QJarnell Uttinetaitg ffiihranj 3tljaca, SJem flarfe BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 ND 237.D98H45 UniVerSl,y Ubrary Frank Duveneck, 3 1924 008 754 354 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008754354 FRANK DUVENECK FRANK DUVENECK From the Portrait by Joseph DeCamp FRANK DUVENECK BY NORBERT HEERMANN WITH ILLUSTRATIONS WMJBMEk M:M,'"^ iga^niHdizs! BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY (3tfee ffiitoetgiae ptc^ Cambd&oe I9l8 COPYRIGHT, I918, BY NORBERT HEERMANN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published October igiS PREFACE In a well-known dictionary of American artists in which considerable space is devoted to al- most all of our artists, we find under Frank Duveneck's name just a small paragraph, and under that the editor's remark : " No answer to circular." This is characteristic of Duveneck. Since it was not a very easy matter to get the chronology of the works and most interesting facts in connection with them correctly, I am especially indebted to those who have aided me in the preparation of this little work, to Mrs. William B. Pratt, Mr. Clement Barnhorn, and Mr. Oliver Dennett Grover. For permission to make use of photographs of their paintings by Duveneck I am grateful to the Cincinnati Mu- seum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Chi- vi PREFACE cago Art Institute, the Queen City Club of Cincinnati, and the Boston Tavern Club, and to Mrs. Henry C. Angell and Mr. M. A. DeWolfe Howe, of Boston. ILLUSTRATIONS Frank Duveneck Frontispiece From the Portrait by Joseph DeCamp, owned by the Cin- cinnati Museum Joseph DeCamp's portrait of Duveneck strongly indicates his physical and mental make-up and harmonizes very well with Mrs. Pennell's de- scription (page 8/). The expression of his eyes and hands in the canvas, suggesting a quietude that to the outsider might mean almost anything, yet to those that know him conveys the feeling of latent power and re- minds one that these blue eyes of his are used to look at things firmly and to take from them a clear-cut summary of what is there. The por- trait is a double tribute of DeCamp to his teacher. It was a work of love, time having been taken from commissions to complete it for a gift to Cincinnati, where DeCamp was born and received his early art train- ing. It also carries the sign of the latter's training under Duveneck. A fine piece of characterization ; the person summed it up who said, " Cut the hand on the left out and show it to anybody that knows Duveneck and he will tell you whose hand it is." The Old Schoolmaster 4 Owned by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, now hung in the house of its former owner, Mrs. Henry C. Angell, Boston Whistling Boy 8 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Woman with a Fan 12 Owned by Mr. M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Boston Young Man with Ruff 16 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Portrait of Professor Ludwig Loefftz .... 20 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum viii FRANK DUVENECK Unfinished Portrait Study 24 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Portrait of Mr. William Adams .28 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Turkish Page 32 Owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Woman with Forget-Me-Nots 36 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Sketch of a Turk 40 Owned by the Tavern Club, Boston Portrait of J. Frank Currier 44 Owned by the Art Institute, Chicago Red-Haired Man with Ruff 48 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum The Cobbler's Apprentice 52 Owned by Mr. Charles P. Taft Portrait of John W. Alexander 56 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Well and Water-Tank, Italian Villa .... 60 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Old Town Brook, Polling, Bavaria 60 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Florentine Flower Girl 64 Owned by the Cincinnati Museum Siesta 68 Owned by the Queen City Club, Cincinnati Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice. — Etching ... 72 FRANK DUVENECK ix The Rialto, Venice. — Etching 76 Memorial to Elizabeth Boott Duveneck. — Sculpture. 80 Bronze in the " Allori " Cemetery, Florence Facsimile of the Letter adopted first by the Foreign ^ Members of the Jury for the Panama-Pacific In- ternational Exposition and later endorsed by the Entire American Jury 82 FRANK DUVENECK "After all's said, Frank Duveneck is the greatest talent of the brush of this generation." These are the words which John Singer Sar- gent spoke at a dinner given in London in the early nineties, in a discussion of the merits of such eminent men as Carolus Duran and others. This judgment, deliberately spoken by a man whom artists and laymen alike have come to regard as the most technically brilliant of painters, would not now, any more than it did then, arouse contradiction in a company of artists. Yet to the general public it would come with a shock of surprise. This is in part be- cause Duveneck's work is not accessible to the general public. Another reason lies in the fact that the greatness of Duveneck's art is best un- derstood by the student of painting. His style, 2 FRANK DUVENECK simple and direct, is " sans phrase," — without technical tricks for effect, without persuasive story subjects, without even so much self-con- sciousness as is implied in the word "senti- ment." Of literary association there is none, of doctrine or dogma there is none. The world of this painter is not history, not imagination, not psychological analysis, not ethics; those fields which our public loves to explore. His compelling interest is in the normal aspect of man and nature, the subjects he chooses are everyday types ; he conceives them in an un- pretentious spirit, but transmits them as en- dowed with quiet power. There is in his work a certain finality of grasp with a dignity, a calm, which to the connoisseur is akin to the serenity of the Greek, while to the multitude it may ap- pear actually commonplace. That a man of this type should later have been almost lost sight of, except by his intimate circle of artist friends, is not altogether sur- prising in this country and at a time like the THE OLD SCHOOLMASTER 187 1 This portrait, with the keen grasp of the expressive features of this stern, old-fashioned figure, was painted in Duveneck's second year in Munich — an astonishing achievement. \ 1 ■'' jfl Ik 1 ' 1 P • K 7 ^^ EX '. ' 4' ^" a : '.' \M ■ ( ; v.;' m HP?;.V mgffig&'.s '■ •S^fr'ty .!'■■' V" ' ' ^ y /''■' f ^V"', . <&M ■-(.. S ■ ■ - \ ''■ ' " ''v>'-. ■•, . . . ....... > .. 9 , '..-' * .*.-: ' , "■?■■' ''^ ^p^MH 4kfe ..