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Adam Elsheimer
(1578-1610)
Elsheimer, Adam (1578-1610). German painter, etcher, and draughtsman,
active mainly in Italy. Although he died young and his output was small
he played a key role in the development of 17th-century landscape painting.
He was born in Frankfurt, where he absorbed the Coninxloo tradition,
and moved to Italy in 1598. In Venice he worked with his countryman Rottenhammer,
then settled in Rome in 1600. His early Mannerist style gave way to a more
direct manner in which he showed great sensitivity to effects of light;
his nocturnal scenes are particularly original, bringing out the best in
his lyrical temperament, and he is credited with being the first artist
to represent the constellations of the night sky accurately (The Flight
into Egypt, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 1609). He painted a few pictures
in which figures predominate, but generally they are fused into a harmonious
unity with their landscape settings. They are invariably on a small scale
and on copper (the only exception is a self-portrait in the Uffizi, Florence,
of doubtful attribution), but although exquisitely executed they have a
grandeur out of all proportion to their size.
Elsheimer achieved fame during his lifetime and there are numerous contemporary
copies of his works. His paintings were engraved by his pupil and patron,
the Dutch amateur artist Count Hendrick Goudt (1573-1648), and Elsheimer
himself made a number of etchings. In spite of his popularity he was personally
unsuccessful and died in poverty. Sandrart says he suffered from melancholia
and was often unable to work; apparently he was imprisoned for debt. Rubens
was a friend of Elsheimer and after his death lamented his sin of sloth,
by which he has deprived the world of the most beautiful things'; he also
wrote I have never seen his equal in the realm of small figures, of landscapes,
and of so many other subjects.'
Both Rubens (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel) and Rembrandt
(National Gallery, Dublin) made paintings of The Flight into Egypt
inspired by Elsheimer's masterpiece, and his influence is apparent in the
work of many other 17th-century artists.
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