Golden Light // European Paintings

Women of Amphissa - L. Alma-Tadema, 1887

Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) by John Singer Sargent, 1883–84 (detail)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Singer Sargent created this portrait with the intention of turning it into the highlight of his professional career but was instead met with unprecedented criticism when he first exhibited it in public. The reason behind this was the fact that the sitter was visibly wearing make-up (notice the red lips and the difference of colour between the sitter’s ear and her skin), a device widely used by contemporary actresses and prostitutes. Make-up was seen as an artifice reserved for women of ill repute and for a high society woman to be represented in an official portrait wearing it was considered scandalous at best. The sitter for this painting refused to buy it due to the negative comments that it had received and it thus ended up staying in Sargent’s studio for years.

Follow me, Satan Ilya Repin, 1895

Odalisque with Book - Francesco Hayez

1866

Hans Makart (1840-1884)

Austrian artist Hans Makart is probably most well-known as “the artist that inspired Gustav Klimt.” However, in his time, he was a successful artist in his own right - yet this wasn’t always considered so. While he did receive formal artistic education in Vienna, he was looked down upon by his colleagues and fellow students. He studied during the time of Neoclassicism. This style was so prevalent and popular during his early life, yet Makart had different ideas of artistic beauty. Because of his ideas, he was considered “talentless.” This eventually pushed him out of the Academy entirely.

Makart was far from discouraged. In fact, he used this time to travel all over Europe and refine his own unique style. Eventually the very thing he was shunned for - his use of bright colour and romantic, and often mysterious, atmospheric scenes - were what gain him his well-deserved attention. He even gained the attention of royalty, and was formally invited to visit the aristocracy. It was the aristocrats which funded his beautifully designed studio, where he would not only work but also entertain clients. With this success, his fame spread as his commissions grew and he even designed a whole parade - in the name of Emperor Franz Josef and Elisabeth of Bavaria’s anniversary.

In 1879, Makart’s talent and fame received him the perfect reward. He was made a professor at the very academy which had discouraged his work - the Vienna Academy.

Not only was Hans Makart’s story the ultimate come-back in art history, but from his works you can clearly see that he deserved it. His use of colours is just truly brilliant. All of his works include contrast and hold a certain atmosphere you just can’t quite put your finger on. They range from the mythological to the mysterious, and romantic. But gorgeous in every way. It is clear that so many generations of artists after him were so inspired by the man that defined an entire era of art.

Above: Portrait of a Young Woman, 1882-84, and Karoline Gomperz, 1870, by Hans Makart (1840-1884).

Lita Cabellut

Edward Robert Hughes, The Valkyrie’s Vigil ( 1915 ? )

Mädchen mit Rosen by T. Mazzoni, 1877 (detail)

The Pet Bird

Daniel Maclise (1806–1870)

Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Frederick Leighton  — “Eucharis, A Girl with a Basket of Fruit”. detail. ca 1863