--* 1 :. . THE OLD SCHOOLMASTER 1871 FRANK DUVENECK 5 present, when change swiftly follows change and is greeted with a clamor that distracts at- tention from earlier achievement. We owe it to the Duveneck Gallery at the Panama Pacific International Exposition that the full power of this personality has been once more thrown into full relief; and the action of the jury in awarding him a special medal, the highest in its power to bestow, is a timely reminder of the truly classic standard of his work and of its importance in the development of our national school. To appreciate the effect of his painting, when it was first exhibited over forty years ago, we must remember the lack of national character in the American art of that day. The country was flooded with foreign paintings which in- spired our painters to either the sentimental story picture of Diisseldorf lineage, or the dry reflection of other lifeless works. Only here and there the flicker of independent thought 6 FRANK DUVENECK appeared. Inness, the father of the naturalistic movement in American landscape, who had just returned from Italy, was beginning to feel his way towards the splendor of his later work. Homer Martin was in more or less an experi- mental stage, and so was Alexander H. Wyant. John La Farge's poetic genius was getting ready to express itself with full mastery for the first time in his mural decoration in Trinity Church, Boston (1876), and George Fuller's no- ble art was yet hidden from the public, his inti- mate friends alone knowing that he painted in the intervals of his farm work at Deerfield, Mass- achusetts. William Morris Hunt was actually the only widely recognized artistic personage at the time. He had opened a studio in Boston in 1862. It proved successful, and his lectures on art, notably the art of his great inspiration Millet, also of Delacroix and Daumier, pre- pared in that city the most open-minded audi- ence which existed in the country. Before this audience, in 1875, came Frank WHISTLING BOY 1872 The young Du veneck's complete realization of technique, clearness of vision, and powerful aim for what is vital in portraiture. Every- thing here fairly palpitates with life. WHISTLING BOY 1872 FRANK DUVENECK 9 Duveneck with his little one-man show of five canvases, a young fellow of twenty-seven years with but a three years' schooling in Munich behind him. The canvases he showed were "The Woman with a Fan," "The Old Schoolmaster," " Portrait of William Adams," "Portrait of Professor Loefftz," and the " Whistling Boy." Here at last was a person- ality that spoke a definite, a beautifully and powerfully definite language. Duveneck's ex- hibition proved an immediate success. The pictures were acclaimed by Hunt and many others and by the whole press. The opening of a new era in American art was proclaimed. In 1877, the National Academy Exhibition in New York, including a group of canvases by the American painters from the Munich School, became a fresh landmark, and with the found- ing in the following year of " The Society of American Artists " and their subsequent exhi- bition at the Kurtz Gallery in New York in 1878, the new era in American Art was fairly io FRANK DUVENECK launched. The younger men among the Amer- ican painters had been brought into contact with a vital influence from outside and had been taught to respect their own reaction to it. As we have seen, this first impulse came by way of Munich; later Paris became the art school of the world. All this now is too well known to be dwelt upon. In speaking of Duveneck I would emphasize the powerful effect of his own work at the out- set of our era. What he accomplished after that, while not less surely, was more quietly done. His class in Florence, then known as the "Duveneck Boys," his Italian paintings, his series of Venetian and Florentine etchings, his work as a sculptor, decorator, and as ad- viser has been of inestimable value, the story of his life affording a natural bridge by which to pass from our early period to the present day. WOMAN WITH A FAN 1873 Like the romance of a long-forgotten day this lady emerges from the dark with her fan, her graceful feathery hat, her quaint ruche, silk dress, and black shawl. Asked once in reference to the superb paint- ing of her eyes, the depth of them, Duveneck said : " Yes, in those days I had eyes like a hawk and yet I painted two days on that one eye in the light." V X 'X ^^" fc * y ■* - ■ ■ WOMAN WITH A FAN 1873 II Frank Duveneck was born in 1848 in Coving- ton, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Among his early recollections are a variety of interesting incidents of the Civil War. Naturally, living on the border-line of North and South, he felt the influence of the conflict through contact with the sick and wounded; also with negro refugees, half starved, helpless, and often not too hospitably received. At this time the Benedictine Friars were making altars for Catholic churches in Covington, and they employed Duveaeck, still a mere boy, in his first artistic work. He painted, modeled, carved, decorated, finding a great deal of pleasure in the variety of his work. His ability soon attracted the attention of a local painter named Schmidt, and later, at the age of eighteen, of a church decorator of Ger- man birth and training named Lamprecht, 14 FRANK DUVENECK who coming just then to Cincinnati accepted him as an assistant. The varied work which followed proved of importance in Duveneck's development. He learned his craft in the next few years, the rough craft of painting on large surfaces. He decorated churches in many dif- ferent places, even as far away as Canada. Realizing more and more his artistic ambition and being strongly advised by his fellow dec- orators to study abroad, he managed to get to Munich, which had at this time taken the place of Diisseldorf as the leading art school in Germany, and entered the Royal Academy. This was in 1870. After working for three months in the Antique Class, Duveneck was admitted, without any of the usual preparatory life drawings, to the painting class of Wilhelm Dietz, one of the radicals among the faculty who had become a professor at the Academy the same year that Duveneck entered. Among his classmates at this time were two who afterwards became famous; one of them being YOUNG MAN WITH RUFF 1873 Another example of the artist's intensely vital construction of the head with direct brush drawing. YOUNG MAN WITH RUFF 1873 FRANK DUVENECK 17 Ludwig Loefftz, later a professor and after that Director of the Munich Academy; and the other, Wilhelm Triibner, who ranks among the strongest modern German painters. It is interesting to linger over the condition of the art world of Munich at the time young Duveneck