Robert Charles Goff

Perugia: The duomo with pulpit and statue of pope Julius II. After the Water Color by RC Goff

Robert Charles Goff (born July 28, 1837 in Ireland, † July 1, 1922 in La Tour-de-Peilz , Canton of Vaud, Switzerland) was an English painter, etcher and watercolorist .

Goff first became a professional soldier, but in 1878 he left the Coldstream Guards as a colonel in order to devote himself entirely to art. He lived first in London, later alternately in Florence and in Hove (Sussex).

As an eraser, Goff was under the influence of James McNeill Whistler . Best known of his watercolors and pastels were the 75 sheets for the book Florence and some Tuscan cities (London, A. & C. Black, 1905), for which his wife Clarissa Goff wrote the text. The Medici Society in London published many of these pictures in watercolor on postcards. His first etched sheet was called Old Putney Bridge . By July 1, 1913, he had created 239 etchings, none of them larger than 30:24 cm, the majority much smaller. His motifs are landscapes and cityscapes from English and Italian locations such as Assisi, Fiesole, Florence, Perugia, Rome or Venice, but also from Aachen, Egypt, Holland, Paris, etc. One of his favorite allegations is the evening twilight ( Hotel Metropole, Brighton ; Twilight, Redbridge ; Last rays of sun ). "His needle is extremely sensitive and delicate, without ever becoming soft. He always pushes to the extreme limits of a pure graphic style without ever exceeding them."

Goff became a Fellow (full member) of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1887 ; the academies of Florence and Milan elected him an honorary member. Under the motto Robert Goff: An Etcher in the Wake of Whistler , Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which have an extensive collection of Goff, exhibited around 50 of his works from November 2011 to April 2012.

literature

• Hans Wolfgang Singer : Goff, Robert Charles . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 14 : Giddens-Gress . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1921, p. 329 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Kenneth M. Guichard: British etchers 1850-1940 . 2nd Edition. Garton, London 1981, ISBN 0-906030-09-9
• Christine Rohrschneider: Goff, Robert Charles . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 57, Saur, Munich a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-22797-4 , p. 148.

Web links

• Florence & some Tuscan cities , painted by Colonel RC Goff. Described by Clarissa Goff. 1905. Digitization in Open Library .
• Robert Goff: An Etcher in the Wake of Whistler

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans Wolfgang Singer: Goff, Robert Charles . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 14 : Giddens-Gress . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1921, p. 329 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
2. ↑ Robert Goff: To Etcher in the Wake of Whistler ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.