BLECHEN, Karl

German Romantic painter influenced by Friedrich, whom he probably met in Berlin in 1823.

He arrived in Berlin at the age of 16 where he, at the request of his father, completed his commercial studies and then worked for several years in banking. His creative talent became increasingly apparent, prompting him to give up his learned trade and to begin his studies in 1822 at the Art Academy in Berlin. During a visit to Dresden in 1823 he became acquainted with the works of Johan Christian Dahl and Caspar David Friedrich, which deeply impresses him. In Berlin Karl Friedrich Schinkel recognized Blechen's exceptional talent as a painter and obtained for him a position as stage painter to the royal theater - a task he was well suited to, owing to a strong predisposition for the mysterious, enigmatic and fantastic.

He traveled throughout Italy in 1828-29. With the impressions he gathered from the towns and various landscapes he began painting in a style distinguished by its relaxed, flowing painterly execution. The liberal brushstroke that Blechen used allowed for an amalgamation of individual pictorial elements: landscape, architecture and staffageGLOSSARYThis word, pronounced as French, is used in both English and German to describe the figures and animals which animate a picture intended essentially as a landscape or veduta; in other words, figures which are not really essential and could be added by another painter. In the highly specialized world of the Dutch painters of the 17th century this was very often the case, so that a landscape painter like Wynants rarely did his own staffage; whereas Canaletto or Guardi always did. merge into a symbiotic whole.

On his return he became Professor of landscape painting at the Berlin Academy (1831). He visited Paris in 1835. His later works are more realist and show him moving away from his early RomanticismGLOSSARYA term loosely applied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movements had in common only a revolt against the prescribed rules of classicism. The basic aims of romanticism were various: a return to nature and to belief in the goodness of humanity; the rediscovery of the artist as a supremely individual creator; the development of nationalistic pride; and the exaltation of the senses and emotions over reason and intellect. In addition, romanticism was a philosophical revolt against rationalism.. Most of his pictures are in Berlin, but there are others in Hanover, Karlsruhe and Vienna.

Owing to progressive bouts of depression, Blechen was soon unable to work and was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he died in mental derangement. His work was enthusiastically received by his contemporaries, but was also, owing to its disregard for classicalGLOSSARYRelating to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome (classical Antiquity). The classical world played a profoundly important role in the Renaissance, with Italian scholars, writers, and artists seeing their own period as the rebirth (the "renaissance") of classical values after the Middle Ages. The classical world was considered the golden age for the arts, literature, philosophy, and politics. Concepts of the classical, however, changed greatly from one period to the next. Roman literature provided the starting point in the 14th century, scholars patiently finding, editing and translating a wide range of texts. In the 15th century Greek literature, philosophy and art - together with the close study of the remains of Roman buildings and sculptures-expanded the concept of the classical and ensured it remained a vital source of ideas and inspiration. landscape painting ideals, cause for controversy.