11 Classic Works of Art, Marine Paintings from Cornwall & Scotland - With Footnotes, #24

William Edward Webb, (1862–1903)

Douglas Harbour, c. 1896

Oil on canvas

59 x 90 cm

Manx Museum

Douglas Harbour is located near Douglas Head on the southern end of Douglas, the capital town of the Isle of Man. It is the island's main commercial shipping port. The earliest recorded history indicates the presence of infrastructure facilitating the use of Douglas Harbour dates back to 1660. From the beginning of the 19th Century many things happened to open up the Island to an increasing amount of traffic. More Douglas Harbour

William Edward Webb (1862–1903), see below

Hendrik Barend Koekkoek, (Dutch, 1849-circa 1885)

Canal scene with boats

Oil on canvas

40 x 60.5cm (15 3/4 x 23 13/16in).

Private collection

Hendrik Barend (also Barend Hendrik) Koekkoek, (Dutch, 1849-circa 1885), was the son of H. Koekkoek. Hendrik was born in Amsterdam and was a student of MA Koekkoek. Many of his family were also artists.

He had a romantic view of landscapes as poetic representation of nature . Often, his paintings were of a forest with a castle or other building in the background. Noteworthy in his paintings is the role of light which was an intrinsic element in his art.

HB Koekkoek lived and worked in Amsterdam, Hilversum, Brussels and London.  He painted landscapes and woodland scenes.  He died in London in 1909.  More Koekkoek, Barend Cornelis 

Henri Carnier

Flemish Port 

Oil on panel

25 x 20 cm. (9 13/16 x 7 7/8in.)

Private collection

Karl Kaufmann (born 1843 in Neuplachowitz, Austrian Silesia; † 27. April 1905 in Vienna) was an Austrian landscape and architectural painter. Kaufmann was a student at the Vienna Academy. His studies in the European North (Norway), to Holland, Germany (Franconia, Danzig, Königsberg) and often to Italy (Naples, Rome, Venice) gave him the motives for his numerous landscapes, including a remarkable number of views of Venice.

From 1900 Karl Kaufmann constantly lived in Vienna. He often signed his works using pseudonyms. Among various other names, Byon, H. Carnier, W. Carnier, F. Gilbert, O. Halm, C.Charpentier, J. Holmstedt, Charles Marchand, R. Merkner, B. Lambert, E. Leutner, M. Heger, Hobart, L. van Howe / van Hove, R. Jäger, Laarsen, Lundberg, F. Marchant, J. Marchant, C. Poul, F. Rodek, J. Rollin, Taupiac, L. Voigt or R. Benda, have often been used. More Karl Kaufmann

Henri Carnier

Flemish Port 

Oil on panel

25 x 20 cm. (9 13/16 x 7 7/8in.)

Private collection

Karl Kaufmann (born 1843 in Neuplachowitz, Austrian Silesia; † 27. April 1905 in Vienna), see above

Dorothea Sharp, RBA, ROI (British, 1874-1955)

Children playing by the shore

Oil on canvas

82.5 x 84.5cm (32 1/2 x 33 1/4in).

Private collection

Dorothea Sharp (British 1873—1955) was born in Dartford, Kent. Despite her family's disapproval, she trained at Regent Street Polytechnic, and in Paris where she discovered the work of Monet.. The latter greatly influenced her handling of subjects and colour in impressionist fashion. The Artist (journal) made much of her work, considering her to be one of the greatest women painters of her time. 

During WWII she moved to St Ives and she and became a prominent members of STISA. More Dorothea Sharp

Michael Brown, (British, 1854-1957)

Boys on a sea shore

Oil on canvas

15 x 20cm (5 7/8 x 7 7/8in).

