Carl von Piloty, an Accessible Pompier

Carl Theodor von Piloty (1826-1886) was a leading Munich academic painter during the third quarter of the 19th century (Wikipedia entry here). That entry and Google prefer to spell his first name as Karl -- the typical German spelling. However, the German Wikipedia entry as well as plaques for his works displayed at Munich's Neue Pinakothek use the spelling seen in this post's lead sentence. Presumably that version was his preference.

The term "pompier" used in the title was a late-19th century term a derision applied to academic painting, as explained here. True, Piloty was that for most of his career, but I find his paintings generally less stilted than many others of that ilk.

Let's take a look:

Gallery

Seni in front of Wallenstein's Body - 1855
Wallenstein was a leading general during the Thirty Years War (biographical information here). Eventually he was assassinated, the inspiration for this painting.

Christopher Columbus - 1865
On display at the Neue Pinakothek.

The Taking of Jerusalem by Godfrey de Bouillon 1099 - c. 1855-60
Pompier subject matter -- a scene from the Crusades. Note the strong triangular composition.

Death of Alexander the Great - c. 1885
A late painting. Here the composition is a wedge at the left pointing towards the sheet covering Alexander's body.

Thusnelda at the Triumph of Germanicus - 1873
Background on the subject matter is here. This was painted when Piloty was probably at the height of his powers. His approach is something like that of a mural painter where an important objective is to fill the real estate with detail. In other words, it's not a painting to be grasped at a glance. The viewer is expected to scan it, seeking out and savoring various details the artist has provided. I must confess that, alas, my attention span is not geared for this.

The painting is huge. Note the youngsters at the lower right of my Neue Pinakothek photo that provide some scale.

Here is a part of the painting featuring Thusnelda. For some reason I don't find her very
interesting. In compensation, look at the expressions on the faces of the men at the right. Also, apologies for the usual poor-quality museum setting photography.

Another close-up. This is of the soldier at the lower right shown riding a bear. Again, note the facial expressions: well painted.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Georges van Zevenberghen, Belgian Inspired by Chardin

Image
As the title of this post mentions, Georges Antoine Van Zevenberghen (1877-1968), was presumably inspired by Chardin's paintings. Well, that's what this nearly-worthless French Wikipedia entry mentions: " Il partit ensuite pour Paris en 1903 où il admira les œuvres du peintre du xviiie siècle Jean Siméon Chardin qui le marquèrent durablement. " It seems that van Zevenberghen spent most of his long life in Belgium, enduring periods of German occupation in both World Wars. His main travels apparently were to Paris. The entry also notes: " En 1933, il devint professeur à l'Académie royale des beaux-arts de Bruxelles, fonction qu'il remplit jusqu'en 1948. " So he was regarded highly enough to become a professor in the Academy. Not many of his paintings can be found on the Internet. They are generally solidly done. There is one that stands out, however, as can be seen below. Gallery La repasseuse - 1907 The earliest of his paintings that I coul
Read more

Tom Purvis' Austin Reed Posters

Image
Tom Purvis (1888-1959) was a leading British poster artist during the 1920s and 1930s, especially after his style evolved into simplified shapes with areas of flat color and no outlining. Purvis' Wikipedia entry is here , but as of the time this post was drafted (late December 2017), it was not very informative. More biographical information can be found here , but you will need to scroll down to find it. Although he worked for a number of clients, he is best known for his railroad posters and those for Austin Reed, a clothier. Both Austin Reed and Purvis were at their peak when the posters shown below were created. Purvis moved on to portrait work and religious painting in the years following World War 2. Austin Reed went bankrupt in 2016 and its remains were acquired by Edinburgh Woolen Mill. As I write this, there are no Austin Reed stores in London. Gallery For most of its existence, Austin Reed's flagship store was located at the lower end of Regent Street, not far fr
Read more

Hugh Goldwin Rivière, Mid-Lever British Portraitist

Image
Hugh Goldwin Riviere (1869–1956) lived a long life and made a living as a portrait painter in the United Kingdom. The most detail I could find about him during a short Google search is here -- almost nothing there, as you can see. Nevertheless, he painted many portraits, a number of which can be seen here . Note that nearly all are of persons of local or middling national interest. There are no royalty, top-level nobility or senior military leaders shown. Nor are there subjects from the entertainment world. That said, Rivière (of Huguenot descent) was competent in his work and also painted subjects besides portraits on occasion. Despite his competence, as readers of this blog might be aware by now, he had a great number of British competitors who were equally good, and a few who were much better. In the Gallery below, a few portraits are presented, then three other works. The latter pre-date the portraits, so I'll conjecture that he tried other subjects before settling on po
Read more