The epithet Nazarene was adopted by a group of early 19th-century German Romantic painters who aimed to revive spirituality in art. The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of clothing and hair style.

History

In 1809, six students at the Vienna Academy formed an artistic cooperative in Vienna called the Brotherhood of St. Luke or ''Lukasbund'', following a common name for medieval guilds of painters. In 1810 four of them, Johann Friedrich Overbeck, Franz Pforr,

Ludwig Vogel Georg Ludwig Vogel (10 July 1788, Zürich - 21 August 1879, Zürich) was a Swiss history painter, associated with the Nazarene movement. Biography He originally followed in his father's footsteps and became a confectioner. He had, however, shown ...

and Johann Konrad Hottinger (1788-1827) moved to Rome, where they occupied the abandoned monastery of San Isidoro. They were joined by Philipp Veit, Peter von Cornelius,

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (26 March 1794 – 24 May 1872) () was a German painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Renaissance style in religious ar ...

, Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow and a loose grouping of other German-speaking artists. They met up with Austrian romantic landscape artist Joseph Anton Koch (1768–1839) who became an unofficial tutor to the group. In 1827 they were joined by Joseph von Führich (1800–1876). The principal motivation of the Nazarenes was a reaction against

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

and the routine art education of the academy system. They hoped to return to art that embodied spiritual values, and sought inspiration in artists of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, rejecting what they saw as the superficial virtuosity of later art. In Rome the group lived a semi-monastic existence as a way of re-creating the nature of the medieval artist's workshop. Religious subjects dominated their output, and two major commissions allowed them to attempt a revival of the medieval art of

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

painting. The first was a fresco series completed in Rome for the Casa Bartholdy (1816–17; moved to the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin), a collaborative project by the Nazarenes that "marks the beginnng of the revival of fresco decoration for private and public buildings". This, and a second commission to decorate the Casino Massimo (1817–1829), gained international attention for the work of the "Nazarenes". However, by 1830 all except Overbeck had returned to Germany and the group had disbanded. Many Nazarenes became influential teachers in German art academies.

Legacy

The programme of the Nazarenes—the adoption of what they called honest expression in art and the inspiration of artists before Raphael—was to exert considerable influence in Germany, and in England upon the Pre-Raphaelite movement. They were also direct influences on the British artists William Dyce and Frederick Leighton and Ford Madox Brown.Neil MacMillan, ''Victorian Romantics'' (Vancouver: MacMillan & Perrin, 1979) p.1

Notable members

* Peter von Cornelius * Josef Führich * Johann Friedrich Overbeck * Franz Pforr * Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow *

* Eduard Jakob von Steinle * Philipp Veit * Johannes Veit *

* Eugene von Guerard

Other painters associated with the movement

Carl Joseph Begas Carl Joseph Begas, or Karl Begas, (30 September 1794, Heinsberg – 24 November 1854, Berlin) was a German painter who played an important role in the transition from Romanticism to Realism. He was the first in a multi-generational "dynasty" of ...

* Karl von Blaas *

Ernst Deger Ernst Deger (15 April 1809, Bockenem - 27 January 1885, Düsseldorf) was a German religious artist, in the style of the Nazarene movement. He is considered to be the main representative of Christian art in the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. Life ...

Konrad Eberhard Konrad Eberhard (25 November 1768 – 12 March 1859), a German historical painter, better known as a sculptor, was one of the foremost artists of the so-called Nazarene School, which at one time gathered round Friedrich Overbeck in Rome. Bio ...

Carl Eggers Carl Johann Adolf Eggers (1 October 1787, Neustrelitz – 24 July 1863, Neustrelitz) was a German history painter. Life and work From 1809 to 1812, he studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, with the history painter, Friedrich Matthäi. ...

Marie Ellenrieder Marie Ellenrieder (20 March 1791 – 5 June 1863) was a German painter known for her portraits and religious paintings. Life and career Ellenrieder was born in Konstanz, Germany in 1791, the daughter of Konrad and Anna Maria Herrmann, and ...