Private collection

Michael Brown was a British visual artist who was born in 1854. Michael Brown has had numerous gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Corbett vs. Dempsey and at the ADA Gallery. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'PLAYING THE FIRST HOLE AT POINT GARRY, NORTH BERWICK' sold at Sotheby's Edinburgh 'Gleneagles Paintings' in 2005 for $129,672. There have been numerous articles about Michael Brown, including 'Baltimore riots: Artist hangs 'lynched' black dolls from tree in protest at deaths of Walter Scott, Eric Garner and Michael Brown' written by Neela Debnath for The Independent in 2015. The artist died in 1957. More Michael Brown

William McTaggart, RSA RSW (British, 1835-1910)

Tarbert, Loch Fyne

Watercolour

38 x 30.5cm (14 15/16 x 12in).

Private collection

Tarbert, or Tairbeart Loch Fìne, is a village in the West of Scotland in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre to Knapdale and West Loch Tarbert. 

The name Tarbert is the anglicised form of the Gaelic word tairbeart. This refers to the narrowest strip of land between two bodies of water over which goods or entire boats can be carried (portage). In past times cargoes were discharged from vessels berthed in one loch, hauled over the isthmus to the other loch, loaded onto vessels berthed there and shipped onward, allowing seafarers to avoid the sail around the Mull of Kintyre.

Tarbert was anciently part of the Gaelic overkingdom of Dál Riata and protected by three castles. The ruin of the last of these castles—Tarbert Castle—still exists, and dominates Tarbert's skyline. Around the year 1098 Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, had his longship carried across the isthmus at Tarbert to signify his possession of the Western Isles.

Despite its distinction as a strategic stronghold during the Middle Ages, Tarbert's socioeconomic prosperity came during the Early Modern period, as the port developed into a fishing town. At its height, the Loch Fyne herring fishery attracted hundreds of vessels to Tarbert. More Tarbert

William McTaggart (25 October 1835 – 2 April 1910) was a Scottish landscape and marine painter born in the small village in Scotland. He moved to Edinburgh at the age of 16 and studied at the Trustees' Academy. He won several prizes as a student and exhibited his work in the Royal Scottish Academy, becoming a full member of the Academy in 1870. His early works were mainly figure paintings, often of children, but he later turned to land and Marine art specifically seascape painting.

McTaggart was fascinated with nature and man’s relationship with it, and he strove to capture aspects such as the transient effects of light on water. He adopted the Impressionist practice of painting out of doors, and his use of colour and bold brushwork. McTaggart was skilled in the use of both oil and watercolour. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of the Scottish landscape and is often labelled the "Scottish Impressionist".

He married Marjorie Henderson, the daughter of another painter, Joseph Henderson (artist) RSW (1832-1908), Joseph's sons John Henderson (1860-1924) and Joseph Morris Henderson (1863-1936) also being painters. McTaggart painted a striking portrait of his father in law, Joseph Henderson, which hangs in the Glasgow Museum. More William McTaggart

Sir James Lawton Wingate, RSA (British, 1846-1924)

Firth of Clyde 

Oil on canvas 

26 x 37 cm. (10 1/4 x 14 9/16 in.)

Private collection

The Firth of Clyde encloses the largest and deepest coastal waters in the British Isles, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula (above) which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran (below). Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island - the Isle of Bute. Given its strategic location, at the entrance to the middle/upper Clyde, Bute played a vitally important military (naval) role during World War II. More Firth of Clyde 

Sir James Lawton Wingate (9 October 1846 – 22 April 1924) was a Scottish painter of the late nineteenth century. He was born in Glasgow, and initially worked as a commercial clerk, taking drawing lessons in the early morning. He was influenced by Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites, and first exhibited in 1864 at the Glasgow Fine Art Institute. The appreciation he received led him to abandon his job and tour Italy in 1867-68 where he created 150 watercolour drawings.

Returning to Scotland, he lived at Hamilton, and developed a keen skill in painting landscapes and woodland scenes while studying at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA).