stepped into it. It was a period of transitions. Within a generation the sound draughtsmanship, painstakingly built up on German soil by schooling received in France, had been followed by a wave of enthusiasm for color and now again had received a fresh impetus from Paris. At that time in the French capital, Delacroix and Ingres, the arch-roman- ticist and arch-classicist, still held their own. Besides these there were masters such as those glorifying the Napoleonic legend, Horace Ver- net and Meissonier; the discoverers of the Orient for art, Decamps, Marilhat, Fromen- tin ; the genre painters of all kinds ; together with the elegant portrayers of feminine beauty, Cabanel, Baudry; the serious stylists, like 18 FRANK DUVENECK Chasseriau, Flandrin, and Chenavard, and the excellent landscape painters. And finally there were the revolutionary realists with Courbet at their head. In place apart stood Corot and Millet, whose art though closely associated with the Barbizon School is yet greater. Something of all these was reflected in Mu- nich in the sixties, and what is for us most in- teresting is the fact that two men there at least were following a course parallel to that of Courbet. These men were Wilhelm Leibl, whose influence in Munich was very strong even then, and Wilhelm von Dietz, the young instructor into whose hands Duveneck fell. Their art, resisting the artificialities of the older painters, Piloty and Makart, had been inspired by an intense study of nature and of the Dutch masters in the old Pinakothek, and had, only the year before Duveneck's coming, received a fresh impulse through a great exhi- bition of French art in which Courbet was represented by a roomful of paintings. Nature, PORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR LUDWIG LOEFFTZ 1873 One of the artist's most beautiful works, a portrait all painters love for its dignity and completeness. PORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR LUDWIG LOEFFTZ 1873 FRANK DUVENECK 21 pure and simple, was what interested them, — " Un coin de la nature vu a travers un tem- perament," was the watchword coined for them by Emile Zola, the spokesman of the new movement. It was among such varied influences that Duveneck had placed himself and, as was in- evitable with his temperament, it was with the naturalists that he instantly aligned him- self. Theirs was the spirit in which Duveneck approached his work. Given immediately the close contact with a mood and method so absolutely suited to him, and remembering also the technical skill which he had already gained, especially through his free handling of paint in the work of church decoration in America, we can more easily un- derstand the rapid progress of this newcomer in the stimulating art world of Munich, — this blond, vigorous, and single-hearted young giant with the " eye like a hawk," fresh from a new world and conscious of his own power. 22 FRANK DUVENECK During his first year in Munich, Duveneck took most of the prizes of the Academy, from antique drawing to composition, a progress which was looked upon as nothing short of phenomenal. The admirable study of a Cir- cassian in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts belongs to that year. At that time competitive compositions were made, the prize-winners were granted the use of a studio, the expenses for models to complete the prize competition usually being paid in addition. Duveneck won this prize in 1872. After establishing himself in the newly won studio he did not, and indeed soon proved that he did not have to, return to Dietz's class, for to this time belongs that series of canvases of which we need recall only one, the "Whistling Boy." In this picture are fully evident the qualities which startled and quickly attracted the other painters and students to him. Foremost among these is the expressive use of the paint itself, an astonishing virtuosity of brushwork closely related to Franz Hals, in UNFINISHED PORTRAIT STUDY 1873 Note the vitality of brush expression in large planes, just preced- ing the development of detail within the planes. UNFINISHED PORTRAIT STUDY 1873 FRANK DUVENECK 25 which the daring and yet perfectly controlled hand defines planes, textures, and color with an unhesitating brush — loaded with paint. Even to the amateur this method makes an appeal, its chief merit being liveliness and force with rich, vibrant color. Later, in the portrait of the "Woman with Forget-Me-Nots," which is dated 1876, we feel the distinct ripening in pic- torial insight. The fact that Duveneck at that time used to take his pictures to the Pinakothek and set them beside the old masters, the Dutch and Flemish being his favorite ones, makes us understand that as the " Whistling Boy " was Duveneck pure and simple, the " Woman with Forget-Me-Nots" is a development, through an inspiration that comes straight from the Netherlands, the hands being very suggestive of Rubens. Duveneck used a restricted palette in those days, composed chiefly of plain earth colors. A student who once asked some one who knew Duveneck in Munich, what kind of brushes and colors the latter then used, received 26 FRANK DUVENECK the answer : " Oh, generally somebody else's." In later years Duveneck came under the spell of the French painters. For a time he became vitally interested in their technique, so without much ado he set himself to study their style for several years, many of his enthusiasts lament- ing this change. There is a large portrait of his wife in the Cincinnati Museum which reveals strikingly this departure; it is a gracefully dis- tinguished work. PORTRAIT OF MR. WILLIAM ADAMS 1874 Note the stately placing of the figure on the canvas, the directness of expression with the brush, the subtle values in solid painting. PORTRAIT OF MR. WILLIAM ADAMS 1874 Ill Toward the end of the year 1873, the year in which the cholera broke out in Munich, Du- veneck returned to America. He went at once to Chicago on a commission in connection with a church decoration. Not wishing to carry too much, he traveled with little luggage and no painting material, expecting to buy what he needed there. Upon arriving in Chicago he soon found to his surprise that such things as artist materials were unobtainable goods at that time, in a town that to-day can boast of having at least three thousand artists and art students. So he was obliged to remain idle until the material could be sent for. Upon his return to Cincin- nati he was occupied there with several por- trait orders, but an exhibition of a group of his portraits from Munich attracted little or no public attention, which is perhaps not surpris- ing in the state of connoisseurship then existing^ 30 FRANK DUVENECK Then