USE. [_Preparing._
SIR EDWIN LANDSEER. By F. G. STEPHENS.

[Illustration: JOHANN FRIEDRICH OVERBECK.]

_"The whole world without Art would be one great wilderness."_

OVERBECK

BY J. BEAVINGTON ATKINSON
AUTHOR OF
'SCHOOLS OF MODERN ART IN GERMANY,' ETC.

NEW YORK
SCRIBNER AND WELFORD
LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON
1882.

TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
A. J. BERESFORD HOPE, ESQ.,
M.P., LL.D.,
THE KIND FRIEND OF ARTISTS,
THE FERVENT UPHOLDER OF CHRISTIAN ART,

This Life
OF
THE CHRISTIAN PAINTER J. FRIEDRICH OVERBECK
IS
_RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED_
BY
THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

In offering to the public the first complete biography yet attempted of
the painter Overbeck, I wish to give a few words in explanation. The
task has been far from easy: the materials, though the reverse of
scanty, are scattered: reminiscences of the artist and criticisms on his
works lie as fragments dispersed over the current literature of Germany.
My endeavour has been to fill in vacuities, to thread together a
consistent and connected narrative, and thus, so far as I have been
able, to present a true and lucid history.

My duty has been all the more anxious from the unusual complexity of the
pictorial products falling under review. The scenes are laid amid the
battle of the schools: the periods bring into prominence conflicts
between classic, romantic, and naturalistic styles. The art of Overbeck
was rooted in the olden times, yet in some degree it became quickened by
contact with present life, and took also a personal aspect from the
painter's inner self. The great pictures and the numberless drawings
thus evolved over a space of more than half a century, and here
described from my own knowledge, raise interesting and intricate
questions on which the wor