Tuesday, July 13, 2021

The 'Virtuous Style' of Nineteenth-Century Painting

Peter von Cornelius
The Wise and Foolish Virgins
ca. 1813
oil on canvas
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf

Johann Friedrich Overbeck
St Sebastian
ca. 1813-16
oil on canvas
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Johann Friedrich Overbeck
Easter Morning
ca. 1818
oil on canvas
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf

Philipp Veit
Joseph and Potiphar's Wife
ca. 1816-17
detached fresco
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Philipp Veit
Personification of Religion
1819
oil on canvas
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff
Virgin as a Child with St Anne
1815
oil on canvas
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff
Death of St Cecilia
ca. 1820-21
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Josef von Hempel
Christ and the Samaritan Woman
1823
oil on canvas
private collection

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Ruth and Boaz
1828
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

Joseph von Führich
Moses praying on Mount Horeb, with Aaron and Hur
1832
oil on panel
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Edward von Steinle
Study for Archangel drawing a Sword
ca. 1843-45
watercolor
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Marie Ellenrieder
Christ Blessing the Children
1845
oil on canvas
Dreifaltigkeitskirche, Konstanz

Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Temptation of Christ
1847
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Gebhard Flatz
Christ with Mary and Martha
1865
oil on canvas
private collection

Wilhelm von Schadow
Head of Christ
1862
oil on canvas
private collection

"In the Virtuous Style of nineteenth-century painting, figures are characterized by the noble fall of the drapery, and, strangely enough, by the well-groomed appearance of the head, with the long hair parted in the middle and falling over the shoulders.  . . .  We may well wonder why Christ and the Apostles were frequently pictured in this guise.  . . .  These personages were to be seen as simple folk, simple but pure, so they had to be carefully distinguished from tramps and vagabonds.  Unlike the saints and gurus of history, they were envisaged as having been careful of their appearance, always brushing their hair and trimming their beards.  . . .  Indeed, I believe that art historians have so far failed to pay sufficient attention to the impact and the success of this style.  They have neglected it because, understandably, they have found it unappealing, and because in any case it left the summit of art virtually untouched."

– E.H. Gombrich, from The Preference for the Primitive: Episodes in the History of Western Taste and Art (London: Phaidon, 2002)