The painter's relation to the historic schools of Christian Art has been so fully stated, that little more remains to be said. The old masters were studied much in the same way as nature: their spirit was inhaled, and just as John Gibson was accustomed to ask, What would the Greeks have done? so Overbeck put himself in the place of the early Italian painters, and desired that his pencil might be guided by their spirit. Like Raphael, what he borrowed he made his own, and often added an aspect and a grace peculiar to himself. A gallery of pictures was for him what a well-stored library is to a literary student, who takes from the shelves the author best supplying the intellectual food needed. The method is not new or strange: Bacon teaches how the moderns inherit the wisdom of the ancients, and surely if for art, as for learning, there be advancement in store, old pictures, like old books, must give up the treasure of a life beyond life. Overbeck in the past sought not for the dead, but for the living and enduring.

Given a painter's genius and surroundings, his art usually follows under the law of cause and effect. Overbeck's pictures, as those of others, yield under analysis as their component parts, nature plus tradition, plus individual self. As to the individual man, we have found Overbeck the poet and philosopher, the mystic, somewhat the sentimentalist, and, above all, the devout Catholic. The character is singularly interesting, and the products are unusually complex. He had forerunners and many imitators, yet he stands alone, and were his pencil lost, a blank would be felt in the realm of art. His genius was denied grandeur: he did not rise to the epic, and scarcely expanded into the dramatic; his path was comparatively narrow; his kingdom remained small, yet where he stands is hallowed ground; his art is musical, altogether lyrical, yet toned with pathos, as if the lamentations of The Holy Women at the Sepulchre mingled with the angel-voices of The Nativity. The man and his work are among the most striking and unaccustomed phenomena of the century, and so far as his art is true to God, humanity, and nature, it must endure. His own assurance is left on record: he held that knowledge and doing are of value only so far as they ennoble humanity, and lead to that which is eternal. He believed in the dependence of art on personal character, on elevation of mind and purity of motive. The noblest destiny of the race was ceaselessly before him, and he looked to Christian Art as the means of showing to the world the everlasting truth, and of raising the reality of life to the ideal. In conclusion, I think it not too much to claim Overbeck as the most perfect example, in our time, of the Christian Artist.

The pecuniary rewards of the painter were in no fair proportion to his talents or his industry. His labour, as we have seen, was primarily for the honour of art and religion, and his protracted modes of study, as well as the esoteric character of his compositions, were little likely to meet with adequate return. Overbeck never realised large sums; his prices measured by present standards were ridiculously low, and even when overcrowded with commissions, he is known to have fallen short of ready cash. Happily, after early struggles, he became relieved from pressing anxieties, yet he remained comparatively poor.

Overbeck's influence, the example of his life, the principles of his art, extended far and wide throughout Europe. In France, the German master won the reverence of the Christian artist Flandrin. In England, Pugin held him up to students as a bright example. In Vienna and Prague, Joseph Fuhrich, as a disciple, worked diligently. In Munich, Heinrich Hess, and in Spires, Johann Schraudolph, painted extended series of frescoes allied to the same Christian school. In Dusseldorf like traditions live:—Deger, Ittenbach, Carl and Andreas Muller studied in Rome, and their frescoes in the Rhine chapel at Remagen were inspired by Overbeck. And specially does the mantle of the revered painter rest on his friend Eduard Steinle; important works at Strasbourg, Cologne, Frankfort, Munster, Klein-Heubach, and Reineck, respond to the spirit of the great artist who, dead, yet speaks.

Brief is the narrative of the approaching end. The infirmities of age scarcely abated the ardent pursuit of an art dear as life itself. Overbeck had suffered from an affection of the eyes, and his later drawings, notwithstanding partial panegyrists, betray a faltering hand, together with some incoherence in thought, or, at least, in the relation of the parts to the whole. For some time, in fact, vitality had been ebbing from his work. The summer of 1869 found him in his favourite retreat of Rocca di Papa, and we are told he was "still busily creating." His country dwelling stood among beauties which, in illness as in health, came with healing power. From this sylvan quietude the aged painter, in June, wrote to his dear friend, Director Steinle, a letter abounding in love and aspiration; he dwells on the serenity of the Italian sky, on the splendour of the landscape stretching before his eye into the far distance; with characteristic modesty he laments that even in old age he is not sufficiently advanced for the great task set before him, and desires without intermission to turn to good account the time still left; and then he counsels his "Brother in Christ" to direct the mind steadfastly towards the glorious olden days which point to the blessed goal.