In 1874 he moved to Crieff and later to Muthill, painting rustic genre scenes and later increasingly impressionistic landscapes which made his reputation. After 1880 he exhibited regularly at the RSA, becoming its President in 1919, also the year in which he was knighted. He resigned as President of the RSA shortly before his death in Edinburgh, aged 77. More James Lawton Wingate

Patrick Downie RSW (British, 1854-1945)

A Grey Morning off Arran , c. 1918

Watercolour 

36 x 53 cm. (14 3/16 x 20 7/8 in.)

Private collection

Arran or the Isle of Arran, is the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire. Arran has been continuously inhabited since the early Neolithic period, and numerous prehistoric remains have been found. From the 6th century onwards, Goidelic-speaking peoples from Ireland colonised it and it became a centre of religious activity. During the troubled Viking Age, Arran became the property of the Norwegian crown, until formally absorbed by the kingdom of Scotland in the 13th century.  It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault and has been described as a "geologist's paradise". More Isle of Arran

Patrick Downie was born in Greenock in 1854. He showed great artistic ability from an early age. His father died when he was still very young, and Downie was forced to seek employment as a van man, and then as a postman. 

He decided to devote his life to art and began a period of intense study first in his country and then in Paris. He failed however to find this to be a lucrative prospect and in 1887 went to Paisley

Downie was an early contributor to the principal art exhibitions, including those of the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Glasgow Institute and the Royal Scottish Watercolour Society, as well as to exhibitions in Paris, Venice and elsewhere on the continent. In 1905 he was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colour.

When George V and Queen Mary visited the Institute of the Fine Arts in Glasgow, the Queen, whose attention had been drawn to a picture by E. A. Hornell, said “I do not care for that style but there is a picture I like”, pointing to one signed by Patrick Downie. More Patrick Downie

Patrick Downie, (1854–1945)

Back to the Clyde

Oil on canvas

101.6 x 127 cm

Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection (Dundee City Council)

The River Clyde is a river, that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second-longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire. In the early medieval Cumbric language it was known as Clud or Clut, and was central to the Kingdom of Strathclyde. More The River Clyde 

Patrick Downie, (1854–1945), see above

William Edward Webb, (British, 1862-1903)

Seascape with Figures

Oil on Canvas

19” by 29 1/2”.

Private collection

William Edward Webb, (British, 1862-1903). A permanent resident of Manchester, he widely frequented the coasts and ports of Great Britain, producing an impressive output of active scenes celebrating the challenges faced by those who plied their trades on the open ocean.

Webb exhibited more than 60 paintings from 1890 to 1904, mostly in his hometown, but also with the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and three times with the Royal Academy in London. Greater commercial recognition came to Webb posthumously partially through the efforts of author Denys Brook-Hart, who saw what he identified as the extreme first-hand excellence of the artist.

Webb’s art is celebratory in spirit while it offers no false glamour of the hard lives faced by working sailors and fishermen in the 19th century. His seas are vibrant and active, his atmospheric light exceedingly realistic of the heavy skies of the British Isles, and his portrayals of the local people artistically insightful. More William Edward Webb

David Curtis, 1948 Born, Doncaster

Tall ships moored, Charleston-Bay

Watercolor

13 x23"

Private collection

Located about a mile outside the town of St Austell is Charlestown. It was constructed between 1791 and 1801 by Charles Rashleigh, entrepreneur and member of the local landowning family, in response to the growth of the local mining industry. Originally built to export copper and import coal, it was soon being used for the export of China Clay. It is from its creator that the the port gets its name. More Charleston-Bay

David Curtis is a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. He is one of the UK's most successful and best known artists. David won first prize in the Singer and Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition in 1992, and has won many other awards for his spectacular art.

Essentially a "plein air" and figurative painter, working in both oil and watercolours, he is the author of numerous books and has work in collections all over the world. More David Curtis

George Sherwood Hunter, RBA (British, 1850-1919)

Fisherfolk Returning, Aberdeen, c. 1886

Oil on canvas

37 x 75 cm. (14 9/16 x 29 1/2 in.)

