01 Work, The Art of War, Anselm Feuerbach’s The Battle of the Amazons, with footnotes
The Battle of the Amazons, c. 1870/73
Oil on canvas
H 4,05 m x B 6,93 m
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
This dramatic historical painting, teeming with figures, depicts the devastating battle for the city of Troy. According to Homer, the Amazons with their queen Penthesilea came to the aid of the Trojan king Priamos, who had to defend himself against the Greeks under the leadership of king Menelaus. In the battle, Penthesilea is killed by Achilles, who falls in love with her when removing the dying woman’s helmet. The beautiful Amazon can be seen in Feuerbach’s picture in the middle of the foreground, with bare chest and precious arm decoration and headdress. More on this painting
In addition to the “Battle of the Amazons”, Feuerbach worked almost simultaneously on the almost equally large painting “Plato’s Banquet” (Berlin, National Gallery). He counted both paintings among his most important works and referred to them as “twin paintings”. While the “Battle” embodies mutual overpowering, barbarism and destruction, the “Banquet” represents the civilized community in which people respect and complement each other. More on this painting
Anselm Feuerbach, (born September 12, 1829 — died January 4, 1880, Venice, Italy), one of the leading German painters of the mid-19th century working in a Romantic style of Classicism.
Feuerbach was the son of a classical archaeologist and the nephew of the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach. After studying art at the Düsseldorf Academy and in Munich, he went twice to Paris, where he worked in the studio of Thomas Couture and was influenced by Gustave Courbet and Eugène Delacroix.
Feuerbach lived in Italy from 1855 to 1873, and much of his best work was produced during this period. He was influenced by antique Greek and Roman art and Italian High Renaissance painting, and he developed an interest in idealized figure compositions of a lyrical, elegiac nature.
In 1873 Feuerbach became a professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and painted for the academy building Fall of the Titans, generally regarded as his weakest work. Ill and discouraged by the harsh criticism of this work, Feuerbach left Vienna in 1876 and returned to Italy, where he died. More on Anselm Feuerbach
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