Overbeck, on his return to Rome in the autumn of 1869, resumed his accustomed order of life. One who knew him well in later years relates that he was to be found in his studio in the early morning, that, after a short interval at noon, he resumed work till stopped by the darkness of evening, and that, such was the wealth of material stored in the mind, that he went on inventing without aid from usual outward appliances. He still sought utmost tranquillity, and any intrusion on the hours of study became extremely painful to him. Latterly he had been engaged on a small composition of The Last Judgment; also he was occupied on designs illustrative of human life—a series which had advanced as far as the Return from Church of the Wedding Party. Such were the congenial avocations when, on the fourteenth day after the return home, he was seized with a severe cold on the chest. Yet the symptoms so far yielded to medical treatment that in eight days the danger had passed. Suddenly, however, ensued a total failure of power, yet for the most part the mind remained unclouded. A day or two before death he asked for a piece of charcoal, and added a few touches to a design on which lately he had been working; and at times, when apparently unconscious, he would look upwards, raise and move his hand as if in the act of drawing. He prayed almost without ceasing, was grateful for each kindness, and with dying lips had a loving and comforting word for everyone. The last sinking came in quietness; sustained by the consolations of religion he fell asleep towards six o'clock in the evening of Friday, the 12th of November, in the eightieth year of his age. He lay as he had lived—in peace; and near his bed was placed the drawing on which he had lately worked, also the small cartoon of The Last Judgment.

The next day, according to the painter's wish, the body was taken by the hands of his brother artists to San Bernardo, the little parish church near his house, where he worshipped, and where he is still remembered. An eye-witness writes from Rome to Lubeck, on the 18th of November: "I have just come from the burial of our great fellow-countryman. Amid universal grief the funeral mass took place this morning. The mournful ceremony was performed by a German bishop assisted by Cistercian monks; many artists and German students were present, and joined in psalms composed by the Abbe Liszt. The whole function was most solemn, as if the pious spirit of the departed had entered the whole assembly. Around the bier were gathered Protestants as well as Roman Catholics; the coffin bore the many orders which the artist had received, but was never seen to wear; and at the feet lay the crown of laurels which his Roman brethren reverently offered to their acknowledged chief." The body lies in the chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, within the church of San Bernardo. The resting-place is marked by a white marble cross, let into the wall, bearing the inscription "Joannes Fridericus Overbeck—In Pace."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: See 'Lubeckische Blatter,' from 1839 to 1869, for sundry notices concerning this picture and other works. The Pieta is in oil on canvas, 10 feet wide and nearly as high; the top is arched; it is photographed. The pigments are in usual sound condition. A small picture accompanied this Pieta. It had been intended as a present to the brother, Judge Christian Gerhard Overbeck, but his death, in 1846, preventing the fulfilment of the purpose, it was sent to Lubeck as a gift to his son, the artist's nephew, Doctor and Senator Christian Theodore Overbeck, who died 1880. The representatives in Lubeck of this nephew are said to be in possession of sundry memorials of the illustrious uncle. Here in Lubeck I may mention a Madonna and Child, a circular composition 3 feet 2 inches in diameter, with the painter's monogram and the date 1853. The picture is a gem, exquisite for purity, tenderness, and beauty. Another Madonna and Child is in the Thorwaldsen Museum, Copenhagen.]

[Footnote 2: The Incredulity of St. Thomas is 10 feet high by 5 feet wide. It bears the painter's monogram and the date 1851. The figures are life-size. The picture is in perfect preservation. The pigments, as usual, lie thin, showing through the rough tissues of the Roman canvas.]

[Footnote 3: See 'Geschichte der neuen Deutschen Kunst, von Ernst Forster.' Leipzig, Weigel, 1863.]

[Footnote 4: The Assumption of the Virgin is in oil on canvas; height about 18 feet, width 9 feet. Figures nearly life-size. The scale is rather small for the magnitude of the architectural surroundings. The tone is that of an old picture, low and solemn. No positive colours are admitted. The pigments remain intact, without crack, blister, or change of colour. The picture was the joint gift of the Dusseldorf Kunst-Verein and the Cologne Cathedral Chapter. The price paid was equal to about L1000 sterling. The cartoon was exhibited in 1876 in the National Gallery, Berlin.]

[Footnote 5: The cartoons of the Via Crucis were, in September 1880, in the Villa Germania, near Biebrich. They are in chalk or charcoal in outline on grey ground, tinted with sepia. Height, 1 foot 9 inches; breadth, 1 foot 5 inches. The water-colour drawings of the same series were, in January, 1878, in the Camera di Udienza of the Vatican. Height, 2 feet 6 inches; width, 1 foot 8 inches; mounted on white, and massively framed. The walls and accessories of the Pope's apartment are of a crude colour and in bad taste. The feeble execution of these cartoons and water-colour drawings betrays advancing age and declining power.]