came the year 1875, in which his one- man show in Boston proved more than a suc- cess, coming near a sensation. Besides receiv- ing excellent criticisms, the whole collection was sold. Nobody was more amazed at this success than Duveneck himself. He has always attributed his favorable reception to William Morris Hunt's lectures on art, which together with Hunt's own work had cleared the way. Leibl, whose work in Germany at that time was very similar to Duveneck's, was still absolutely misunderstood there by both press and public; in fact, he had been obliged to leave Munich for the country in 1872, largely because of the lack of funds. If Duveneck had been intent on busi- ness he would have accepted the very flattering inducements offered him to remain in Boston. However the call of the artist life in Munich was too strong to be resisted, so he declined them and returned to Munich the same year, where he worked until 1877. In company with his friend William M. Chase, Duveneck then TURKISH PAGE 1876 The significance of this handsome arrangement becomes especially evident when we think that it was painted as early as 1876 and first exhibited the following year. In company with the work of other young Americans, " The Turkish Page " constituted a direct chal- lenge to the prevailing conventional spirit of the National Academy. With the exception of Duveneck's mural paintings, this canvas must be regarded as his most completely carried out composition. FRANK DUVENECK 33 went to Venice, where the two experienced al- ternations of hardship and prosperity, most of the time managing to exist on practically noth- ing and enj oying themselves doing it. One year later, 1878, Duveneck was back in Munich. Chase returned to America and connected him- self with the Art Students' League which had just been formed, teaching being then the only professional work which he found profitable. It was the year before, as I have already said, in the Spring exhibition of the National Acad- emy of Design in New York, that the group of young Americans had exhibited for the first time together, works which, made in Munich and Paris, were destined to produce the most profound and far-reaching results in America's art development. The most notable among the exhibitors were Duveneck, Chase, Inness, and Shirlaw. The conservative element of the Academy, which had been having things all its own way up to that time, became extremely agitated over the success of these newcomers 34 FRANK DUVENECK from abroad, and especially over the fact that the canvases of these men were given such ex- cellent places. At once a meeting was called and a resolution passed, that every Academi- cian should henceforth have reserved for his work eight feet of space on the line. While this extreme measure was recalled later, it certainly showed plainly the hostile attitude towards these young painters, all of whom we regard to-day as more or less important fac- tors in the development of our national art. Incidentally the National Academy's action resulted in the forming of the "Society of American Artists," which disbanded only a few years ago. One of the sensations of this Academy Ex- hibition proved to be Duveneck's "Turkish Page," now in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The absolute mastery of all tech- nical difficulties, the justness of his tonal val- ues, and the solidity of his — I might say, wet into wet — straightforward painting, were all WOMAN WITH FORGET-ME-NOTS 1876 Almost devotional in spirit, the dignity of this portrait takes us hack to the days of the great Dutch painters. Unconsciously almost we feel Rembrandt, Rubens, and Franz Hals. She is of their company. WOMAN WITH FORGET-ME-NOTS 1876 FRANK DUVENECK 37 things which had never been seen before quite as in this canvas. The manner in which the various textures of this ambitious arrangement are presented is very handsome, indeed. Be- sides the modeling and fine flesh quality of the boy, there are the various beautifully ren- dered accessories, like the drapery in the back and the leopard skin in the foreground, the metallic quality of the brass bowl and vase, and finally the beauty of the grapes and plum- age of the white cockatoo with wings out- stretched and crest raised. Chase painted the same arrangement with Duveneck, only on a much smaller canvas; in fact, the pictures were painted together in Chase's studio. Du- veneck never thought his own picture quite finished. While at work their money gave out and both artists were hard put to pay the little model for the sittings. The works of the other members of the group were the same in char- acter, inasmuch as they revealed a grasp, a devotion to the beauty of nature, at once truth- 38 FRANK DUVENECK ful, bold, and yet how fine in color and in re- lation of light and shadow. Chase showed at the Academy his much-discussed picture called " The Man with the Pipe," which was a por- trait of Duveneck. One of the prominent New York papers of the year 1877 made the following statement as to Duveneck's "Turkish Page": "Here at last is painting for painting's sake ; study for youth's delight in study, an earnest of the day when our artists shall be bred at home as well as born at home, and the seal of a foreign school, the approval of a foreign master, shall no longer be necessary to give an American a position among his own countrymen. Ten years with such a start as this and we shall send to the next exposition something better than sewing machines and patent cow milkers; we shall send pictures and statues that will not be shamed by being set alongside the work of France and England. American artists will find at home that atmosphere which for many SKETCH OF A TURK 1876 In richness of warm color and admirable breadth of statement this canvas ranks among those of Duveneck's strongest period. It was Chase who one day picked up this picturesque figure from the streets of Munich and, knocking on Duveneck's door, cried to him : " Come on over, I have a Turk, — the real thing." SKETCH OF A TURK 1876 FRANK DUVENECK 41 years they have run abroad to seek and which to our great loss too many of them have found there. The Wests and Leslies, the Stewarts, Newtons, Boughtons, and Whistlers of the future will be content to breathe their native air and wear home-grown laurels, nor shall we have the shame of disputing with foreigners over our right to call our fellow-countryman a man, who, for the sake of foreign employment, denies his American birth and mispronounces his own name." IV In the year 1878 Duveneck started a school in Munich, which became so very popular that soon two classes had to be formed of about thirty each, one of Americans and Eng- lish, the other of