Nazarenes and Late Romantics

In 1809 six Viennese art students formed the Brotherhood of Saint Luke. They hoped to invest modern painting with the purity of form and spiritual values that they admired in the art of early Renaissance Italy and Northern Europe. Johann Friedrich Overbeck's portrait of the painter Franz Pforr (top right) reflects their admiration for both Raphael and Albrecht Dürer. In 1810 four of the artists traveled to Rome, and others joined them. There, they lived a devout, communal life, acquiring the name Nazarenes because they sometimes wore costumes evoking the Nazareth of biblical times. A primary commitment was to religious painting, as seen in the works of Overbeck and Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Other artists, such as Joseph Anton Koch and Ludwig Richter, painted the Italian landscape in a manner reminiscent of earlier centuries. Some of these artists remained in Italy throughout their lives, while others eventually returned to Germany and became influential teachers.

The landscape oil sketch played an important role at this time. Carl Blechen executed such sketches out-of-doors both in Germany and on his Italian visit of 1828-1829. He did not, however, consider them "finished" paintings, which tended to be larger in scale. The luminous delicacy of Blechen's oil sketches carried over into his painting of the interior of the Palm House near Potsdam. Designed by Schinkel, this sunny, glass-enclosed space housed the palm collection King Frederick William III of Prussia had purchased in Paris on the advice of the great Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.

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