeuvre includes religious and mythological subjects. During the 1640s and 1650s he was active as a stone merchant and mason, and painted less, but afterwards he picked up his brushes more frequently. During his last years he painted a few small-scale equestrian portraits, a type that never gained wide popularity in the Netherlands. The first is Pieter Schout on Horseback, which depicts his patrician patron, who was High Bailiff of Hagstein, on a black Andalusian executing a 'pesade' in a dune landscape. — Constantijn Huygens and his Clerk (1627, 92x69cm) _ Thomas de Keyser lived and worked in Amsterdam and from the diary of the sitter, Constantijn Huygens, we know that Huygens was in Amsterdam between 22 February and 27 April 1627, the year on this portrait. It may well be 'my portrait painted shortly before my wedding' (which took place on 6 April 1627) about which Huygens wrote some Latin verses: he was then thirty-one. Two years earlier Huygens, who had previously been at the Dutch embassies in Venice and London, was appointed secretary to the Stadholder Prince Frederick Hendrick of Orange. Among his duties he had to advise the Prince on artistic matters and consequently Huygens is an important figure in the history of the art and architecture of the northern Netherlands in the seventeenth century. He was one of the first to recognize the talent of the young Rembrandt and gave him his most important early commission, a series of paintings of the Passion of Christ for the Prince's Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. De Keyser shows Huygens as he sits at his desk in his house in The Hague, attended by a servant bringing a message. Behind him hangs a rich tapestry with his coat of arms in the centre of the border at the top: the central panel appears to depict Saint Francis before the Sultan. Above the mantelpiece is a marine painting in the style of Jan Porcellis, whom Huygens admired. On the table is a long-necked lute or chitarrone, referring to his interest in music, as well as books and architectural drawings. (He was a close friend of the great classical Dutch architect, Pieter Post, and with Post's help designed his own house in The Hague). The globes which can be seen beyond the table, indicate his interest in geography and astronomy. Huygens served successive Princes of Orange: he was first councillor and reekenmeester to the Stadholder-King William III until his death in The Hague in 1687. — Portrait of a Man (1632, 122x90cm) _ Formerly the portrait was attributed to Frans Hals. — Woman Holding a Balance –- A Family Group (1634, 86x60cm; 800x555pix, 76kb) —(070606) |
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