different nationalities; and when the desire to again see Italy took him back to Florence at the end of the following year (1879) fully half of his students went with him. Thus his school was transplanted to the banks of the Arno, and the members soon established themselves in the social as well as the artistic circles of Florence as the " Duve- neck Boys." A live picture of this earnest but exuberant group is given in W. D. Howells' story of Florentine Life, " Indian Summer," where they are called the " Inglehart Boys." The breezy references to them are invested with a feeling of interest and friendliness. One of the char- PORTRAIT OF J. FRANK CURRIER 1876 This powerful portrait of Currier, one of the American personali- ties in Munich at Duveneck's time there, deserves to be better known in this country. Light is thrown on some of Currier's fervently dashed-off impressions by the spirit of the eyes as we note them in this portrait.' PORTRAIT OF J. FRANK CURRIER 1876 FRANK DUVENECK 45 acters introduces them thus : " ' They were here all last winter and they 've just got back. It 's rather exciting for Florence.' She gave a rapid sketch of the interesting exodus of a score of young painters from an art school at Munich under the head of the singular and fascinating genius by whose name they be- came known. ' They had their own school for a while in Munich and then they all came down into Italy in a body. They had their stu- dio things with them, and they traveled third class, and had the greatest fun. They were a sensation in Florence. They went everywhere and were such favorites. I hope they are go- ing to stay.'" Such was the impression of them which Howells found in Florence when he went there the year after they had dis- banded, and it should be remembered that the Florence of that day was a rallying place for the most fascinating people of Europe. The " Duveneck Boys " stayed together for about two years working in Florence in the 46 FRANK DUVENECK winter and in Venice in the summer. Among them were John W. Alexander, John Twacht- man, Joseph DeCamp, Julius Rolshoven, Oliver Dennett Grover, Otto Bacher, Theodore Wen- del, Louis Ritter, Ross Turner, Harper Pen- nington, Charles Forbes, George E. Hopkins, Julian Story, Charles E. Mills, Albert Rein- hart, Charles H. Freeman, Henry Rosenberg, John O. Anderson, Charles Abel Corwin, and others. Oliver Dennett Grover, the youngest of the group, in speaking about his colleagues said that the advice of John Twachtman, of the Cincinnati contingent, one of the older ones, whose knowledge was wider, was ap- preciated next to that of the " Old Man," as they lovingly denominated Duveneck. Then he continued: "Joseph DeCamp was just plain * Joe ' in those days, the breeziest, cheek- iest, most warm-hearted Bohemian in Venice. Full of life, energy, and ambition, he worked unceasingly and gave and took many a hard knock. Rolshoven too was endowed by nature RED-HAIRED MAN WITH RUFF 1876 This head recalls Rubens. It is full of character, strongly con- structed, closely drawn, and of astonishing luminosity. The brush- work is limpid. RED-HAIRED MAN WITH RUFF 1876 FRANK DUVENECK 49 with the artistic temperament, making it espe- cially difficult for him to adapt himself to rou- tine work. Alexander, of course, was the born favorite and leader which he continued to be throughout his life. We always thought, had Alexander not chosen art as his vocation, he might have become a great diplomat. I remem- ber him at the last annual meeting of the Na- tional Academy of Design at which he presided, and during the little while I could converse with him he took occasion to speak of student days, and to voice feelingly his sense of the obliga- tion he and all of us were under to Duveneck ; incidentally, also, recalling Sargent's beautiful estimate of him. The student days in Italy were all too short, but while they lasted they were more significant, probably, than a simi- lar period in the lives of most students, because more intensified, more concentrated. The usual student experiences of work and play, elation and dejection, feast and famine, were ours, of course, but in addition to that, and owing to 5 o FRANK DUVENECK peculiar circumstances and conditions, the ad- vantage of the intimate association and con- stant companionship we enjoyed not only with our leader but also with his acquaintances and fellow artists, men and women from many lands, was unique and perhaps quite as valu- able as any actual school work. We lived in adjoining rooms, dined in the same restaurant, frequented the same cafes, worked and played together with an intimacy only possible to that age and such a community of interests." The inspiration of this class was well epito- mized by Duveneck's old professor, Diez; it was " Work." It was his custom at the begin- ning of the year to make an address to the class, and in closing his talk he always said: "Now, I don't want any geniuses in this class; I don't care for pupils who claim an abundance of talent; but what I do want is a crowd of good workers." " This is the thought I have always tried to instil into my pupils," says Mr. Duve- neck. Mr. Grover told me once at the time of THE COBBLER'S APPRENTICE 1877 This striking life-size canvas, in subject so like " The Whistling Boy," is yet entirely different. Aside from the fact that the little model for the earlier work had black hair while this one's is red, the difference in technique is self-evident. While in " The Whistling Boy " young Duveneck centered all of his attention upon the head, conveying planes and texture with remarkable care and feeling, this canvas is a more broad statement, all parts of it being boldly and swiftly expressed. Certain passages in it make one think of Manet, yet Duveneck had never seen any of the French master's works at that time. The canvas, painted in Munich, was originally sold there for twenty-five dollars to Mr. von Hessling, the American Vice- Consul, was for a time owned by Mr. Joseph Stransky, and is now in the collection of Mr. Charles P. Taft. In May of that same year (1877) Duveneck and Chase left for Venice, Duveneck stopping in Innsbruck where he painted the portrait of Susan B. Anthony. THE COBBLER'S APPRENTICE 1877 FRANK DUVENECK 53 his Duveneck lecture in Chicago : " His clear- ness of vision and surety of hand were simply masterly. At that time the rarity of his skill was not realized, by me at least. In my inno- cence I imagined a few years of study and training would give one a similar certainty and skill. During the years since that time I have watched the work of many painters, some of them great men, but for the quality of pure painter ability I have never known his equal." Already