[Footnote 6: The cartoons of The Seven Sacraments, after a labour of some eight years, were finished in 1861, and received high encomiums when exhibited in Brussels. They remained with Overbeck at the time of his death, together with many other artistic properties, the accumulation of a life. Some of these treasures have been sold by the family who entered into possession. The cartoons were offered for sale, but are still without a purchaser. Small tempera drawings of The Seven Sacraments were bought for the National Gallery, Berlin, in 1878. They are on canvas: measurement, 1 foot 8 inches by 1 foot 3 inches. These reductions were entrusted to scholars; the execution is poor; the master is responsible chiefly for revision. The pigments used vary; some are in warm sepia, others in cooler tones, and one, Penance, is fully coloured. The results technically are far from satisfactory. These Sacraments, including the predellas, friezes, and side borders, have been photographed in large and smaller sizes by Albert, Munich, and from the photographs August Gaber executed woodcuts, published with explanatory text penned by Overbeck. This text was also published as a separate pamphlet: Dresden, August Gaber; London, Dulau and Co. The hope above expressed that the cartoons might be further carried out was never realised.]

[Footnote 7: I was informed, in October, 1881, by August Gaber, that the wood engravings made by him of The Seven Sacraments had proved a financial failure, and that he had in the undertaking lost his all. The Bible of Schnorr, also rendered on wood by him, had, on the contrary succeeded. The reason assigned why the public did not care for The Seven Sacraments was, that the treatment is too strongly Catholic; and this can hardly be a prejudiced judgment, because it was pronounced by Herr Gaber, himself a Catholic.]

[Footnote 8: The picture is in tempera on canvas, and was put up on the ceiling of Pio Nono's sitting room in the Quirinal Palace. But when the King of Italy took possession, a new canvas with cupids and putti was stretched over it, and the Pope's sitting room is now turned into Prince Humbert's bedroom. This brutality might almost justify the good painter in his belief that Satan is now let loose upon earth. Yet the plea has not without reason been urged that the picture is a deliberate attack on the King's temporal power. The original cartoon was, in 1876, exhibited in the National Gallery, Berlin, and the same subject the artist repeated in an oil picture (10 feet by 8 feet), now in the Antwerp Museum. Overbeck had been made a "Membre effectif" of the Antwerp Academy in 1863, and the commission for this replica followed thereon. I am told on authority that in Antwerp "the work is considered very mediocre."]



CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF OVERBECK.

A.D. PAGE

1789. Overbeck born at Lubeck, 4th July 1 His Ancestors for three generations Protestant Pastors 3 His father Burgomaster, Doctor of Laws, and Poet 5

1800. His Home Education 7

1805. His First Drawing 9

1806. Leaves Lubeck for Vienna 9 Student in Viennese Academy 10

1809. Begins painting Christ's Entry into Jerusalem 11

1810. Rebels against the Viennese Academy, and is expelled 15 Leaves Vienna and reaches Rome 18

1811. German Brotherhood of pre-Raphaelites 20 Monastery of Sant' Isidoro, the Dwelling of the Fraternity 24 First Commission 28

1813. Overbeck joins the Roman Catholic Church 33

1817. Niebuhr, Bunsen, and Schlegel, literary friends 34-40

1818. Frescoes, The History of Joseph, in the Casa Bartholdi 40 Frescoes, Jerusalem Delivered, in the Villa Massimo; commission for 44-47

1819. Exhibition in Palazzo Caffarelli 31 Overbeck marries 49

1831. Fresco, The Vision of St. Francis, finished 50 Overbeck visits Germany; returns to Rome 52-61

1833. Present at the opening of Raphael's Tomb 61

1835. Christ's Agony in the Garden; oil picture 63

1836. Lo Sposalizio, oil picture, finished 64

1840. The Triumph of Religion in the Arts, oil picture, 65-69 finished Death of son 76

1846. Pieta, oil picture, finished 77

1851. The Incredulity of St. Thomas, oil picture 79

1852. The Gospels, forty cartoons, finished 69-72

1853. Death of wife 80

1855. Assumption of the Madonna, oil picture, finished 83 Overbeck revisits Germany; returns to Rome 84

1857. Via Crucis, fourteen water-colour drawings, finished 87 Pope Pius IX. visits the Artist's studio 7th February 93

1858. Christ delivered from the Jews: Quirinal: Tempera Picture 92

1861. The Seven Sacraments, cartoons 89-92

1869. Overbeck died the 12th November, aged eighty 106



INDEX.

