Co-founder of the highly influential Düsseldorf School, he was influenced by Caspar David Friedrich, and Gothic Romantic fiction.
Category Archive: General
In his final decade, he designed the vast ‘Paradise’ for the Doge’s Palace, and several great paintings, but probably painted relatively little himself.
Alexander presses on into India, but stops short of crossing the River Ganges into South-East Asia. Fine paintings by Le Brun, Gustave Moreau, Valenciennes, and others.
Street scenes, wet roads, at night, café interiors, and busy railway stations in the dark – some of his best paintings.
Decidedly Post-Impressionist, his loose style and rough facture did not impress the critics at first. Painting a mixture of landscapes and scenes from the centre of Berlin, he was still looking for the right formula.
Scenes from literary sources including Faust, and Dante’s Inferno, then in the 1850 his style becomes less dark, with lucent colour.
Contemporary of Géricault and Delacroix, he had an interest in mediaeval history, and was intimately involved in politics, including the accession of King Louis-Philippe to the throne in 1830, and the Greek War of Independence.
Framing a landscape with a window forms a picture within a picture, and can reverse the traditional device of repoussoir.
Scenes from the early life of Christ, carefully referenced to those of the Passion to come, the Virgin Mary, and two other saintly Marys. His last major series.
Biography to the death of Darius the King of Persia, with superb paintings by Degas, Elisabetta Sirani, Altdorfer, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and more.
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