ARNOLD

See also:

• ARNOLD BOCKLIN (1827–1901)

BOCKLIN (1827–1901)  , Swiss painter, was born at Basel on the 16th of October 1827 . His father, Christian Frederick Bocklin (b . 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk trade . His mother, Ursula Lippe, was a native of the same city . In 1846 he began his studies at the Dusseldorf academy under Schirmer, who recognized in him a student of exceptional promise, and sent him to Antwerp and Brussels, where he copied the works of Flemish and Dutch masters . Bocklin then went to Paris, worked at the Louvre, and painted several landscapes; his " Landscape and Ruin " reveals at the same time a strong feeling for nature and a dramatic conception of scenery . After serving his time in the army he set out for Rome in March 185o, and the sight of the Eternal City was a fresh stimulus to his mind . So, too, was the influence of Italian nature and that of the dead pagan world . At Rome he married (June 20, 1853) Angela Rosa Lorenza Pascucci . In 1856 he returned to Munich, and remained there four years . He then exhibited the " Great Park," one of his earliest works, in which he treated ancient mythology with the stamp of individuality, which was the basis of his reputation . Of this period, too, are his " Nymph and Satyr," " Heroic Landscape " (Diana Hunting), both of 1858, and " Sappho " (1859) .

These works, which were much discussed, together with

Lenbach's recommendation, gained him his appointment as professor at the Weimar academy . He held the office for two years, painting the " Venus and Love," a " Portrait of Lenbach," and a " Saint Catherine." He was again at Rome from 1862 to 1866, and there gave his fancy and his taste for violent colour free play in his " Portrait of Mme Bocklin," now in the Basel gallery, in " An Anchorite in the Wilderness" (1863) ; a " Roman Tavern," and " Villa on the Sea-shore " (1864) ; this last, one of his best pictures . He returned to Basel in 1866 to finish his frescoes in the gallery, and to paint, besides several portraits, " The Magdalene with Christ " (1868); " Anacreon's Muse " (1869); and " A Castle and Warriors " (1871) . His " Portrait of Myself," with Death playing a violin (1873), was painted after his return again to Munich, where he exhibited his famous " Battle of the Centaurs " (in the Basel gallery); " Landscape with Moorish Horsemen" (in the Lucerne gallery); and "A Farm" (1875) . From 1876 to 1885 Bocklin was working at Florence, and painted a " Pieta," " Ulysses and Calypso," " Prometheus," and the " Sacred Grove." From 1886 to 1892 he settled at Zurich . Of this period are the " Naiads at Play," " A Sea Idyll," and " War." After 1892 Bocklin resided at San Domenico, near Florence . An exhibition of his collected works was held at Basel from the loth of September to the 24th of October 1897 . He died on the 16th of January 1901 . His life has been written by Henri Mendelssohn . See also F . Hermann, Gazette des Beaux Arts (Paris, 1893) ; Max Lehrs, Arnold Bocklin, Ein Leitfaden zum Verstandniss seiner Kunst (Munich, 1897); W . Ritter, Arnold Bocklin (Gand, 1895); Katalog der Bocklin Jubilaums Ausstellung (Basel, 1897) .

(H .