(The titles of Paintings and Drawings are printed in Italics.)

Adoration of the Kings, 28.

Annunciation, 70.

Ascension, 70.

Assisi, 9, 46, 50, 82, 87.

Assumption of the Virgin, 60, 83, 99, 101.

Barabbas released, 70.

Bartholdi Casa, 40, 43, 44, 60.

Bearing to the Sepulchre, 28.

Beauty in the mind and art of Overbeck, 14, 17, 18, 29, 40, 43, 99.

Berlin, National Gallery, 30, 46, 84, 90, 93.

Bible Society, 36.

Blessed art thou among Women, 28.

Bond between Art and the Church, 39.

Book of Hours, 94.

Bunsen, Baron, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 72.

Caffarelli Palazzo, 31, 37.

Canova, 27.

Carstens, 12, 13.

Cartoons by Overbeck, 9, 42, 45, 46, 50, 58, 70, 77, 82, 83, 87, 88, 93, 98.

Catholicism, 27, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 52, 53, 58, 62, 69, 79, 81, 92, 102, 106.

Chart of Overbeck Family, 3, 4.

Christ's Agony in the Garden, 63.

Christ bearing the Lamb, 60.

Christ blessing Little Children, 28.

Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, 11, 16, 18, 71, 96.

Christ escaping from the Jews, 92.

Christ falling under the Cross, 71.

Christ healing the Sick, 71.

Christ in the Temple, 59, 71.

Christ teaching the Lord's Prayer, 94.

Christian Art, 12, 18, 27, 33, 39, 53, 66, 71, 96, 101, 103.

Christian Parnassus, 65.

Classic Movement, 3, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 27, 40.

Coleridge, 36, 91.

Cologne, 60, 63, 83, 84, 104.

Colour, System of, 16, 29, 63, 64, 67, 98.

Cornelius, Peter, 12, 18, 19, 21, 23, 31, 35, 36, 40, 43, 44, 48, 52, 54, 59, 61, 74, 83, 87, 95, 97.

Cornelius, Portrait of, 59.

Coronation of the Virgin, 94.

Creation of Adam and Eve, 30.

Crown Prince of Bavaria, 48.

David, French School of, 9, 12, 16, 26.

Death of St. Joseph, 58, 62, 94.

Deger, Ernst, 21, 104.

Drawings by Overbeck, 9, 13, 28, 29, 30, 49, 55, 58, 59, 64, 87, 90.

Dusseldorf, 12, 20, 21, 28, 52, 60, 84, 104.

Elias in the Chariot of Fire, 55.

Entombment, 28, 71, 77, 87.

European Art, influence of Overbeck over, 103.

Expulsion from Paradise, 13, 30.

Father of the Painter, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 17, 36.

Father's Creed for a Purist Painter, 8.

Father's Monition to study the Classics, 8.

Feeding the Hungry, 30.

Feed My Sheep, 80.

Fetes in honour of Overbeck, 53, 84.

Finding of Moses, 59.

Flight into Egypt, 31.

Four Evangelists, 94.

Frankfort Stadel Institute, 29, 60, 68, 85, 104.

Fresco Paintings by Overbeck, 11, 12, 21, 31, 40, 43, 44, 49, 100, 104.

Fuger, Friedrich, 10.

Fuhrich, Joseph, 21, 32, 46, 51, 74, 104.

Gibson, John, 27, 100, 102.

God appearing to Elias, 58.

Godfrey de Bouillon and Peter the Hermit, 45.

Goethe, 6, 12, 37.

Gospels or Evangelists, 70, 97.

Hamburg, 28, 63.

Head of Old Monk, 30.

Hess, Heinrich, 55, 104.

History of Joseph, 41.

Hoffmann, Madame, 81.

Holy Communion, 91.

Holy Family, 28, 56.

Home Life of the Painter, 6, 72.

Human Life, 105.

Imitation of Christ, 94.

Incredulity of St. Thomas, 79.

Infant Jesus, 59.

Isidoro, Sant', Convent of, 21, 23, 24.

Israelites gathering Manna, 59.

Italy and Germany, 56.

Ittenbach, Franz, 21, 104.

Jairus's Daughter, raising of, 29, 59.

Jameson, Mrs., 50.

Jerusalem Delivered, 12, 31, 45.

Jesus as a Child at Nazareth, 6.

Jesus Condemned, 87.

Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary, 28.

Joseph sold by his Brethren, 42.

Last Judgment, 105, 106.

Leipzig Museum, 45, 50.

Lessing, 27, 37.

Letters and Correspondence of Overbeck, 9, 18, 25, 29, 33, 52, 57, 61, 62, 64, 98, 104.

Linder, Emilie, 52, 57, 58, 62, 76, 85.

Literature and Art, state of, 11, 37.

Lubeck, 1-9.

Ludwig, King, 54, 55.

Luther, 2, 34, 36, 64.

Madonna, 31, 35.

Madonna and Child, 31, 77.

Magnificat of Art, 65.

Maria Alfons, son of Overbeck, 17, 69, 76, 82.

Marriage of the Virgin, 64.

Marriage, Sacrament of, 80, 90.

Massacre of the Innocents, 70.

Massimo Villa, 9, 31, 44, 46, 60, 100.

Meeting of Ulysses and Telemachus, 9.

Memling's double Triptych, 2, 78.

Mengs, Raphael, 12, 27.

Mental Aspects of Overbeck, 5, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 24, 32, 34, 43, 51, 55, 61, 71, 73, 74, 77, 85, 86, 95, 101.

Monumental Painting, 49.

Moses and the Daughters of Jethro, 94.

Muller, Andreas, 21, 104.

Muller, Carl, 21, 104.

Munich, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 85, 104.

Naming of St. John, 71.

Nature, study of, 15, 17, 23, 30, 43, 47, 54, 62, 63, 64, 66, 88, 100.

Nazarites, 25, 74.

Niebuhr, 25, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 44, 72.

Nina, wife of Overbeck, 17, 49, 76, 80, 85.

Oil Paintings by Overbeck, 11, 16, 28, 50, 56, 58, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 77, 79, 83, 92, 93, 94.

Passion, the, 87.

Penance, Sacrament of, 90.

Personal Aspect of Overbeck, 34, 73, 74, 86, 94.

Perugia, 87.

Pieta, 77.

Pilgrim, 94.

Pius IX., 73, 92.

Pius IX., his Portrait, 92.

Portraits of Overbeck, 17, 59, 69, 94, 96.

Preaching of St. John, 28.

Pre-Raphaelites, English, 14, 62.

Pre-Raphaelites, German, 15, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 31, 34, 36, 40, 61, 74.

Pre-Raphaelites, Italian, 12, 16, 43, 64, 102.

Prices of Pictures, 46, 58, 65, 67, 79.

Protestantism, 1, 3, 31, 32, 33, 35, 53, 69, 79, 81, 83, 106.

Pugin, 33, 67, 104.

Raczynski, Count, 50, 64.

Raising of Lazarus, 28, 93.

Raphael, opening of his Tomb, 61.

Reformation, 3, 36.

Religion glorified by the Arts: Overbeck's dissertation thereon, 65.

Resurrection, the, 71.

Return from Church of the Wedding Party, 105.

Romantic Movement, 7, 12, 37, 47.

Schadow, Wilhelm, 21, 24, 31, 34, 35, 37, 40, 43, 60.

Schlegel, Friedrich, 12, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39, 41.

Schnorr, Julius, 21, 44, 45, 71, 92.

Schraudolph, Johann, 55, 85, 104.

Seven Sacraments, 70, 88, 91, 92.

Seven Sacraments: Overbeck's exposition of, 89, 91.

Seven Years of Famine, 42, 51, 98.

Sibyl, 64.

Sophronio and Olindo, 45.

Spiritual Art, "Soul Pictures,", 15, 33, 40, 65, 66, 100.

Sposalizio, Lo, 64.

Stations, the, 70, 86, 87, 92.

Steinle, Eduard, 21, 51, 85, 86, 104.

Stift Neuburg, 28, 29, 30, 59, 85.

St. Philip Neri, 94.

Studio of Overbeck, 70, 73, 82, 86, 101.

Study, Overbeck's modes of, 72, 97, 100, 101.

Thorwaldsen, 27, 77.

Triumph of Religion in the Arts, 14, 60, 65, 97.

Triumph of Religion in the Arts: Overbeck's exposition of, 65.

Twelve Apostles, 94.

Veit, Philip, 21, 31, 35, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 60, 61, 97.

Via Crucis, 86, 87.

Vienna, 9-18.

Virtues, 94.

Vision of St. Francis, 9, 49, 50.

Vittoria Caldoni, Portrait of, 28, 56.

Vocation of the Apostles James and John, 80, 94.

Winckelmann, 12, 27.



LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

THE END