Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/231

 moods. Boecklin never painted direct from Nature, and his landscapes represent no particular spots, but they are Italian in character and feeling, and were the result of the reminiscences stored up in his mind during the:!e first years in Rome. In 1859 he achieved his tirst great success with 'Pan among the Reeds,' which was exhibited at the Art Union at Munich, and bought for the Pina- kothek. At Munich, also, Boecklin, through the medium of Paul Heyse, made the acquaintance of Count Schack, for whom, during the next sixteen years, many of his most important pictures were painted. In the following year he was appointed a teacher in the Academy of Art at Weimar, but in 1862 he again went to Rome. It was during this sojourn that he paid a visit to Naples and Pompeii, where the antique frescoes roused his enthusiasm and had great influence on his art. Having received some commissions from his native town he returned to Basle in 1866. Here he painted a series of frescoes for the Garden House of Herr Sarasin, and also the frescoes over the staircase of the Museum. From 1871 to 1874 he was again in Munich, but his works, in which, for the first time, he introduced those creatures of his own imagining which play so large a part in his later pictures, met with such opposition from critics and the public that he again returned to Italy. With the exception of a few years spent at Zurich, he lived for the rest of his life at Florence. His health gave way in his later years, and he died on the 16th of January, 1901. Boecklin's paintings are purely ideal conceptions. They bear no relation to reality, but are the creation of the artist's fancy. He never painted a story in the literary or historical sense, but used figures and scenes as a medium for the expression of his emotions. He peopled his ideal landscapes with nymphs, satyrs, and other mythological figures, or with wonderful imaginary creatures, in which he gave symbolical shape to the spirit of Nature. His sea-pictures, with their sport- ing Tritons, Naiads, and Sea-centaurs, best exhibit the extraordinary lirilliance and transparency of his colouring. His art was too bold and too original to be readily accepted, and for years he suffered from most severe criticism. It was not until the time of his residence at Zurich (1885-1892) that he received due recognition. The majority of his pictures, many of which exist in several versions, are in private hands. The Schack Gallery, Munich, possesses, among other works : — ' Pan startling a Shepherd,' ' Tlie Walk to Emmaus,' ' Villa by the Sea,' ' A Rocky Chasm,' ' Old Roman Tavern,' ' Triton and Nereid.' The principal pictures in public galleries are :

Basle, Museum, Centanrs Fighting ; The Sacred Grove ; Vita Somnium Breve. Berlin, National Gallery, Mary grieving over the Body of Christ ; The Regions of the Blessed ; The Hermit ; Sea-Breakers ; Portrait of the Artist. Bremen, Jfuseum, The Adventurer. Breslau, Si/esian Museum, The Sanctuary of Hercules; Attack by Pirates. Dresden, Gallery, Faun-family at the Fountain. Leipzig, Museum, The Island of the Dead ; Hymn of Spring.

BOBL, CoBNELls, a Flemish engraver, was bom at Antwerp about the year 1580. He worked chiefly with the graver, in the style of the Sadelers, in whose school it is probable he was instructed. His plates are executed in a clear, neat style, and possess considerable merit. He engraved a set of oval plates for the ' Fables of Otto Voenius,' published at Antwerp in 1608. His most considerable works were eight large plates of the battles of Charles V. and Francis I., executed in conjunction with Jode de Gheyn, the younger, after Tempesta. He was probably in England, as appears from one of his plates, the Frontispiece to a Bible, published by the r03'al authority in 1611, very neatly engraved, which is signed G- Boelfecit, in Richmont, 1611. We have also by him a Portrait of Henry, Prince of Wales, an oval plate, with an ornamental border ; and another plate, of 'The Last Judgment,' Cornells Boel fecit, without the name of the painter.

BOEL, CoRYN, the son of Jan Boel, the en- graver, was bom at Antwerp in 1620. He en- graved several of the plates for the book called ' Teniers's Gallery,' after the pictures in the collection of the Archduke Leopold William. We have also some etchings by him, principally after the pictures of the elder Teniers, representing peasants regaling and merry-makings. His death is not recorded.

BOEL, Jan, who was bom at Antwerp in 1592, was free of the Guild of Luke in 1610, married in 1619 and had nine children— among whom were Coryn and Pieter. He practised as an engraver.

BOEL, Jan Baptist, the son of Pieter Boel, the engraver, was bom at Antwerp in 1650. In 1674- 76 he was admitted as a master's son to the Guild of St. Luke, and died in 1688-89. In the Antverp Museum is a picture called 'Vanity,' representing a dead swan, with a peacock and flowers, painted by him for the Guild of St. Luke in 1679-80.

BOEL, Pieter, an excellent painter of animals, birds, flowers, and fruit, and the son of Jan Boel, the engraver, was bom at Antwerp in 1622, and was a scholar of Frans Snj'ders. Desirous of improvement, he went to Italy, where his works were much admired, both at Rome and at Genoa. On his return to Flanders he met with great encouragement. Four of his best pictures, representing the Four Elements, are in a private collection at Antwerp. He died at Paris in 1674. His touch is free and spirited, and his colouring natural. The Munich Gallery has a picture by him of 'Two Dogs guarding dead Game' ; a ' Boar Hunt' is in the Hague Gallery, and the Madrid Gallery has five works by him ; a picture of Still Life is in the Antwerp Museum. We have some very spirited etchings by Boel of various animals, and a set of six plates of birds of prey, with landscapes, entitled ' Diversi Uccelli a Petro Boel.'

BOETIDS, Christian Fbiedrich, (or Boeoe,) a German engraver, was born at Leipsic in 1706. He was a pupil of Zink and C. A. Wartmann, and resided chiefly at Dresden, where he was made professor of the Electoral Academy in 1764. He engraved several of the plates for the Dresden Gallery, some portraits, and various other subjects. He died at Dresden in 1782. The following are among his best prints :

Landscape with a Monument ; after Breenbergh. La Xotte ; after Correyjio. The Meyer" Madonna; after Holbein (one of his best mrks). Landscape with a Cow and Sheep; after Karel dti Jardin. A Woman holding a Pot with Coals, and a Boy blowing j after Rubens. Sportsmen at the Door of an Inn ; after Wouwerman. Interior of an Inn ; after T. Wi/ck, The Portrait of Boeti'is ; in im'itation of a chalk drawing. 1771. Portrait of Ciiarles Eutiu ; t/ie same. Portrait of Rapliael Mengs ; /he same. Portrait of J. Casanova ; the sa:M.