at the time of Duveneck's classes in Italy, it was the brushwork instead of the care- fully finished charcoal or crayon drawing that he insisted upon with his pupils as the real foundation of a picture ; he imparted the paint- er's rather than the draughtsman's point of view in teaching the student, once the rough outlines were suggested in charcoal, to cover his canvas quickly with paint, boldly blocking in the large masses. In Florence, Duveneck found it hard to work himself, owing to his being so well known, in 54 FRANK DUVENECK fact — pursued, as would appear to have been the case from Pennell's remark in his book on Whistler, that he and Whistler used to run across Duveneck in little out-of-the-way cafes, where he was hiding from them. This lasted for two more years when Duveneck decided to disband his class, thinking it would be better for his group of really fine students to go back to Munich or Paris on account of the oppor- tunity of seeing what was going on through exhibitions and the like. PORTRAIT OF JOHN W. ALEXANDER 1879 Duveneck took Alexander with him to Florence ahead of his other pupils to help him find the right kind of studios. Once that task was completed and while waiting for the class, Duveneck painted this brilliant, gentlemanly portrait of young Alexander in a few hours. H ':':'■;.■,'■"'■ m ■ I 1 i i Ik : " ■ ■■ ' . 1 "' 1 i 1 ! " j PORTRAIT OF JOHN W. ALEXANDER . 1879 V In 1880 Duveneck became keenly interested in etching, but a visit to America soon inter- rupted this work. Returning to Venice after about a year he produced, in 1883 and 1884, some twenty notable plates. Without his knowledge, in 1881, Lady Collin Campbell had sent his three etchings of the " Rivadegli Schiavoni, Venice," to London, for the first exhibition of the " New Society of Painter-Etchers" at the Hanover Gallery. The story of how several members of that society suspected that they were the works of Whistler, under a nom de plume, is well known, the facts having been put on record various times and Whistler's witty correspond- ence on the subject being included in "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies." In this con- nection Seymour Haden later said that after seeing the etchings there was absolutely no doubt with him as to their originator ; that he 58 FRANK DUVENECK could not help but feel at once the difference of temperament between Whistler andDuveneck. Pennell also justly says in his book on Whis- tler that it is incredible that two etchers like Haden and Legros could have mistaken the work of Duveneck for that of Whistler. The difference of upbuilding, of technique, and of touch certainly to us to-day appears striking between the work of the two men. Duveneck's etchings of the " Riva degli Schiavoni " were made before Whistler made his ; in fact Otto H. Bacher, one of the "Duveneck Boys" in Venice, tells us in his book, " With Whistler in Ven- ice," that Whistler saw these etchings as Bacher was helping Duveneck bite the plates, and that Whistler said with characteristic frankness: "Whistler must do the Riva also." Haden wrote to Duveneck at the time, among other things about these etchings: " In the meantime I assure you your works are the admiration of all who come to our gallery. Pray do not stop your work in this direction; we shall all be WELL AND WATER-TANK, ITALIAN VILLA 1887 OLD TOWN BROOK, POLLING, BAVARIA 1878 Duveneck's color, often restrained except in his flesh tints, bursts forth occasionally in his landscapes in a surprisingly luminous man- ner. ' ■ ft ,. i ! * ! | ' fli^* 1 v .— -' '" ^? "^^^! i *Tb4 Pfc <3 3^? «!?£<•„ WELL AND WATER-TANK, ITALIAN VILLA 1887 OLD TOWN BROOK, POLLING, BAVARIA 1878 FRANK DUVENECK 61 much interested in seeing more of it and doing it all the honor we can." One year after the controversy Duveneck showed in London another group of etchings which again attracted much interest, Haden testifying his appreciation by buying all that he could get. All of Duveneck's Italian etchings convey his sense of architectural richness and with that the simple pictorial bigness, complete in every way, that characterizes his other work. His plates are superbly conceived and mas- terly in their draughtsmanship. The plate of the " Rialto " is among those that best convey Duveneck's personal force of conception and touch. Many of his plates have unfortunately been destroyed or lost and few prints are in existence. In those Venetian days Duveneck used to see a good deal of Whistler ; they were always friendly, but the two were too utterly unlike for the friendship to go beyond a certain point. An amusing little story relates to this time. 62 FRANK DUVENECK Duveneck and De Camp, who were printing one day, were sorely in need of paper. They asked Bacher to tell them where he got his beautiful handmade paper. Bacher revealed the secret to the two startled artists in a whis- per. Doubtful whether he was merely joking, they nevertheless set out gamely for the mar- ket, where to their satisfaction they did find the exquisite paper which was used by a couple of women to wrap up butter. Whistler, who also heard about this, was not slow in laying in as much of a stock of the paper as he could get. In 1886 Duveneck was married to Miss Eliza- beth Boott, of Boston, herself a painter of dis- tinction. Miss Boott was born in Boston, and, having lost her mother while still a very young child, was taken by her father to Florence, to live with two of her aunts. Later she went to Paris to study painting with Couture and lived with his family. At the age of eighteen she came to America and studied with William FLORENTINE FLOWER GIRL 1887 Bathed in the sunshine of outdoors. The form expression and the brush-work reflect the influence upon him of the modern French painter's point of view and method. FLORENTINE FLOWER GIRL 1887 FRANK DUVENECK 65 Morris Hunt, who had been a pupil of Couture before falling so strongly under the influence of Millet. About this time Duveneck's one- man show was held in Boston and was greatly admired by Miss Boott ; so much so that she induced her father to purchase the portrait of Mr. Adams, which is now in the Cincinnati Museum. Duveneck's various portraits of his wife reveal a character refined, womanly, and at the same time marked by firmness, and this latter quality was clearly demonstrated in the present instance. Miss Boott determined not only to own the portrait of Mr. Adams, but to study with the man who had painted it. Ac- cordingly she and her father sought out Du- veneck in Munich in 1879, their cab drawing up at the door when he was in the very act of closing his studio to go to Polling, Bavaria. She having got so far, it is not remarkable that the young artist's