Private collection

Hunter was an Aberdeen artist. This is a view looking south, towards Girdle Ness lighthouse. The wrecking of the whaling ship Oscar here in 1813 with the loss of all but two of her crew of 45 led to the building of the lighthouse in 1833. 

George Sherwood Hunter, RBA (British, 1850-1919) was born on 30 May 1846 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and moved to London, where he exhibited both at Smith Street and the RA.  1897 found him in Cornwall, where he lived at Belle Vue, Newlyn, and from 1902 moved to The Malt House where he stayed until his death. Hunter assisted in teaching at the FORBES School of painting in the early days of the School.

At the 1895 Opening of NAG, Hunter exhibited three paintings - two from the 'memorable East' (Cornishman review cutting): A Jericho Patriarch and A Modern Canaanite Jerusalem (which both sold), and the third being a Spanish subject. In 1901 at NAG he showed West Coast of Scotland and in 1907 he sold Spanish Girl. The artist died on 18 June, 1919, age 73, in Newlyn. More George Sherwood Hunter

George Sherwood Hunter (1846–1919)

Fishermen, Newlyn, Cornwall

Oil on canvas

12 x 21 cm

University of Hull Art Collection

Newlyn is a seaside town and fishing port in south-west Cornwall, UK. Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount's Bay and forms a small conurbation with the neighbouring town of Penzance. It is part of the Penzance civil parish, and is the southern-most town on the British mainland. The principal industry is fishing, although there are also a wide variety of yachts and pleasure boats, in the harbour, as Newlyn is becoming an increasingly popular holiday destination. More Newlyn

George Sherwood Hunter (1846–1919), see above

Acknowledgement: Bonhams, 

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others

14 Paintings by the Orientalist Artists of the Nineteenth-Century, with footnotes, #10

Jan van Beers, (1852-1927)

Souvenance, c. 1877

Oil paint on canvas

21 x 27 cm

Private Collection

Jean Marie Constantin Joseph "Jan" van Beers (27 March 1852 – 17 November 1927) was a Belgian painter and illustrator, the son of the poet Jan van Beers. They are sometimes referred to as Jan van Beers the elder and Jan van Beers the younger. In 1884, Jan Van Beers produced the pen-and-ink sketches for the edition de luxe of his father's poetry. More on Jan van Beers

Edwin Lord Weeks, 1849 - 1903, AMERICAN

A MARKET IN ISPAHAN

Oil on canvas

18 5/8 by 22 3/8 in., 47.3 by 56.8 cm

Private Collection

Isfahan is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 kilometres south of Tehran. Isfahan is located on the main north–south and east–west routes crossing Iran, and was once one of the largest cities in the world. It flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries under the Safavid dynasty, when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history. Even today, the city retains much of its past glory. It is famous for its Persian–Islamic architecture, with many beautiful boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, mosques, and minarets. More Isfahan

Edwin Lord Weeks (1849 – 1903) was an American artist. Weeks was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1849. His parents were affluent spice and tea merchants from Newton, a suburb of Boston, and as such they were able to finance their son's youthful interest in painting and travelling. As a young man Weeks visited the Florida Keys to draw, and also travelled to Surinam in South America. His earliest known paintings date from 1867 when he was eighteen years old, although it is not until his Landscape with Blue Heron, dated 1871 and painted in the Everglades, that Weeks started to exhibit a dexterity of technique and eye for composition—presumably having taken professional tuition.

In 1872 Weeks relocated to Paris, becoming a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Jean-Léon Gérôme. After his studies in Paris, Weeks emerged as one of America's major painters of Orientalist subjects. Throughout his adult life he was an inveterate traveler and journeyed to South America (1869), Egypt and Persia (1870), Morocco (frequently between 1872 and 1878), and India (1882–83).

