Vogel , and Johann Konrad Hottinger moved to Rome , where they lived in a monastery and grew long hair and beards . Other young German artists joined them and assimilated their lifestyle and painting style . The Romans , amused by their appearance , dubbed them “ Nazarenes ,” a name they later bore proudly .
NAZARENES
The Nazarenes lived and worked in Rome , and while they greatly admired the painting of the Italian Renaissance , they remained German at heart , hoping to bring back the patronage of the Catholic Church and the old guild system . They brought back a kind of devotion they found lacking in contemporary religious art , something the Italians of the time appreciated . Because the Nazarenes were attracted to fresco painting , the technique that ruled from the age of Giotto to Raphael , they found commissions to paint frescoes in several Italian palaces , including the Casino Massimo . Philipp Veit , in particular , found great success with the old medium .
Everything the Nazarenes painted was intentionally anachronistic . Overbeck ’ s portrait of his young friend Pforr , who died at 24 , shows him looking out a medievallooking window , with grape leaves and a cat to add charm . Both Pforr and the young woman knitting behind him are dressed more for the 15th century than the 19th . Although Overbeck painted the picture in Rome , the cityscape in the background looks Teutonic and medieval , with a seascape intentionally out of perspective , like those of the Flemish and German Renaissance paintings the Nazarenes admired .
Pforr was even more intentionally primitive than Overbeck . The technique taught at the Academy called for subtle shading and impeccable perspective , meant to deny the
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
“ The Bower Meadow ,” 1871
Friedrich Overbeck
“ Portrait of Franz Pforr ,” 1810
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