lack of enthusiasm over teaching a young girl should have been over- come, so he advised her to paint for a while in 66 FRANK DUVENECK Munich, but gladly offered to criticise her work on his return. The sequel to this story was their engagement which, however, did not result in marriage until nearly seven years later. They were married in Paris in 1886 and spent the two brief years before her untimely death, in Florence, in a villa on the crest of a hill over- looking the city. She died in Paris and lies buried in the Allori Cemetery in Florence, where the memorial figure in bronze, which Duveneck created for it, marks the spot. A son, Frank, survives her. Mrs. Duveneck possessed great talent. Her water-colors and canvases, among them pow- erful studies of figures and landscapes, but chiefly of still life, place her without effort among artists of achievement. SIESTA 1887 Notice the superb feeling of complete rest. The understanding of form, the realization of weight are too evident to need comment ; in color the painting absolutely glows. The canvas was painted in Flor- ence, the model being the same as of the " Florentine Flower Girl." The picture was acquired by the Queen City Club of Cincinnati. I— 1 CO VI Duveneck returned to his old home, Cin- cinnati, after his wife's death, and there he has since lived. From this time, his vitality went less into his own work and more into that of others, yet his versatile power was demonstrated when he made the superb me- morial and when, with the cooperation of Clement J. Barnhorn, he made the statue of Emerson, now in Emerson Hall at Harvard. The bust portrait of Dr. Charles W. Eliot also belongs to that time. In the spring of 1894 Duveneck spent two months in Spain. Most of his time there was occupied in the Prado, where he copied Velasquez, the works he chose being the "Portrait of the In- fanta Margarita," the "Equestrian Portrait of Prince D. Baltasar Carlos," " Portrait of King Philip IV, in a Hunting Suit," " Portrait of King Philip IV, of Advanced Age," and "The 70 FRANK DUVENECK Idiot of Coria." His latest work of importance in painting was an immense mural decoration, started in 1904 and completed in igog. It was given in memory of his mother to St. Mary's Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky. The most comprehensive exhibition, outside of Cincinnati, ever made of Duveneck's work was, as I have indicated, his one-man gallery at the San Francisco Exposition in 1915. It included thirty oil paintings, twelve Venetian and one Florentine etching, and a replica of the Memorial. This replica was taken from the marble copy in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In the group of paintings was one of the earliest Munich canvases. It was a por- trait of a man with a red fez, its quiet, forceful grasp of character arousing at once a good deal of discussion among Munich artists. The most important document of that time, " The Old Schoolmaster," painted in 1871, was not included in that collection. It was exhibited in Boston in 1875, and sold for one hundred RIVA DEGLI SCHIAVONI, VENICE 1880 Duveneck's etchings are of the same breadth and vigor as his paintings. For him " The Riva " is one of unusual delicacy. FRANK DUVENECK 73 dollars to Dr. Angel, an art connoisseur, and was owned until recently by his widow, who has just presented the work to the Boston Mu- seum of Fine Arts. In speaking of the portrait of this old Munich teacher from the Old Man's Home there, the "Boston Transcript" of 1875 said : " The portrait is that of an elderly man who might be an antiquated fiddler in a Ger- man orchestra. Only the head and breast are there, the coat being closely buttoned. The coloring is well-nigh perfection, every feature of age being elaborated with most vigorous effect." The " Nation " of the same year speaks of the relief, the vigor, the frankness, and com- prehensive simplicity, qualities in it which are most striking. A woodcut of this canvas was made by a Mr. Juengling, and proved a prize- winner among woodcuts in 1880. The " Whistling Boy " belongs to the year 1872. The magic dexterity of the brush as dis- played here, the power of perception, the nat- ural expression and rich coloring remain amaz- 74 FRANK DUVENECK ing to us to this very day. "Put it down," was the precept Duveneck always had ready for his pupils ; how completely he realized its meaning in the painting of this urchin, a masterpiece by a young man barely twenty-four years old ! In the "Woman with a Fan," which belongs to the following year, the dignity of arrange- ment, but especially the study of the head, its soft flesh colors and texture, with the only two strongly defined accents, the dark eyes, is truly superb. This was one of the portraits sold orig- inally for three hundred dollars from his Boston exhibition. The same year he painted the por- trait of Loefftz. Anybody, but especially those who paint themselves, will find it hard to be- lieve that while there may have been some pre- vious preparation of the canvas, this beautifully complete piece of painting was done in one sitting, lasting all day and to the point of ex- haustion of both painter and sitter. This was one of the portraits that the German Govern- ment indirectly tried to buy for the National THE RIALTO, VENICE 1883 Characteristic of the breadth and dignity of Duveneck's whole se- ries of Italian etchings. FRANK DUVENECK 77 Gallery in Berlin, but was not able to get. There are many portraits of this first Munich period of Duveneck's that he has lost track of. He used to paint anybody then who came along and put twenty marks down on the table. The " Un- finished Portrait Study " of a girl's head, belong- ing to the same year, 1873, is interesting not only as a piece of superb painting, but because of important associations. It was painted in Munich, in 1873, the year of the cholera, of which Wilhelm von Kaulbach,the official head of the Royal Academy, was one of the victims. The sketch of this girl was the work of a couple of hours. The model was supposed to come back the next day, but when Duveneck arrived for his sitting he was informed that she had died during the night of the cholera. I dare say, in regard to the depth of expression in this head, that if the imagination were given rein it would seem as though the artist must have been spurred by some sense of her impending fate, or as though in her that quickened spiritual 78 FRANK DUVENECK life — which sometimes indicates approach- ing death — was wide awake and looking out. Dietz was so delighted with the sketch that Duveneck gave it to him. But it marked the close of his stay in Munich, for he immediately left for America. The portrait of Frank Currier belongs to