Weeks died in Paris in November 1903.[2] He was a member of the Légion d'honneur, France, an officer of the Order of St. Michael, Germany, and a member of the Munich Secession. More on Edwin Lord Weeks

Jan van Beers (1852-1927)

La Belle Egyptienne/ The Beautiful Egyptian, c. between 1876 and 1927

Oil on panel

height: 27 cm (10.6 in); width: 21 cm (8.2 in)

Private Collection

Jan van Beers (1852-1927), see above

Frederick Arthur Bridgman, 1847 - 1928, AMERICAN

AN EGYPTIAN PROCESSION

Oil on canvas

33 by 63 in., 83.8 by 160 cm

Private Collection

An Egyptian Procession was one of several historical genre scenes produced late in Bridgman’s career, and one of four major processional scenes painted between 1879 and 1919.  These works were closely related — both thematically and compositionally — to the artist’s historical reconstructions of the 1870s, the most famous of which were Les funerailles d’une momie (location unknown), exhibited at the 1877 Paris Salon, and the Procession du boeuf Apis of circa 1879 

Frederick Arthur Bridgman (November 10, 1847 - 1928) was an American artist, born in Tuskegee, Alabama. The son of a physician, Bridgman would become one of the United States' most well-known and well-regarded painters and become known as one of the world's most talented "Orientalist" painters. He began as a draughtsman in New York City, for the American Bank Note Company in 1864-1865, and studied art in the same years at the Brooklyn Art Association and at the National Academy of Design; but he went to Paris in 1866 and became a pupil of Jean-Leon Gerome. Paris then became his headquarters. A trip to Egypt in 1873-1874 resulted in pictures of the East that attracted immediate attention, and his large and important composition, The Funeral Procession of a Mummy on the Nile, in the Paris Salon (1877), bought by James Gordon Bennett, brought him the Cross of the Legion of Honor. Other paintings by him were An American Circus in Normandy, Procession of the Bull Apis (now in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), and a Rumanian Lady (in the Temple collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). More on Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Frederick Arthur Bridgman, 1847 - 1928, AMERICAN

A Street Scene in Algeria, 1879

Oil on canvas

1369x970

Private collection

Frederick Arthur Bridgman, 1847 - 1928, see abov

Ludwig Deutsch, 1855-1935, AUSTRIAN

THE DELLA'L, CAIRO, c. 1883

Oil on panel

12 3/4 by 9 5/8 in., 32.4 by 24.4 cm

Private Collection

Painted in 1883, the present work is one of the earliest examples of Deutsch’s most iconic Orientalist themes—a single male figure, silhouetted against an architecturally distinctive door or entrance way.  The man’s ankle-length black-and-white striped woolen abāya identifies him as an itinerant worker in this Egyptian scene; he is probably a della’l, or broker, hired by one of the local shopkeepers.  As the noted nineteenth-century Arabic scholar Edward William Lane (1801-1876) explained, “In many of the nooks of Cairo auctions are held on stated days. They are conducted by delláls, or brokers, hired either by persons who have anything they wish to sell in this manner, or by shopkeepers. The Delláls carry the goods up and down, announcing the sums bidden for them with cries of Harraj, harraj, etc." In Deutsch’s painting, the man gestures emphatically and continues his familiar calls, though he has momentarily set down the eclectic array of goods he has been appointed to vend. More on this painting

Ludwig Deutsch, 1855-1935, was born in Vienna to a well-to-do family. He began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts after completing high school. He studied in the atelier of Alselm Feuerbach along with the painter Rudolf Ernst, his contemporary, who was also an Orientalist and lifelong friend. 

Deutsch decided to move to Paris to continue his studies. He was accepted into the class of Leopold Carl Muller, another Austrian Orientalist, who had moved to Paris. By 1880, he had decided to cut all his ties with his life in Vienna, apart from his friend Rudolf Ernst, who had also moved to Paris.  Deutsch set up a studio on the Rue Pelletier, and sent a portrait to the Paris Salon in 1879. He was then studying with Jean-Paul Laurens, who promoted his student’s work to Parisian high society. It was in 1881 that he began painting Orientalist works. He began making paintings that focused on single figures instead of the groups of people that he had been painting before. 

