MARÉES, Hans von
(b. 1837, Elberfeld, d. 1887, Roma)

The Oarsmen

1873
Oil on canvas, 136 x 167 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Although officially considered a third member of the so-called German Romanists, Hans von Marées, long resident in Italy, moved far from the dramatic narrative of Böcklin or the ponderous perspective of Feuerbach. The Berlin-trained von Marées was Germany's major prophet of Modernism, filling a critical role as that nation's Puvis de Chavannes, the French master who was thirteen years his senior. Like Puvis de Chavannes, von Marées followed the Nazarene and Pre-Raphalite revival of wall painting. His major commission was the 1873 murals for the Library of the German Marine Zoological Station on Naples.

The Oarsmen is a powerful study for one of the largest Library fresco, located on the north wall.