the Art Institute in Chicago. The expression of this intensely interesting painter is one of strong intellectual life and power, making us easily see the creator of his imposing "Approaching Storm" in the Cincinnati Museum. In 1874 the portrait of Mr. Adams was painted in Cincin- nati. It is about the finest of his documents of that year. To 1875 belongs "The Turkish Page." The intensely alive portrait of John W. Alexander comes several years later. The two paintings by Duveneck in the Boston Tav- ern Club were originally given to Vinton, the artist and art critic, who lent them and after- wards gave them to the club. One is a three- quarters length portrait of John Landis, a MEMORIAL TO ELIZABETH BOOTT DUVENECK 1891 The original model, made in Cincinnati, is the property of the Mu- seum. The photograph shows the bronze copy installed on her grave in the " Campo Santo degli Allori " in Florence, the cemetery in which Arnold Bocklin rests. The Memorial was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1895 and awarded then an " Honorable Mention." There is a marble copy in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and copies from the marble are owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Chicago Art Institute, and the San Francisco Art Association. Copies from the original model are in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis. Ik! U W Z > D Q f- H O O n x h m w 5* OQ Hi < N «— < J bl O H < 5 o s (I) s FRANK DUVENECK 81 fellow artist of Duveneck's, whom the latter painted several times. The other work is the spirited sketch of a Turk, garbed in a rich yel- low tunic. As a permanent representation of an artist, the Duveneck collection in the Cincinnati Mu- seum is unique. It comprises about one hun- dred paintings besides sculpture and etchings and gives a complete account of his personal- ity. In the spring of 1915 he established and presented as a gift to the Museum this whole collection, together with a great number of im- portant works by other artists; in fact, we may say his entire private collection. This gift was made, to use his own words, "for the benefit particularly of students of art in Cincinnati." Duveneck has now for many years divided his time between teaching, painting, and ad- vising in all artistic matters of importance in connection with the Cincinnati Museum. Though Duveneck has received a number of 82 FRANK DUVENECK honors and medals, he has little to say of them. We know, however, that he is a member of the American Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Academy. A typical example of Duveneck's naive way of doing things is well illustrated in the following incident. After painting a canvas of "Glouces- ter Docks," in the summer of 1915, he was offered fifteen hundred dollars for it by some one who saw it there. " No," said Duveneck, " I 've got to take that home to the boys and show them that I 've been working." He ex- hibited it in Cincinnati at the Art Club Exhibi- tion, and for the sake of the commission, which would benefit the Club, he put a price of only eight hundred dollars on it. The picture was immediately sold to the University Club. At once Duveneck turned around and himself bought several of the larger canvases in the exhibition, donating them to one of the high schools in Cincinnati. I will also quote Mrs. Elizabeth Robins Pen- [Facsimile of the Letter adopted first by the Foreign Members of the Jury for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and later endorsed by the Entire American Jury.] F*ana>ia- Pacific International Exposition 1915 palace op fwk abts DIVISION Or EXH1BIT9 Oma or tu Cai» SAN FRANCISCO, DEPARTMENT OF Cumnu FINE ARTS June 2, 1915. Chairman: Department Jury, Department of Fine Arts. Dear Sirs- *Te, the representatives of foreign countries acting upon the International Jury of Awards in the Department of Fine Arts, do hereby ask your kind con- sideration of the following recommendation unamiously adopted by us in a meeting specially called for this purpose. llhereas, the comprehensive retrospective collection of Ur. Frank Duveneck's works in oils, etching and sculpture brought together here has un- questionably proven to be the real surprise of the whole American Section in the Palace of Fine Arts, and, whereas, these works have astonished and delighted all those hitherto unacquainted with his life work, while confirming the opinion of those few who have long held him in the highest esteem, both as an artist and as a man, ws, the foreign jurors on the International Jury of Award, feel that some special recognition of his distinguished contribution to American art should be awarded Ur. Frank Duveneck, and we herewith recommend that a Special Uedal of Honor be struck in his bio no r and awarded him. We beg to remain. Very respectfully, (Signers) H±4-~^l. " ' "" ~" ' ^ ''"' "'■"'"'"" r ^ ^^$^~ 'WrVl^liA^UM FRANK DUVENECK 83 nell's vivid picture of Duveneck's personal ap- pearance in her book, " Nights*" because it must be real, since, except for his now gray hair and less drooping mustache, he has re- mained the same quiet, easy-going giant dur- ing all these years. Mrs. Pennell says in the Venetian chapter : " Duveneck, as I remember him then, was large, fair, golden-haired, with long drooping mustache, of a type apt to suggest indolence and indifference. As he lolled against the red velvet cushions smoking his Cavour, enjoying the talk of others as much as his own, or more, for he had the talent of eloquent si- lence when he chose to cultivate it, — his eyes half shut, smiling with casual benevolence, he may have looked to a stranger incapable of action and as if he did not know whether he was alone or not, and cared less. And yet he had a big record of activity behind him, young as he was ; he always inspired activity in oth- ers, he was rarely without a large and devoted following. . . ." 84 FRANK DUVENECK And he never has been without a devoted following. The artists and connoisseurs of his own generation have continued to do him honor. His pupils, old and new, in Cincinnati or wherever they may be, are included in what he likes to call " his Family." Of late years he has traveled very little, seldom leaving his Cincinnati studio and his home in Covington for any great length of time. His closest ar- tistic companions, since he became head of the faculty of the Cincinnati Art Academy in 1900, have been his co-workers, particularly his inti- mate friends of long standing, Clement J. Barn- horn and the late L. H. Meakin, their studios having been together in the Museum, and their joint labors spent in developing its col- lections. (fflbe iRiUerjSibe prejSg CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A