Deutsch traveled to Egypt in 1886 for the first time, resulting in a number of paintings of everyday street scenes. He visited again in 1890, and frequently did so over the next few years. 

Deutsch wanted accuracy in his work, and so hired local photographers to take pictures of the sites that he would later paint.  Deutsch won the Gold Medal at the Paris Salon in 1900. His work sold well, with buyers being drawn to his incredible attention to detail. He continued painting through the next decade and a half till the outbreak of the First World War, when he was forced to flee Paris. 

Deutsch became a French citizen in around 1919. Throughout his career, he worked towards improving his photo-realistic technique. Though he was a studio-painter who often painted with models in Paris, his travels in Egypt lent color and atmosphere that rendered his paintings authentic. Deutsch continued living and working in Paris till his death in 1935. More on Ludwig Deutsch

Adam Styka , born April 7, 1890 and died September 23, 1959

RESTING IN A DESERT

watercolour, gouache, pencil, cardboard

21.7 x 15.5cm

Private Collection

Adam Styka , born April 7, 1890 and died September 23, 1959 in Doylestown (Pennsylvania) , was born in Poland in 1890. He completed his formal education at the French Academy of Fine Arts, and painted closely under the tutelage of his father, Jan Styka. Each year Adam exhibited his paintings in the Paris' Salon de Paris, Champs Des Elysses and others in Europe and countries of both Americas.

After graduating from the French Military Academy in Fontainebleau, Adam served in the French artillery during the World War I. He was decorated with a Cross of Merit. Also as a reward, he was granted the French "Nationality Citizenship" and a special assistance from the French Government to visit French colonies in Northern Africa. As the result of these annual journeys, Adam developed an entire genre of Middle-Eastern and Oriental themes. 

Adam Styka passed away on 23rd of September 1959 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. More on Adam Styka

Joseph Coomans, 1816-1889, BELGIAN

THE AMULET, c. 1882

Oil on canvas

32 by 25 3/4 in., 81.3 by 65.4 cm

Private Collection

Pierre Oliver Joseph Coomans (1816-1889), was a native of Brussels, and a pupil of Professor Hasselaere at Ghent, and of Nicaise de Keyser and Baron Wappers at the Antwerp Academy. From Antwerp he removed to Paris, and going with the French army to Algiers, where he resided several years, he later traveled extensively in Italy, Turkey, Greece, and the Crimea. Some years before his death he visited America, residing there for a prolonged period. More on Pierre Oliver Joseph Coomans

Pierre Oliver Joseph Coomans, (1816-1889)

AN ORIENTAL BEAUTY, c. 1879

oil on canvas

measurements

21 1/2 by 17 in., 54.6 by 43.1 cm

Private Collection

Pierre Oliver Joseph Coomans (1816-1889), see above

Adam Styka , born April 7, 1890 and died September 23, 1959

Girl with camels

Oil on canva

60.0 x 70.0 cm 

Private Collection

Adam Styka made several trips to North Africa , Tunisia and Algeria, where he became interested in the Orientalism . It was a fertile period in addressing the landscapes of these regions and portraits of Arabs, Berbers and Orientalist genre scenes. His palette was very bright in the North African sun. He is nicknamed "the painter of the Sun" . Subsequently, Styka stayed in Morocco and Egypt . He left France in the 1950s and settled in Pennsylvania.

Adam Styka, born April 7, 1890 and died September 23, 1959

THE WHISPER

Oil on canvas

35 5/8 by 32 in., 90.4 by 81.2 cm

Private Collection

At the end of his life, he became interested in religious themes as did his father. We find many of his paintings in churches in Europe and North America. He exhibited in Paris (including the brothers Gérard gallery of the street la Boetie ), the Paris Salon , etc., in Europe and the United States .

