 |
| Jakob Alt (Germany) View toward Dornbach from the artist's studio in Alservorstadt 1836 watercolor Albertina, Vienna |
 |
| Johann Christoph Erhard (Germany) Painter Johann Adam Klein at the easel in his studio in the Palais Chotek in Vienna 1818 watercolor Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin |
"What does the designation "natural-scientific worldview" mean? That things in nature are entities that neither move freely and completely at will (thus, in essence, deities) nor are moved solely by the whims of a higher god; rather, they are bound together in specific ways and relate to each other as cause and effect. One can therefore say that, according to the natural-scientific worldview, the harmonic world order that people now desire resides in the law of causality. Natural things no longer besiege people blindly, nor are they steered about by quasi-human divinities; rather, things behave in obedience to an eternally fixed and immutable law. The law is inexorable (we must die) but not intentionally malevolent; once one understands this law, one can adapt oneself to it. This is the purpose of the natural sciences."
"How does all this pertain to artistic production? Improvement of nature: our senses deceive us by showing individuals; there are no individuals. Three-dimensionality must therefore by merely illusory: natural-scientific art must be anti-sculptural. It communicates the will of things most faithfully with optical vision: hence the predominance of painting (which does not isolate objects but rather shows them within their surroundings; not isolated phenomena in nature, but extracts from nature). What differentiates such art from nature? The relations among objects come more clearly to view in the image than in nature; herein lies the improvement. To create harmony, the painter portrays the impact of naturalistic causal interactions on the objects in his picture. The causal relationship is the purpose of art."
– from Historical Grammar of the Visual Arts, a course of lectures delivered by Aloïs Riegl in 1899 at the University of Vienna, translated by Jaqueline E. Jung and published in English by Zone Books in 2004
 |
| Frédéric Bazille (France) Studio of Frédéric Bazille 1870 oil on canvas Museé d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Constantin Hansen (Denmark) Group of Danish artists in Rome 1837 oil on canvas Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
 |
| Joseph Eugène Lacroix Studio in the Villa Medici, Rome 1835 watercolor Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Knut Baade Scene from the Academy in Copenhagen 1827-28 oil on canvas National Gallery of Norway, Oslo |
 |
| Léon-Mathieu Cochereau (France) Studio of Jacques-Louis David 1814 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
 |
| Jeanna Bauck (Sweden) Danish artist Bertha Wegmann painting a portrait ca. 1875-80 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Hilda Fearon (England) Studio interior 1914 oil on canvas Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
 |
| Henri Fantin-Latour (France) Manet in his studio 1870 oil on canvas Phillips Collection, Washington DC |
 |
| Honoré Daumier (France) Painter at his easel ca. 1870 oil on panel Phillips Collection, Washington DC |
 |
| Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin (France) Young student drawing 1738 oil on panel Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas |
 |
| Giovanni Angelo Canini (Rome) Art students drawing from posed model ca. 1633-66 drawing British Museum |
 |
| John Singer Sargent An artist in his studio 1904 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |