WESTLAKE, TEXAS .- Gallery 19C is presenting an exhibition The Nazarenes: Germany’s 19th Century Avant-Garde Artists on view from November 30, 2023, until January 31, 2024. The objective of Gallery 19C since it was founded in 2016 by Eric Weider and Polly Sartori has been to present a more comprehensive understanding of 19th century European art, and to create a narrative that told the stories of artists - important artists - who have been long overlooked and often forgotten. Paris was the center of the cultural and creative landscape at this time, and the French artists and movements that changed the trajectory of art history will always be celebrated, but so much more was happening, and not just in France but all over Europe. Therefore, in recognition of other artistic innovations, Gallery 19C is delighted to now focus on the most significant movement to come out of Germany in the 19th century - the Nazarenes.

Rebelling against the rigidity of classical training, combined with the goal of revitalizing the spirit of Christian art, The Brotherhood of Saint Luke (der Lukasbund) was formed on July 10, 1809. The founding group was made up of a cross-section of German youth from various cities and states. Almost a year later, in May 1810, the members embarked for Rome and settled at the abandoned cloister of Sant’Isodoro. They became nicknamed I Nazareni (The Nazarenes) because of their unusual coiffure, with hair worn long and parted in the middle, they imitated Christ’s appearance. The Nazarenes were avant-garde, they were popular, and their influence was far-reaching. Today, not as well-known as the English Pre-Raphaelites but arguably just as rebellious, the Nazarenes were the first anti-academic, anti-establishment movement in 19th century European art.

Gallery 19C’s exhibition will feature a major work by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869), one of the original founders of the Nazarene movement. His Banishment of Hagar from 1841 is unquestionably among the most important works by Overbeck to have appeared on the market for decades. Paintings by Overbeck are extremely rare, as he executed only a few works in oil and most of these are in German museums. Also highlighting the exhibition are four paintings by Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow (1788-1862), including Saint George slaying the Dragon, circa 1820, which was commissioned from the artist by Princess Marianne of Prussia. The centerpiece of an enormous fireplace screen, Saint George originally decorated the Princess’s apartments in the Hohenzollern’s city palace in Berlin. The creativity of the Nazarenes finds full expression in two paintings by Joseph Führich (1800-1876) – The Triumph of Christ and Mary’s walk across the Mountains. The Triumph depicts Christ as Salvator Mundi enthroned on a chariot, adored by his Mother. He is flanked by the four Evangelists shown in the shape of their symbolic animals – Mark, the lion: Luke, the bull: John the eagle and Matthew, the angel, and the four Church Fathers, including St. Jerome and Pope Gregory. Führich’s depiction of Mary’s walk across the Mountains, depicts the moment Mary, upon learning from the Angel Gabriel that she will give birth to the Son of God, leaves Nazareth to visit her cousin Elizabeth on the other side of the mountains. This theme, only mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, had attracted little attention as a subject prior to Führich’s interpretation. Rather than showing a naturalistic Holyland terrain, Führich instead chose to imbue the landscape with flora and music-making angels.

The exhibition also includes works by Eduard Julius Bendemann, Julius Benno Hübner, Franz Ittenbach, Johann Richard Seel, Alexander Maximillian Seitz, as well as major examples of German Romantic painting by Johann Anton Koch and Arnold Böcklin.

A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition and will feature a comprehensive essay and individual entries for each painting written by Dr. Cordula Grewe, author of The Nazarenes-Romantic Avant-Garde and the Art of the Concept.