Tag: sketch

Otto Greiner

Otto Greiner, Study for the “Triumph of Venus”, 1909

Otto Greiner was born on the 16th of December, 1869 in Leipzig, Germany. He began his artistic career in 1884 as an apprentice lithographer and etcher in his hometown. In 1888 Greiner was awarded a bursary which enabled him to study from 1888 to 1891 at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich under illustrator and historical painter Sándor Liezen-Mayer.

At an exhibition in Munich, Greiner encountered the work of painter and sculptor Max Klinger, who was already a leading figure in the Symbolist movement. In the autumn of 1891, Greiner made his first journey to Rome, where he met Klinger, forming a close friendship, and the painter and printmaker Käthe Kollwitz, who became the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts and receive  professor status.  

Otto Greiner returned to Germany and worked in Munich and Leipzig between the years 1892 and 1898. He returned to Rome where he settled permanently in 1898, moving into Max Klinger’s former studio near the Colosseum. Greiner was in contact with and highly regarded by the community of German artists living and working in Rome. 

In 1915, Greiner was forced to return to Germany because Italy sided with France and England in World War I. He settled in Munich, where many of his works were published in journals of the day. Otto Greiner died in Munich, after contracting pneumonia, on September 24th of 1916. 

A talented draughtsman, printmaker, and painter, Otto Greiner also produced a large body of studies, working in ink, charcoal, red chalk, gouache, and colored crayon. These studies show the precision of his working methods, and his confident handling of materials and techniques.In his finished paintings, Greiner specialized in the depiction of nudes, often placed in complex poses and set in Italianate landscapes, for which mythological subjects provided an excellent opportunity. He also painted portraits and produced an impressive oeuvre of prints. 

Note: Otto Greiner made several studies for the “Triumph of Venus”, his unfinished work that was destroyed in World War II. Three, which are known to exist, are: an oil on canvas study for the figure of Venus, c 1903, 120 x 79.5 cm, now residing in a private collection; the study of three male figures (shown above), 1909, location unknown ; and a preliminary sketch of the entire  work, date and location of this sketch is unknown.

John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent, “Sketch for Perseus on Pegasus Slaying Medusa”, 1922-1924, Oil and Graphite on Canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

In one version of the birth of Pegasus, the flying horse, it states the horse was miraculously formed when the blood of Medusa’s severed head poured onto the foaming sea, and out of this foam it came. Another version said the horse came out of the slain body of Medusa and upon the horse was a warrior called Chrysaor, born carrying a golden sword.  The Pegasus story states that Perseus gave the head of Medusa to the goddess Athena in gratitude for her help and in reprisal for what Medusa had done to Athena’s temple.

In Sargent’s depiction, he seems to combine the elements of the entire story: the slaying of Medusa, the birth of Pegasus, and the presenting of Medusa’s head to Athena all in one. He also, very cleverly, has kept faithful to the constellation of Pegasus, the stars in the sky aligned correctly to the position of Pegasus in his sketch.

Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens, “The Fall of Icarus”, 1636, Oil on Wood, 27 x 27 cm, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

“The Fall of Icarus” is another of the sketches that Peter Paul Rubens produced from 1636 onwards for the decoration of the Torre de la Parada. In it he chooses to illustrate the most dramatic moment of Ovid’s narrative, when Daedalus looks towards Icarus falling headlong into the void. The painter confers a highly human dimension to his work by representing the painful loss of a son.

At the same time Rubens concentrates on the movement of the two bodies, contrasting with the calmness of the sea and the mute intensity of the sun. Icarus is exposed in full light, whilst Daedalus’ body is handled in darker tones. This play of light and shadow allows the artist both to place Icarus in the forefront of the picture and to insist on the vulnerability of his flesh.

This sketch represents the destiny of man, as does Rubens’s “Fall of Phaethon”, also conserved in the museum. Archive documents tell us that these two paintings with a similar theme were placed facing each other in the first room on the ground floor of the Spanish royal hunting pavilion. This strict placing forms an exception, as Rubens’ mythological works do not appear to have been arranged according to any pre-established concept.

The final picture, now in the Madrid Prado, was painted by Jacob Peter Gowy and is much more anecdotal than Rubens’ sketch. A city is visible to the back of the composition, with two small figures walking on the beach, probably Daedalus and Icarus before starting their flight. Contrary to the Ovid text, which evokes a day of bright sun, the sky is cloudy and the sea choppy.