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William Vaughan, German Romanticism and English Art Document generated on 10/01/2021 10:17 p.m. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne Canadian Art Review William Vaughan, German Romanticism and English Art. New Haven and London, Yale University Press (for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art), 1979. 308 + xii pp., 173 illus., $45.00 Rhodri Windsor Liscombe Volume 8, Number 2, 1981 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1075012ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1075012ar See table of contents Publisher(s) UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | Association d'art des universités du Canada) ISSN 0315-9906 (print) 1918-4778 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review Windsor Liscombe, R. (1981). Review of [William Vaughan, German Romanticism and English Art. New Haven and London, Yale University Press (for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art), 1979. 308 + xii pp., 173 illus., $45.00]. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review, 8(2), 172–174. https://doi.org/10.7202/1075012ar Tous droits réservés © UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit Association d'art des universités du Canada), 1987 (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ carefully examine the relevant icon- ours to elucidate the significance indicates that he will, essentially, ographical traditions and literary for early Victorian British artists concentrate his investigation upon sources. Unfortunately the allegor- and patrons of C.L. Eastlake’s cele- artistic issues rather than fully con- ical tradition in Venetian Renais­ brated déclaration that the Ger- sidering the existence of deeper sance painting is virtually ignored mans possessed the ‘mind of art.’ cultural or even sociological reasons and some of Titian’s most impor­ The book is a revised version of his for the British admiration of Ger­ tant compositions of this genre are 1977 University of London Ph.D. man art. Did, for instance, the hier- either given inadéquate interpréta­ thesis, ‘The German Manner in archical créative values of the major tions (e.g. the Sacred and Profane English Art 1815-1855,’ and joins German painters and the authori- Love [Rome]), or omitted altogether his catalogue, Caspar David Friedrich tarian cast of their predominantly (The Allegory of the Marchese del Vasto 1774-1840 (Tate Gallery, London, royal patrons appeal to the British [Louvre] and The Education of Cupid 1972), and broader historiés, dilettanti and artists who promoted [Rome]). Romantic Art (New York, 1978) and the Germanie taste? Certainly, the Hope again differs from a num- German Romantic Painting (New religious revival sponsored by the ber of recently published studies in Haven, 1980). However, it retains Oxford and Cambridge Move- regarding Ovid’s Métamorphosés as much of the dense, sometimes pro- ments, and proselytized most en- the sole source for the mythological lix prose and uneven structure of thusiastically by A.W.N. Pugin, an paintings or poesie which were sent the thesis genus, and is more a admirer of German art, while to Philip il. He points out that the sériés of essays than a cohesive, seeking social reform helped to artist could read this source only in chronological study. The third counteract the radical forces which Italian, but makes no mention of chapter, for example, entitled ‘The threatened the status quo in available translations. Even in the Depiction of German Subjects by England both before and after the case of that glorious early évocation British Artists,’ contains an essen- passage of the Reform Bill in 1832. of pagan antiquity, The Andrians tially statistical analysis of excessive Other phenomena relative to the where the actual translation is length when compared with the prestige of German culture in known, it does not appear to hâve more relevant issues addressed Britain also receive too little atten­ been used by Hope to provide the elsewhere. Nevertheless, within the tion, such as the pre-eminence of interprétation given. confined boundaries Vaughan es- German Classical scholarship or the The importance of such works as tablishes in the Introduction, those course of Anglo-German relations The Andrians in the history of West­ issues are thoroughly researched through the century. Even ac- ern painting is rightly emphasized and the author présents interesting cepting the restriction to the artistic in the author’s conclusion, but it is material on early to mid-nine- perspective, the ‘crisis’ in British not really clear in the reader’s mind teenth-century English and Ger­ History Painting, which Vaughan why the author believes this to be man art and aesthetics. Chief isolâtes as a primary factor, was so. This is in marked contrast to his among his contributions are the apparent well before the 1830s and discussion of other aspects of the information about a number of sec- the onset of Germanism ; indeed, artist’s work, especially the clear ondary and tertiary English paint- the problem was considered to be and convincing case for Titian’s ers such as William Cave Thomas endemic by some, James Fergusson rôle in the establishment of the con­ or Joseph Severn, British attitudes writing to his friend, Sir A.H. ventions of aristocratie portraiture to History Painting and ecclesias- Layard, on 24 September 1883 which is made throughout the book tical art, and a useful review in Engl­ about the proposed décoration of and in the conclusion. ish of the development of German the dôme of St. Paul’s Cathédral : Charles Hope is well aware of the aesthetic theory. In these respects ‘The fact is, I know no artist or fact that he has written a controver- the book is a welcome addition to architect in this country, who sial book, particularly in regard to the more specialized literature on has the smallest conception of what the development of Titian’s style the German Nazarenes and their is wanted ...’ (British Library, b.m. and the iconography of his paint­ influence, notably Keith Andrew’s add.ms 39036, no. 320). Similarly, ings. It is to be welcomed for it The Nazarenes (Oxford, 1964), and the emergence of other artistic should provoke serious rethinking the catalogue of the 1977 Frankfurt influences which might explain the about some of the great master- Exhibition, Die Nazarener, and such demise of the German taste from pieces of European painting. studies of the English context as the late 1850s - and its décliné is T.S.R. Boase’s English Art 1800- but briefly charted - is not intro- WARREN TRESIDDER 1870 (Oxford, 1959). duced into the preliminary discus­ McMaster University, Hamilton Some of the limitations of the sion of the subject. One such is book are immediately apparent in [apanese design, which also em­ the Introduction, which, being a phasized formai clarity, actually distillation of the succeeding chap- represented by a decorated lantern ters, is, incidentally, the most read- in the middle ground of J.E. William vaughan German Roman- Millais’s ‘Garden Scene,’ 1849, that ticism and English Art. New Haven able section. Having noted the in- disputable influence of German art is, not altogether appropriately, and London, Yale University Press reproduced on the dust jacket. (for the Paul Mellon Centre for upon early Victorian British paint­ ing and décoration, Vaughan justly Lastly, it is perhaps regrettable that Studies in British Art), 1979. remarks that it is ‘less easy to déter­ reference was not made in the 308 + xii pp., 173 illus., $45.00. mine what precisely it implied, and Introduction to the other side of In German Romanticism and English what the English gained from their the artistic intercourse between the Art Dr. William Vaughan endeav- encounter with it.’ But what follows two nations, as the architect K.F 1?2 RACAR / VIII / 2 Schinkel’s appréciation of British appreciated until the 1840s, fos- Unions. And the most popular Ger­ Industrial Révolution design and tered by groups of British artists man artist in England was Wilhelm the legacy of Hermann Muthesius’s and connoisseurs rallier than by the von Kaulbach who moderated the praise of the British Arts and Crafts Saxe-Coburg court. The taste for revitalist manner with more elabo- Movement. German culture had developed on rate design and illusionism so that Nevertheless, it would be unjust the basis of a succession of factors: the majority of young English art­ to cast aside the approach outlined the interchange resulting from the ists who travelled to Germany were in the Introduction, even if, as will close commercial ties, exemplified attracted to his studio. Vaughan become évident, the resuit is epi- by Charles Aders, the German mer- concludes this chapter by noticing sodic. Having identified the uncer- chant in whose London house that the larger commissions tainty in British art during the Blake met Cornelius’s pupil, Jacob awarded to Germans were for 1830s and the conséquent attrac­ Gôtzenburger (who was to paint stained glass Windows and that their tion of the more assured Germans murais in Bridgewater House and chief influence was transmitted like Overbeck or Schnorr von Alnwick Castle, 1850-1860); the through book illustrations, the Carolsfeld, Vaughan questions why trade
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