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International Art Treasures Web Magazine April 2006 |
Dreaming of Italy
MauritsHuis
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Several of the included artists Claude Lorrain, Poussin, Turner, Corot, Ingres, Böcklin and Feuerbach have rarely been exhibited in the Netherlands. |
Regardless, each of the artist featured in this exhibit have their own unique take on Italy. Landscapes, classical antiquities and the simplicity of Italian country folk were all subject matters that fascinated visitors to the south of Europe.
Paulus Bril
Title: A View of Bracciano, ca. 1620
Artist: Paulus Bril (Flemish c. 1554-1626)
Medium: Oil on Panel; Dimensions: 31.2 x 37.6 cm
Permanent Collection and Image Courtesy: The Hague, Mauritshuis
Dutch artist Paulus Bril spent much of his career working in Italy and France, often painting with his brother Mattheus, assisting him with Vatican works. Pope Clement VIII commissioned Bril to create a massive landscape for a Vatican fresco. In that work St. Clement is depicted with an anchor fastened to his neck as the Saint is being thrown into the sea. Bril was a strong influence on Claude Lorrain and Nicholas Poussin with his development of classical landscapes where the figures are almost incidental.
Claude Lorrain
Title: A Seaport, 1639
Artist: Claude Lorrain (French ca.1602-1682)
Medium: Oil on Canvas; Dimensions: 99.1 x 129.5 cm
Permanent Collection: The National Gallery, London
Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
Lorrain is considered one of the finest 17th Century ideal-landscape artists. Inspired by classical antiquities this genre has a harmonious vision of landscape which is often presented majestically. Lorrain was a master of dramatic light and shadow. He was barely twenty when he first visited Rome. With the exception of a brief return to his native France he spent the rest of his life in Italy. He was an inspiration to JMW Turner.
Nicolas Poussin
Title: Landscape with St. John on Patmos, 1640
Artist: Nicolas Poussin (French 1594-1665)
Medium: Oil on Canvas; Dimensions: 101 x 138 cm
Permanent Collection and Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hagu e
French Baroque artist Nicholas Poussin divided his time between France and Italy. His landscapes had a heavy influence on English garden design in the 18th Century.
Claude-Joseph Vernet
Title: The Waterfalls near Tivoli, with the Villa of Maecenas, c. 1740-1750
Artist: Claude-Joseph Vernet (French 1714-1789)
Medium: Oil on Panel; Dimensions: 101 x 138 cm
Permanent Collection and Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
French artist Claude-Joseph Vernet studied in the studio of Philippe Sauvan. Joseph de Seytres, the Marquis de Caumont, sponsored Vernet's first trip to Italy. It was to benefit both men. Vernet would receive training and in return the Marquis would be given paintings of antiquities to add to his collection. Vernet made friends in the French artists' community that had developed in the early 18th Century of Rome. He would go on to spend two decades in Italy.
Thomas Jones
Title: A Wall in Naples, c. 1782
Artist: Thomas Jones (Welsh 1742-1803)
Medium: Paper on Canvas; Dimensions: 11.4 x 16 cm
Permanent Collection: The National Gallery, London
Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
Welshman Thomas Jones spent considerable time training for a career in the church and then as a portraitist. Feeling the apprenticeship was too long he switched genres to that of a landscape artist while studying with Richard Wilson. It wasn't until he was in his mid thirties that he made his first trip to Italy, and remained there for seven years. Jones is of particular importance because he chronicled his Italian experiences in his memoirs.
Carl Blechen
Title: The Ruins of the Septizonium on the Palatine in Rome, c. 1830
Artist: Carl Blechen (German 1798-1840)
Medium: Paper on Panel; Dimensions: 18 x 33.5 cm
Permanent Collection: Winterthur, Museum Oskar Reinhart am Stadtgarten
Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
German romanticist Carl Blechen spent only a brief time in Italy from 1828-1829. After he returned to Germany he became the Professor of landscape painting at the Berlin Academy.
Joesph Mallord William Turner
Title: The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella from the Steps of the Europa, 1842
Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner (English 1775-1851)
Medium: Oil on Canvas; Dimensions: 62 x 92.5 cm
Permanent Collection: London, Tate. Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
John Mallord William Turner was one of the finest landscape artists. Born the son of a London barber he had limited formal education with the exception of his art studies. He was only fifteen when he had a work first exhibited at the prestigious Royal Academy. Within eleven years he had not only become a full member of the Academy but began to travel extensively to hone his chosen craft. His travels naturally took him to Italy. Like Canaletto before him a major influence was the city of Venice. His works were infused with light and Turner is credited with the development of watercolor landscape painting as a popular medium for fellow artists in his native England.
Title: The Stairs to the Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, c. 1830
Artist: Christopher Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish 1783-1853)
Medium: Oil on Canvas; Dimensions: 45 x 45 cm
Permanent Collection: Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst
Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
The country of Italy has long been a must-see locale of the Grand Tour, whether for artists or aficionados. The first travelers were drawn through their faith to visit the burial sites of martyrs, beginning a movement to document ancient antiquities. Then artists began to focus on the natural surroundings of these ruins. Claude Lorrain focused on the light emanating from the South portions of the Alps in some of his best known landscapes.
Title: Italian Landscape with a Young Shepherd Playing with his Dog, ca. 1660-1665
Artist: Karel du Jardin (Dutch ca. 1622-1678)
Medium: Oil on Panel; Dimensions: 31.2 x 37.6 cm
Permanent Collection and Image Courtesy: Mauritshuis, The Hague
As the 18th century drew to a close the artists would make their initial sketches outdoors and return to their studios to paint. The new century dawned with artists ready to paint in oil outdoors, notably Thomas Jones and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Other artists looked to the simple life of Italian countrymen and women to draw inspiration for their subjects. In some ways Italy began the journey to Utopia, the perfect world, and then like Eden was forever lost. Italy was the background to the longing found in the foreground, but always the country was of what dreams may come.
Dreaming of Italy
MauritsHuis, The Hague:
March 11 - June 25, 2006