Arild Rosenkrantz (9 April 1870 – 28 September 1964) was a Danish
nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
painter, sculptor, stained glass artist and illustrator.
[Charles Holme; Guy Eglinton; Peyton Boswell. (1907). ]
The International studio
'. Offices of the International Studio. p. 122. ited 13 September 2012[''Arild Rosenkrantz Biography.'']
Arild Rosenkrantz site. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
Early life
Arild Rosenkrantz was born in 1870 to Baron Iver Holger Rosenkrantz, a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
diplomat, and Julia Louise Mackenzie, a
Scottish socialite and medium, at
Frederiksborg Castle. His father died when Rosenkrantz was only three years old. He accompanied his mother on her journeys to Italy, Scotland and England. She moved to Italy permanently in 1891 and was a spiritual medium.
[
He married Louise Augusta (Tessa) Mackenzie, a Scottish cousin, in 1901.][
]
Education and career
In Rome he studied art under Professor Modesto Faustini in 1887; Faustini imparted an appreciation for the Italian masters
Since ancient times, Greeks, Etruscans and Celts have inhabited the south, centre and north of the Italian peninsula respectively. The very numerous Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, rock drawings in Valcamonica are as old as 8,000 BC, and there ar ...
that influenced Rosenkrantz's work. There was a dreamy, emotional quality to his work throughout his artistic career as a painter and stained glass artist. Two years later he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.
Biography
Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexand ...
and Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a French people, Franco-Switzerland, Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed repub ...
at the Académie Julian
The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...
in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.[ He was also influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, painters of the French salon, Romantic artists ]J.M.W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...
and William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
and Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
artist Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
.[
He was studying in the United States in 1894 and 1895 and made glasswork for Tiffany. Later he made stained glass windows in a wide range of English churches and mansions.][
From 1898 he stayed in London, where he developed his reputation as an artist. In London, Rosenkrantz joined the Anthroposophic Society. In 1912 he met Austrian philosopher ]Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...
personally. Two years later he and his wife moved to Dornach, Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
to participate in the decoration of the anthroposophical center Goetheanum with other artists. Steiner, who taught Rosenkrantz of colors intrinsic properties,[ said: "Colours are the soul of nature and the entire cosmos – and we become part of that soul when we live with the colours".
Rosenkrantz returned to London with his wife after Steiner died in 1925. He then took up several artistic pursuits for Anthroposophic theatres: he designed costumes, created stage decorations and decorated the interior of 2 theatres. He also worked as a teacher and held annual exhibitions.][
Rosenkrantz is
]
Later years
Rosenkrantz came to Denmark in the fall of 1939 to organize an exhibition in Copenhagen for his 70th birthday on 9 April 1940. However, German troops crossed over the Danish border and returning to London was impossible. His relatives at Rosenholm Castle
Rosenholm Castle ( da, Rosenholm Slot) is Denmark's oldest family-owned castle. It is located on Djursland, north of Hornslet and northeast of Aarhus. It is one of the best-preserved complexes from the golden age of the manor house – from 15 ...
in Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
offered their home to Rosenkrantz and his wife, who then died in 1944. After that, he decided to stay in Denmark at the East Jutland castle. He worked more than 20 additional years creating works, exhibiting them, and lecturing.[
Influenced by anthroposophy through Rudolf Steiner and theories by Goethe, Rosenkrantz's works reflected a bold use of color. The Rosenholm Castle holds a number of his oil paintings and pastels.][
He died in September 1964.][
]
Works
;Stained Glass
He made stained glass windows for churches, houses and castles while he lived in England.[
* ]Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.
The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), the first ...
, Chelsea, London. Built as a Church of Christ Scientist in 1907.
* St Andrew's east window, Wickhambreaux
Wickhambreaux ( ) is a small rural village in Kent, England. The village is just off the A257 Sandwich Road, four miles east of the city of Canterbury. Since Roman times the village has had connections to the Church and the Crown, including bei ...
, Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
; it was made in John LaFarge
John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics.
La Farge is best known for ...
's New York studio[ This window was fabricated by The Decorative Stained Glass Company in 1896, 11 years after the John LaFarge Studio was dissolved.
* A church in Tasmania and Juelsminde Church in Denmark have his work.
* Holy Trinity's east window, ]Churchover
Churchover is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The population of the parish in the 2001 census was 230, increasing to 251 at the 2011 census. It is located around 4 miles (7 km) north of Rugby, and is administrativel ...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
* Four windows in St. Nicholas, Taplow, Buckinghamshir
''Stained Glass of Buckinghamshire Churches''
*Southwick Church of Scotland Parish Church in Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county ...
. Late 19th century stained glass window for the McTaggart-Stewart family of Southwick Hous
;Paintings and illustrations
Examples of his works include:[''Arild Rosenkrantz’s symbolistic paintings re-installed in the Entrance Hall of the Royal Academy of Music in London.'' Arild Rosenkrantz site. Retrieved 13 September 2012.]
/ref>
* ''Cupid'' and ''Psyche'', the symbolist paintings, 1896, Rosenholm Castle, Denmark
* ''The Tempter'', 1896, Rosenholm Castle, Denmark
* ''The Duchess of Grafton'', a portrait of his cousin, 1905, Rosenholm Castle, Denmark
* ''The Omnipresent'', 1907, Rosenholm Castle, Denmark
* Royal Academy of Music paintings, before 1911, Royal Academy of Music, London
* ''Tales of Mystery and Adventure'' illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe's Danish edition.
* ''Golgotha''
* ''The Last Supper''
* ''The Hierophant''
* ''Madonna''
* ''Michael ''
* ''Wisdom''
* ''The Messenger''
* Series of four pictures from the Creation: ''The Mineral World'', ''The Plant World'', ''The Animal World and Man'' – and ''The Seven Apocalyptic Seals''.
;Sculpture
* Bronze Christ figure for St George's Camberwell, London.
Publications
* Baron Arild Rosenkrantz. (1967).
A new impulse in art
'. New Knowledge.
Exhibitions
His exhibitions included:[
* Sar Peladan's "Salon de la Rose+Croix" in between 1892 and 1894.
* Exhibitions in Copenhagen
* Exhibitions in London
** ''Tales of Mystery and Adventure'' illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe's Danish edition were exhibited in 1909.
** Annual exhibitions between about 1925 and 1939
]
"Gold & Magic" exhibition at Arken
Danish museum of contemporary art, October 3, 2020-May 2021
References
Further reading
Rudolf Steiner Archive.
* Fletcher, John. (1 December 1987).
Art Inspired by Rudolf Steiner
'. Rudolf Steiner Press. .
* Rosenkrantz, Arild. (1922)
London: The Threefold Commonwealth.
''The New York Times.'' 10 July 1896.
External links
Biography, gallery of some of his works
Rosenholm Castle, Denmark
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenkrantz, Arild
1870 births
1964 deaths
British stained glass artists and manufacturers
Danish stained glass artists and manufacturers
20th-century Danish artists
19th-century Danish nobility
20th-century Danish nobility
Anthroposophists
Rosenkrantz family