Martin van Meytens
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Martin van Meytens (aka Mytens or Mijtens; also Meitens, Maitens, Maytens, Maydenz, Meydenz, Mittence) (the younger) (born June 24, 1695 in Stockholm ; † March 23, 1770 in Vienna ) was a portrait painter at the Viennese court .
Martin van Meytens was a son of the Dutch painter Peter Martin van Mytens (the elder). He was Protestant and remained unmarried and childless all his life.
Early years
Together with his relative George Desmarées , Meytens received thorough training at his father's painting school in Stockholm. In 1714 he went to England , studied the portrait painting of Anthony van Dyck and learned the technique of enamel painting . In 1717 he became a pupil of the enamel painter Charles Boit in Paris , with whom he took a trip to Dresden , where he worked for August the Strong . In France , Meytens was soon a highly valued miniaturist , who was sponsored by the Duke of Orléans and, among other things, made forty enamel portraits for the Russian Tsar Peter the Great .
Stay in Italy
In 1721 Meytens came to Vienna for the first time for two years. An offer to work as a court painter in the service of Emperor Charles VI. kicking, caused him to perfect himself in Italy beforehand . From 1723 to 1727 he stayed in Venice , Rome , Naples , Florence , Bologna , Modena , Milan , Turin and Genoa and acquired an in-depth knowledge of oil painting . His clients again included the nobility and - despite some problems because of his faith - also the Roman Curia , even Pope Benedict XIII.
Court painter in Vienna
After returning from Italy and a long visit to his homeland, Meytens finally settled in Vienna in 1731, became an imperial chamber painter a year later and was given the right to buy a house that otherwise only Catholics were entitled to. Under the reign of Maria Theresa from 1740 he reached the height of his fame as the preferred painter of the imperial family. In 1759 he was appointed director of the Vienna Art Academy by the Oberhof building director Adam Philipp Losy von Losinthal , who had previously revived the academy and directed it as a protector . A large workshop under the direction of his nephew and pupil Sophonias de Derichs enabled him to mass-produce representative individual and group portraits of the Empress, her family and her court. The master limited himself to the main parts , while draperies and backgrounds were carried out by specialized employees. This division of labor, combined with the fact that Meytens seldom signed pictures and only at his express request, makes it difficult to precisely determine his personal contribution.
Around the year 1760 he discovered the artistic talent of the young sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and sponsored him by getting him a job as a "stucco cutter" (= chaser of cannon casts) in the Imperial Armory .
As an accomplished courtier, Meytens spoke several languages, enjoyed making music and was a good dancer. His passionate interest in physics and alchemy benefited him in the manufacture of paints and in 1743 earned him the imperial privilege to set up a paint factory. An alleged autobiography from 1755 is unlikely to come from his pen.
In 1898 Meytensgasse in Vienna- Hietzing was named after him.
style
In accordance with his international education, Meytens' work consists of a number of artistic components. The type of courtly representational portrait with its rigid canon of forms is in the tradition of French high baroque . In terms of color , an approach to the Rococo can be observed, the sensual quality of which, however, falls victim to the strict spirit of Maria-Theresian Austria. The smooth surface and the meticulous fine painting of the magnificent props reveal the former enamel miniaturist, who found the statuesque plasticity of the large form in Italy. There are also occasional reminiscences of his Dutch and English beginnings. All of this results in a conception of the portrait presented with technical perfection, which fully does justice to the official function in terms of content, whereby the individual characterization of the portrayed sometimes runs the risk of being subject to a puppet-like typification. The style influenced by Meytens enjoyed extraordinary popularity and aroused a large number of weaker imitators, but was already considered obsolete in the last years of the artist's life.
Works (selection)
- Family Grill , 1730/31, oil on canvas, Konstmuseet Göteborg
- Double portrait, 1740, oil on canvas, Belvedere , Vienna
- Maria Theresa as Queen of Hungary , after 1741, oil on canvas, Belvedere , Vienna
- Portrait of a man in Hungarian costume , around 1740/1750, oil on canvas, Belvedere , Vienna
- Emperor Franz I. Stephan , around 1745/1765, oil on canvas, Belvedere , Vienna
- Emperor Franz I Stephan of Lorraine , around 1745/50, oil on canvas, Belvedere , Vienna
- Maria Theresa as ruler , 1750–55, oil on canvas, Schönbrunn Palace , Vienna
- The family of Count Nikolaus Pálffy von Erdöd , 1752/53, oil on canvas, Belvedere , Vienna
- Imperial Family , 1754, oil on canvas, Schönbrunn Palace , Vienna
- Empress Maria Theresia , 1759, oil on canvas, Picture Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts , Vienna
Self-portraits
- 1727, oil on canvas, Uffizi Gallery , Florence
- 1735, oil on canvas, Ludwigsburg , Stuttgart
- 1750, oil on canvas, picture gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
Literature (selection)
- La vie de Mr. de Meytens à Vienne communiquée par lui-même. Fait à Vienne le 1 Juillet 1755 , in: T. Baden (Hrsg.), Letters about art from and to Christian Ludwig Hagedorn, 1797.
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Meytens, Martin von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 18th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1868, pp. 193–196 ( digitized version ).
- Albert Ilg: Meytens, Martin van . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 662-664.
- A. Gauffin: Martin von Meytens dy och hans nyförvärvade work in statens konstsamlingar , in: Nationalmusei årsbok, 1920.
- A. Weißenhofer: Martin de Meytens and the Wiener Hof , in: Mitteilungen des Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, 4, 1923.
- W. Kramm: Prince Karl von Waldeck and the Viennese court painters Martin von Meytens and August Querfurt , in: Zeitschrift des Deutschen Verein für Kunstwissenschaft, 5, 1938.
- B. Lisholm: Martin van Meytens dy Hans liv och hans Verk (with a summary in German), Malmö 1974.
- E. Baum: Catalog of the Austrian Baroque Museum in the Lower Belvedere in Vienna , 2, 1980, p. 425 ff.
- Edwin Lachnit: Meytens, Martin van. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 409 f. ( Digitized version ).
Web links
- Entry on Martin van Meytens in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Martin van Meytens at Digitales Belvedere (digital.belvedere.at)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ilse Krumpöck: The images in the Army History Museum. Vienna 2004, p. 120 f.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meytens, Martin van |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mytens, Martin van; Mijtens, Martin van; Meitens, Martin van; Maitens, Martin van; Maytens, Martin van; Maydenz, Martin van; Meydenz, Martin van; Mittence, Martin van |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch-born Swedish painter at the Viennese court |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 24, 1695 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stockholm |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 23, 1770 |
| Place of death | Vienna |