Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/394

 OVERBECK

362

OVERBERG

painting to the dominatinp; sister art of arohit-orture. Ovorbpok was not abli- personally to develop the ideal he had formed, the adornment of northern, especially German ehurehes with frescoes, but. his school, largely as represented by Eduard von Steinle, has partially carried out his wishes.

The influence of Overbeck's spirit was by no means limited to (ler- many. France, particularly, uniler- stood the graphic speech of this new religious art; IJelgiuni, I'olaiid, and SjKiin followed in the footsteps of the master at Rome. The reputation of the new leader of art wxs spread throughout all classe-s of society,

largely by his smaller works, espe-

Overbeck, Friedhich, convert HM^^^^^BfL^ '- ^^^^1 cially by his Biblical cartoons. His and painter of religious subjects, b. ^^^^^^^^^^^k /^H "^^ Pointings arc conspicuous for

at Liibeck, 3 July, 17S9;d. at Rome, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ .^H their qualities but are not numer- 12 November, 1SG9. Overbeck is ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^i^^l ""s; the mo.st noted of them, "The one of the mo.st fascinating figures ^^^^^^^^^^^^Hfe^H Triumph of Religion in the Arts", in the realm of moilern Christian ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| is the chief ornament of the Stadel art. He was the soul of that roman- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| Gallery at Frankfort. If the work tic school of painters who, under the IJ^^^H^^^^^^^^Hj^^BI produced by Overbeck appears name of "Xazarites", exerted great Fbiedrich Ovehbeck meagre, when contrasted with the

influence on the formation of the amount put forth by artists who came

German religious art of the nineteenth century. When after him, the reason is to be found in t he subt ility of his eighteen years old, Overbeck became a pupil at the manner, owingtowhichhecouldexecutemasterly work, Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna. After he had even in old age, as the wonderful cartoons of the " Seven

Clement VI II raised it from a feast of double rite to double major. The Mass is the common one for feasts of the Blessed Virgin; theOfhce is also the com- mon one of the Bl. Virgin, with the exception of the second Nocturn, which is an account of the alleged miracle. The congregation, which Benedict XIV in- stituted for the reform of the Breviarj' in 1741, proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office and that the feast sho\ild again receive its original name, "Dedicatio Sancta^ Maria;".

Analeda Juris PoiUificii. XXIV (Rome 1885). 915; HoLWECK, Fasti Mariani {Frri- burg. 1S92), 164-6.

Michael Ott.

attained proficiency he quickly withdrew from the compulsion and formalism of the academy, and went with three friends to Italy and above all to Rome as the great centre for the exercise of art. In 1810 he made his home in the monastery of the Irish Franciscans at Rome, San Isidoro, which w;is then unoccupied. He was the first to recognize that the tradition of ecclesi-

Sacraments", and the sketches for the decoration of the cathedral of Diakovdr, which were only used in part. Hostility to the art of Overbeck and his fol- lowers, the "Nazarite" school, did not fail to appear during Overbeck's lifetime, nor is it lacking now. Some say that the "Nazarites", most of all Overbeck, Veit, Fuhrich, and Steinle, have introduced Italian art into Northern

astical art had been |^ma||^^^^B|^M^H^^HBMa|HHHB|H|^^HM Europe, and have

suspend- ^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^H ^^'^^

by the Reforma- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'^^^^^^^^^^^^^B

the icono- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^|

clastic outbreaks, ^^^^^^^^^^^^ i^ ^^^^^^^^^H shallow and insipidly

that the ^^^^^^Hi^V^ V^ ^^^^^^^^^| sweet. Of the

stifling overgrowth of ^^^^^H^^^^ ..^ JIT^^ 4b -^^P^^^^^l '^^ these

Humansim is in- ^^^^^^T^i flyJ-l'WMFr^aT' \ "flBt 'I^^^^B "orthodox" artists

t reduced elements ^^^B^ImKl-J^H^^H^HHI^^I^Bb^^H ^^^ "^^^ "moderns",

had ^^^vilHf^lBMK^^Br^R^HM^^SS^^^I ^^° assert that the

cast a mvthological ^HV jS^^K^H^^^B H^I^I^"'1H^^H "Nazarite" canonsof

garb over the Catho- ^yiM^M^^Bi^^^MI ■ M:/ Z .*^ W: ^^B^M -'^'^^ outstripped

lie ideal of art.. His ^Fv^BfvJo(t^£^^^^H[v' W'/w^^^H^^f^^l and antiquated. To

work was, by the BkaffiuiikL^jHI^^^^Bt- IL. ^kilB^BM^^H ^^^'^ '""'

to VjSBr^^ ^^^^^^^BI^BBl^^^^^^^^^^I ^'^^ ^"^ ^"^~

throw a brirlge over B^K ■ ^< V ^^^^^^^^M^T ^^^^^^^^^| ^'is

the period stagna- ^^^f h^jk..^^P^^^^^^B ^^l^^^^^^l fluous,

depression ^BH!i JflBli^B ^^^^^^H ^H^^^^^^^M ^ " ''

that had lasted for KfL waMMM^^^Mfc^ ^J^W^By -j^i^^^^^^l 0\'erbeck and his

three centuries. BK4^^^^^^^B^~^'^B^^^B- .^H^^^^^^^^^I companions

Overbeck lived to see Bl3raiH^^^^^ilii^^E^^T\te^^^^^B ^" justified by

the complete success Ei|K^^8^^1^^^^^^^^HBiBl^3B^i^BM ^'^'^"' (^'^'■^"""^''y

of his titanic labours. ■^■■■^^^^^Hli^^^^^^^^B^^H^^Bl success as far a.s re-

At Rome the father Rats,™ op La.artts g='.'-d«, .ecclesiastical

of the "Nazantes", Friedrich Overbeck, Karlsruhe art, which must al- as perhaps he may ways be a religious now be called, was joined by the later masters, art. Their influence may be recognized also in Cornelius, Schadow, and Philip Veit, and these the closely related art of architecture, at least as men united together into a school. It was Over- far as the Germanic people are concerned.

beck's art and studies that brought him back to the Church, and the mystical power of his piety alone empowered him to produce his lofty crea^ tions. The series of frescoes of the history of Joseph in Egypt in the house called Casa Bartholdi, those illustrating Ta.sso's ".lerusalem Delivered" in the villa of Prince Massimo, and above all that won- derful composition "The Miracle of Roses" in the Portiuncula chapel at Assisi, astonished the world by

modern technic, completely independent grasp of the .._

subject, and most of all by proper relation of the Later (1774) he studied in Miinster, and was ordained

HowiTT, FHedrich Overbeck, seiii Leben und Schaft Binder (Freiburg, 1886); Atkinson, J. F. Overbeck: (London, 1882).

C. M. Kaufmann.

Overberg, Bernhard Heinrich, German eccle- siastic and educator, b. 1 May, 1754; d. 9 November, 1826. Of poor parents in the peasant community of Hockel, near Osnabriick, he became a pedlar like his father. At fifteen a priest prepared him for college, and he studied with the Franciscans in Rheine.