Abildgaards manierism

Abstract

Summary The influence of Italian Mannerism, as well as late Hellenistic and Roman Mannerism, forms an appreciable wedge in Romanticism's pictorial art (about 1770–1830). Names such as Fuseli, Flaxman, Blake, Romney, John Martin, David Scott, A. J. Carstens, Franz Pforr, J. A. Koch and Abíldgaard may suffice to mark this influence under this particular period. A few observations concerning the Danish artist N. A. Abildgaard (1743–1809) are hereby offered as a contribution toward plans for a study of Mannerist tendencies during Romanticism. Abildgaard's drawings from the nude often reveal themselves as remnants of a Manneristic type of figure. This is mainly a question of a type developed from Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Especially the so‐called slaves in the ceiling attained their characteristic formation in the pseudo‐plastic slave motif of Mannerism's decorative painting. Michelangelo and Annibale Carracci often proved to be the inspiration for the figure studies recommended to academic students. This type of figure, characteristic for a professionally proficient academic formalism as well as for an intensified need for expression, may be detected in Abildgaard's pen sketches and paintings. The incitements of Mannerism reached Abildgaard during his stay in Italy (1772–76 Rome, Naples, Milan, Venice, Parma, Florence, Bologna and Mantua), where he manifested a certain prediliction for late Renaissance. Among others he copied Michelangelo and also A. Carracci's and Raphael's frescoes in the Villa Farnesina and the Vatican. Some of the motifs in the figure studies (for example i the “Apuleius” series) give evidence of impressions from Tibaldi's decorations in the Poggio Palace (Bologna). There is much in Abildgaard's art that bears witness to a hypochondrical and disturbed state of mind, and it is not surprising that he felt an attraction toward the extremely individualistic, expressive and dynamic forms of the late Renaissance. Moreover, his companion in Rome, Fuseli, must have strengthened and confirmed his Manneristic impressions. The Mannerist formalism of Michelangelo and the late Raphael's following has thus contributed to the formation of a special type of figure by Abildgaard, even though he has drawn unmistakable Mannerist motifs from Fuseli. Fuseli seems even to have served as an exemple by personnally adapting the figure motifs of the late Renaissance into a “modern” and subjective art of expression. The query concerning Abildgaard's relationship to Fuseli has been answered in widely different ways. While German and English researchers (according to Federmann) have looked upon Abildgaard's art as a product of his friendship with Fuseli, Danish investigation has as a rule taken the opposite view and denied any deeper influence. Josephson has nevertheless shown how Abildgaard, as well as the Swedish sculptor Sergei, from time to time moved within Fuseli's artistic domains. It is apparent that Abildgaard did not wholly adapt Fuseli's art and ideas. That Fuseli influenced the Dane to a great extent in relation to Mannerism is without question. In addition to transformations of Mannerist motifs in the style of Fuseli, we find even many other reminiscences of Fuseli. Paintings showing convincing evidence of this connection begin with “Richard III”. This was followed by “Socrates in Prison”, “Mareridt”, a free copy of Fuseli's “Nightmare”, the Apuleius paintings, “The Spirits of the Heroes Reveal Themselves to Ossian”, “The Dying Messalina” and “Malvina Mourning Ossian”. This bond is particularly conspicuous in a set of fantastic drawings from between 1790–1800. Their “terriblita” may be accounted for in conjunction with personal misfortunes and ensueing depression. Mannerist impulses are by no means the only prevailing ones in Abildgaard's art, which developed from late Baroque tradition and in many cases was shaped by a Classicism inspired by Antiquity. Instead, Mannerism seems to have occasionally taken possession of the imagination of the artist, especially in the work of his old age; in fact, the proximity to his former friend in Rome has with few exceptions been greater than in the paintings from the last years of his life.