Gebhard Flatz Johann Gebhard Flatz (11 June 1800 in Wolfurt – 19 May 1881 in Bregenz) was an Austrian painter of the Nazarene movement. Life and work Education He was the eleventh child of a baker and, as might be expected, spent his childhood in po ...

Matthias Goebbels Joseph Matthias Hubertus Goebbels (19 March 1836 – 6 September 1911) was a German Catholic Priest and artist. Goebbels served as a Roman Catholic priest at the Church of Sankt Maria im Kapitol in Cologne, Germany and became a noted painter of ...

Josef von Hempel Sebastian Josef Ritter und Edler von Hempel (9 February 1800, Vienna - 2 September 1871, Tokod) was an Austrian painter of the Nazarene movement and an author. Life Youth and travels to Italy He came from a wealthy aristocratic family. As ...

* Franz Theobald Horny *

Franz Ittenbach Franz Ittenbach (18 April 1813, Königswinter – 1 December 1879, Düsseldorf) was a German religious painter, in the Nazarene style, associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. Life and work Ittenbach began his art education as a stu ...

* Gustav Jäger * Leopold Kupelwieser *

Friedrich Lange Friedrich Lange may refer to: * Friedrich Lange (artist) (1834–1875), German history painter * Friedrich Lange (journalist) (1852-1917), German journalist and activist * Friedrich Lange (surgeon) (1849–1927), German surgeon and supporter of cha ...

Ferdinand Olivier Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Olivier (1785–1841) was a German painter associated with the Nazarene movement. Life Olivier was born in Dessau on 1 April 1785, to a family of Swiss-French descent. He began his artistic education in 1801 by taking ...

* Friedrich Olivier * Johann David Passavant *

Carl Gottlieb Peschel Carl Gottlieb Peschel (31 March 1798, Dresden – 3 July 1879, Dresden) was a German painter. He was a member of the Nazarene movement. Biography Beginning in 1812, he became a student at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. When Carl Christ ...

Johann Anton Ramboux Johann Anton Alban Ramboux (5 October 1790, Trier - 2 October 1866, Cologne) was a German painter and lithographer. Life His father came from Savoy and his mother was from a famous family of goldsmiths. Christoph Hawich, his drawing teacher ...

Theodor Rehbenitz Theodor Markus Rehbenitz (2 September 1791, Borstel - 19 February 1861, Kiel) was a German painter and draftsman, associated with the Nazarene movement. Life and work He was born on an estate where his father served as the Superintendent. A ...

Johann Scheffer von Leonhardshoff Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff (30 October 1795, Vienna – 12 January 1822, Vienna) was an Austrian painter and graphic artist associated with the Nazarene movement. Life He belonged to a noble but poor family that originally ...

* Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld *

Johann von Schraudolph Johann von Schraudolph (b. Oberstdorf im Allgäu, 1808; died 31 May 1879) was a German historical painter. His brother Matthias and his son Claudius were both also painters. As pupil and assistant of Heinrich Maria von Hess, he painted five sc ...

Joseph Anton Settegast Joseph Anton Nikolaus Settegast (8 February 1813, Koblenz - 19 March 1890, Mainz) was a German church painter and one of the last representatives of the Nazarene movement. Life He received his first art instruction from 1829 to 1831 at the Kuns ...

Johann Michael Wittmer Johann Michael Wittmer (15 October 1802, Murnau am Staffelsee - 9 May 1880, Munich) was a German painter who came from a family of painters and sculptors and was associated with the "Deutschrömer" (Germans artists and writers who lived in Rome ...

Giuseppe Hyzler Giuseppe Hyzler (1787 – 19 January 1858) was a Maltese painter. Born in Malta with a German background, he was awarded a scholarship by the Governor of Malta, Sir Thomas Maitland, in 1814, to pursue his artistics formation in Rome. There Hyzl ...

and his brother

Vincenzo Hyzler Vincenzo is an Italian male given name, derived from the Latin name Vincentius (the verb ''vincere'' means to win or to conquer). Notable people with the name include: Art *Vincenzo Amato (born 1966), Italian actor and sculptor * Vincenzo Bell ...

from Malta

References

External links

{{Authority control Nazarene movement,