FEUERBACH, ANSELM (1829-188o), German painter, born in Speyer on Sept. 12, 1829, son of J. A. Feuerbach, pro fessor of philology and archaeology. Equipped with a superior education and good family traditions, he went to Dusseldorf in 1845 to study art under W. Schadow. In Munich, where he studied in 1848, he came under the influence of Karl Rahls. He then proceeded to Antwerp; and in 1851 to Paris, where he worked under Thomas Couture. He was thus the first of a line of German painters, who, dissatisfied with the somewhat theoretic artistic traditions in their native country, sought inspiration in French art. Having obtained a prize to go to Italy in 1855, he copied, in Venice, the "Assumption" by Titian for the court at Carlsruhe. He then went to Florence and to Rome, where he stayed till 1873. The impressions of Italy strengthened and perfected his classicist training. He aimed henceforth at a revival of antique classical ideals, considering them as the absolute standard of beauty; and he became the greatest representative of classicism in Germany. His first works of importance, painted while in Paris, the "Hafiz at the Well" (1852) and the "Death of Aretino" showed that he had assimilated the traditions of French classicism as taught by Ingres' pupil, Couture. Venetian influences can be traced in the warm and glowing colour and in the treatment of "Dante Walking with the Noble Ladies of Ravenna" (1857) and of "Dante's Death" (1858) . Then came his Roman period. The "Pieta" (1863), the two pictures representing "Iphigenia" (1862 and and "Plato's Symposium" (18 73) are cool and grey in tone, defined and plastic in form with a clear outline. They reveal the artist at the height of his classicist achievement. The composition of the "Symposium" is like an antique relief. Other notable works are the "Medea," the "Judgment of Paris," and the "Battle of the Amazons" (1869). He was now at the height of his reputation and counted Graf von Schack and the king of Bavaria among his patrons. In 1873 he accepted an invitation to teach at the Vienna academy and to decorate a ceiling in that academy with a series of compositions representing the "Wars of the Titans." This work was never completed. The artistic atmosphere of Vienna, where Makart with his luxurious colour dominated, was not congenial to Feuerbach's intellectual art. His work met with little appreciation and his sensitive nature was wounded by un favourable criticism. His health gave way, and he resigned his post. Hoping to regain his strength he went to Italy and died in a hotel at Venice on Jan. 4, 1880. Posterity has made amends for the want of appreciation. His works are now exhibited in the leading galleries of Germany; but though his ambition had been to be Germany's greatest monumental painter, his strongest appeal to modern art-lovers lies in his portraits, his landscapes and his single figures; for here his fine conception and depth of feeling is not effaced by vain strivings in imitation of classic masters. The dignified portrait of his stepmother and that of "Nanna Risi," his beautiful Roman model, who figured in many of his large compo sitions, are among his finest works, and so are his drawings. The story of the artist's struggles is told in the Vermdchtnis written during his illness in Vienna and published in 1882. It belongs to the finest things in German literature, and contributed much to a revival of his fame. His letters to his stepmother, who was his greatest friend, were published in two volumes in 1911.
See Ostini, "Anselm Feuerbach" in Kunst unserer Zeit (19o3) ; Julius Allgeyer, Anselm Feuerbach (1904) ; A F. Heyck, A.F. (19o9) ; Voigtlander, A.F. (1912) ; Uhde-Bernays, A.F. (1914). (I. A. R.)