Plato's Symposium - Anselm Feuerbach - Google Cultural Institute

''Symposium'' or ''Das Gastmahl des Platon'' are paintings by the German painter

Anselm Feuerbach Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applie ...

from c. 1869 and 1873/74 of a moment from

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

Symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...

, when the drunken

Alcibiades Alcibiades ( ; grc-gre, Ἀλκιβιάδης; 450 – 404 BC) was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last of the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War. He played a major role in t ...

and revelers enter the house of the poet

Agathon Agathon (; grc, Ἀγάθων; ) was an Athenian tragic poet whose works have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's ''Symposium,'' which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy a ...

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, near the wall at right-centre, turns his back on the scene, and bows his head. The 1869 painting is in the

Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. The museum, created by architect Heinrich Hübsch, opened in 1846 after nine years of work in a neoclassical building next to the Karlsruhe Castle and the ...

and the 1874 painting in the

Alte Nationalgalerie The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the Mitte (locality), historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussi ...

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...

History

''Symposium'' was first displayed in 1869 at the Great International Art Exhibition, in Munich Germany. During the exhibition critics wrote, “a sea of ice that had forced itself undesired into a perfume shop.” Another critic, “An extreme of ugliness in form and color which borders on vulgarity and filth ... as if Feuerbach had put his paint brush into ink and calcium water instead of color.” The image ended up in a private collection. Feuerbach painted another more colorful version, which is since 1878 in the collection of the National Gallery in Berlin (Alte Nationalgalerie). However, the earlier 1869 version has been considered by some, to be the superior of the two works on the subject. In the second version the decor and costumes have become still more elaborate and Victorian. The subject was not common, but had been depicted in an

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

of 1648 by

Pietro Testa Pietro Testa (1611–1650) was an Italian High Baroque artist active in Rome. He is best known as a printmaker and draftsman. Biography He was born in Lucca, and thus is sometimes called ''il Lucchesino''. He moved to Rome early in life. O ...

, with a similar basic composition, including Socrates ignoring the intrusion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symposium (painting) Paintings by Anselm Feuerbach Paintings in the collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie Cultural depictions of Socrates Cultural depictions of Plato Paintings based on literature