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Cornugaya Directory 06
Page 02
The whole academic tendency of modern painting in Germany and Austria
for the past fifty years has not been favorable to the best kind of
pictorial art. There is a disposition on the part of artists to tell
stories, to encroach upon the sentiment of literature, to paint with a
dry brush in harsh unsympathetic colors, to ignore relations of
light-and-shade, and to slur beauties of form. The subject seems to
count for more than the truth of representation, or the individuality
of view. From time to time artists of much ability have appeared, but
these form an exception rather than a rule. The men to-day who are the
great artists of Germany are less followers of the German tradition
than individuals each working in a style peculiar to himself. A few
only of them call for mention. Menzel (1815-1905) is easily first, a
painter of group pictures, a good colorist, and a powerful pen-and-ink
draughtsman; Lenbach (1836-1904), a forceful portraitist; Uhde
(1848-), a portrayer of scriptural scenes in modern costumes with much
sincerity, good color, and light; Leibl (1844-1900), an artist with
something of the Holbein touch and realism; Thoma, a Frankfort painter
of decorative friezes and panels; Liebermann, Gotthardt Kuehl, Franz
Stuck, Max Klinger, Greiner, Truebner, Bartels, Keller.
Lucas Cranach (1472-1553) was a Franconian master, who
settled in Saxony and was successively court-painter to three Electors
and the leader of a small local school there. He, perhaps, studied
under Gruenewald, but was so positive a character that he showed no
strong school influence. His work was fantastic, odd in conception and
execution, sometimes ludicrous, and always archaic-looking. His type
was rather strained in proportions, not always well drawn, but
graceful even when not truthful. This type was carried into all his
works, and finally became a mannerism with him. In subject he was
religious, mythological, romantic, pastoral, with a preference for
the nude figure. In coloring he was at first golden, then brown, and
finally cold and sombre. The lack of aerial perspective and shadow
masses gave his work a queer look, and he was never much of a
brushman. His pictures were typical of the time and country, and for
that and for their strong individuality they are ranked among the most
interesting paintings of the German school. Perhaps his most
satisfactory works are his portraits. Lucas Cranach the Younger
(1515-1586) was the best of the elder Cranach's pupils. Many of his
pictures are attributed to his father. He followed the elder closely,
but was a weaker man, with a smoother brush and a more rosy color.
Though there were many pupils the school did not go beyond the Cranach
family. It began with the father and died with the son.
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