Hans Makart
* 28.05.1840 in Salzburg; ✝ 03.10.1884 in Vienna
History Painter, Professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts
Biography
Hans Makart studied between 1860 and 1865 under Karl von Piloty in Munich. During this time he travelled to London, Paris and Rome. He was inspired by Rubens and Titian, among others, and his style is characterized by intense sensuousness and voluptuous sentiment. The paintings Modern Amourettes and Plague in Florence brought Makart recognition in artistic circles, and in 1879 he was called to Vienna by Emperor Franz Joseph I. There he became Professor for Historical Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1879, and arranged in the same year the ‘in costume’ historical part of the procession for the celebration of the silver anniversary of the imperial couple. During Makart’s last years he drew up numerous fantasy architectural projects, produced more monumental paintings and a series of paintings with motifs from Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen.
Makart completed several paintings on specific scenes from Shakespearean drama. Especially his visualizations of Romeo and Juliet still circulate in popular reproductions today. In 1882 the Emperor Franz Joseph asked Makart to design the bedroom for the Hermesvilla, a palace designated for the Empress, using Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a source. Makart died before he could complete the project, but a painting (by, amongst others, Georg and Gustav Klimt) based on his plans can still be seen at the villa.
Works
- Moderne Amoretten (1868).
- Pest in Florenz (1868).
- Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (1872-1876).
- Ophelia. Serie (1872-1876).
- Romeo und Julia. Serie (1872-1876).
- Der Tod der Kleopatra (1875).
- Der Einzug Karls V. in Antwerpen (1878).
- Die fünf Sinne (1879).
Literature
Secondary Literature
- Frodl, Gerbert: Hans Makart. Monographie und Werkverzeichnis. Salzburg, 1974.
- Gleis, Ralph (ed.): Makart. Ein Künstler regiert die Stadt. Munich, 2011.
- Pirchan, Emil: Hans Makart. Leben, Werk und Zeit. Vienna, 1942.
Album pages with this person
Citation and Licence
Makart, Hans, in: The Digital Shakespeare Memorial Album. Edited by Christa Jansohn. URI: http://www.shakespearealbum.de/uri/gnd/118730347. (Accessed on 24.04.2024)
This text is published under the following licence: CC BY-ND 3.0 DE. Digitzed media reproduced with the permission of the library of Birmingham.