He is buried in the cemetery of the Order of Saint Paul, the First Hermit Doylestown in United States. More on Adam Styka

Michał Paweł Gorstkin-Wywiórski (14 March 1861, Warsaw - 30 May 1926, Berlin)

DESERT RIDERS, CA 1885

Oil, canvas

71 x 51.5cm

Private Collection

Michał Paweł Gorstkin-Wywiórski (14 March 1861, Warsaw - 30 May 1926, Berlin) was a Polish painter; primarily of landscapes and maritime scenes; and an amateur naturalist and maritime historian.

He was the son of a Russian army officer and his Polish wife. From 1881 to 1882, he studied chemistry at Riga Technical University and became a member of Arkonia, an "academic corporation" devoted to Polish patriotism. It was then that he began adding his mother's maiden name to Gorstkin. A sudden illness forced him to discontinue his studies and return home.

Michał Paweł Gorstkin-Wywiórski (14 March 1861, Warsaw - 30 May 1926, Berlin)

Hunting with falcons

Oil, canvas

65.5 x 105 cm

Private Collection

After a brief stay in Zurich for his health, he decided to study art instead. From 1883 to 1887, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich with Karl Raupp and Nikolaos Gyzis. He also took private lessons. In 1894, his painting of a Lithuanian forest earned him a second-class medal at the Glaspalast. After 1895, he lived in Berlin for several years before returning to Poland. While there, at the invitation of Wojciech Kossak and Julian Fałat, he participated in painting a panorama depicting the Battle of Berezina. This was followed by an invitation from Jan Styka to work on the Transylvania Panorama.

After that, he devoted himself to travel, visiting (among many other places) Spain (1899-1900), Egypt (1900-1901), Scandinavia (1903-1904) and the Carpathians (1906). In Spain, he and Kossak gathered material for a panorama of the Battle of Somosierra, which was never completed because of objections from the Russian authorities. In Egypt, he made sketches for a panorama of the Battle of the Pyramids.

At first, he painted genre scenes dealing primarily with Cossacks and Tatars. Later, under the influence of the Young Poland movement, he shifted his interest to landscapes and marine art. He was a member of several art societies and professional groups in Poznań, which was his primary home after 1904. More on Michał Paweł Gorstkin-Wywiórski

After Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre

Lost Illusions

oil on canvas 

76 x 117cm (29 15/16 x 46 1/16in)

Private collection

Gleyre claimed that "Lost Illusions" represented a vision that he had experienced on the evening of March 1, 1835, while sitting on the banks of the Nile River near Abydos, Egypt. An aging poet watches pensively as a mysterious boat carries away his youthful dreams and illusions, personified by music-making maidens and a cupid strewing flowers. Although the figures in the painting wear classical Greek dress, their vessel resembles a "dahabieh," an Egyptian river boat. In 1843, Gleyre succeeded Paul Delaroche as the head of the major private studio in Paris. His pupils included such diverse figures as the Academic artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, the future Impressionists Alfred Sisley and Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), and the American James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1904). This painting, begun by Gleyre's pupil Léon Dussart and reworked by Gleyre himself, replicates Gleyre's masterpiece "Le Soir" (now in the Louvre Museum, Paris). William Walters commissioned this painting from the artist through the Parisian art dealers Goupil & Cie. in 1865. It took two years to complete. Conscious of the delay, the firm wrote to Walters: Mr. Gleyre has finally nearly finished his reproduction of his picture. . . We are happy to be able to tell you that this reproduction is beautifully done. It has taken a long time and has required more trouble from the painter than he thought. More on this painting

Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist, resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Louis-Frederic Schützenberger. More on Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre

He was a major figure in academy painting in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century. For a long time, given the smooth perfection of his facture and his subject matter, mostly taken from mythology, he was taken for a cold, conventional esthete blind to the revolutions of his time. However, research into the history of art draws attention to the important role played by his studio, which produced artists like Jean-Léon Gérôme que Claude Monet and Fréderic Bazille. Also, fresh interpretations of his work, including first and foremost the psychoanalytical analysis published by Michel Thevoz in 1980, have uncovered the fascinating contradictions of both the artist and his work. More on Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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