The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (254 page)

(1751–1824).
English collector and connoisseur. His collections were highly varied, but particularly outstanding were his drawings and antique coins and bronzes, which he bequeathed to the
British Museum
. He wrote a didactic poem in the manner of Pope entitled
The Landscape
(1794) and
An Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste
(1805), both of which were important documents in the literature of the
Picturesque
, of which he was a leading advocate. His other publications included
An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus
(1786), which was violently attacked as being obscene. See also
ELGIN MARBLES
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1810–48).
Danish painter, a pupil of
Eckersberg
. Although he visited Italy, this had little influence on his work, which is narrow in range. He concentrated on everyday scenes in and around Copenhagen and on portraits of family and friends, displaying great sensitivity as a colourist and a warm intimacy of characterization. Købke was little appreciated in his lifetime, but he began to win recognition at the end of the 19th cent. and is now considered the outstanding Danish painter of his period.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1768–1839).
Austrian painter, active mainly in Rome, where he settled in 1795. He was influenced by
Carstens
and worked with the
Nazarenes
on the decorations of the Casino Massimo (1825–9) in Rome, choosing Dante's
Inferno
for his subject, but is now best known for his landscapes. They were directly descended from the heroic and
ideal
landscape of
Poussin
, but have a distinctive
Romantic
flavour, particularly in his paintings of mountains.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1803–62).
The best-known member of a family of Dutch painters. He frequently travelled in Belgium and Germany, where he found inspiration for the
Romantic
views of forests and mountains which he painted in a precise and detailed style, often with rosy light effects recalling the work of Jan
Both
. Other members of his large and prolific family specialized mainly in seascapes.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1886–1980).
Austrian-born
Expressionist
painter, graphic artist, and writer who became a British citizen in 1947. His formative years were spent at Vienna amid the intellectual and artistic ferment brought about by the somewhat belated introduction of
Art Nouveau
to Austria in the early years of the century. He made a name for himself
c.
1909–10 by his ‘psychological portraits’ in which the soul of the sitter was thought to be laid bare, and at the same time he produced striking and sometimes shocking lithographs and posters. He was seriously wounded in the First World War and after recovery taught at the Dresden Academy 1919–24. After this he embarked on a seven-year period of wide travel, and his interest turned from portraits to landscape, including a distinctive kind of ‘portrait’ picture of towns seen from a high viewpoint (
Jerusalem
, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1929–30). In 1931 he returned to Vienna, but he was outspokenly opposed to the Nazis, and in 1934 he moved to Prague, then in 1938 to London. From 1953 he lived mainly at Villeneuve in Switzerland. By this time he was internationally famous. In his later years he continued to paint landscapes and portraits, but his most important works of this time are allegorical and mythological paintings, including the
Prometheus
ceiling (1950) for Count Seilern's house at Princes Gate in London, and the
Thermopylae
triptych
(1954) for Hamburg University. Kokoschka remained steadfastly unaffected by modern movements and throughout his long life he pursued his highly personal and imaginative version of pre-1914 Expressionism. His writings include an autobiography (1971) and several plays.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search