Arch of Titus (painting)

The Arch of Titus is an 1821 oil painting on canvas. It was done in collaboration by George Peter Alexander Healy, Frederic E. Church, and Jervis McEntee, three American artists. Is currently on displace in the Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey.

19th Century American Art

In the beginning of the 19th century, America slowly gained more and more independence from Europe. The country began to modernize with the rise of regional economies, newly built factories and the construction of canals and railroads, which lead to the creation of a national market. But, while American gained much political independence, their cultural independence was still lacking. Artists and tastemakers still preferred the classical styles found in Europe, as a successful American style had not yet been achieved (“Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History”). As time progressed and America continued evolving from an agrarian to industrial economy, American artists began highlighting landscapes. These landscape paintings became very popular, especially as travel was becoming increasing accessible (“Industrialization and Conflict in America: 1840–1875”). Towards the end of the century, after the Civil War had ended, technology continued progressing and the world continued becoming industrialized. This period, as coined my Mark Twain, is known as the period Gilded Age (“Figge Art Museum - National Identity and Visual Culture: 19th Century American Art”). He gave it this name to represent the glittering that appeared on the surface, while corruption existed underneath. During this time period, although there was much industrial growth, there was also much corruption evident in both business and politics. (“Overview of the Gilded Age “).

The shrinking of the rural country and the growth of urban societies in America resulted in growing and successful middle class. While many forms of art continued evolving, eventually into the Modernism of the early 20th century, wealthy Americans still preferred more nostalgic pieces, such as Impressionistic landscapes. For them, these scenes were representative of a simpler, more certain time. As wealth amassed and art collection increased, so did newly accessible overseas travel (“Figge Art Museum - National Identity and Visual Culture: 19th Century American Art”). Combined with the already existing American tendency towards European culture, the ability to more easily visit Europe led to an even greater American appreciation for all things European. American patrons requested European landscapes and many American artists went to study abroad, hoping to obtain the professional training that was unavailable to them in the United States. London, Paris, Düsseldorf, Munich and Italy all became hubs for American painters, while sculptors were more centered in Florence and Rome (“American Art - Picturing America”).

The Painters

George Peter Alexander Healy, a portrait artist, was living in Italy during the time that he collaborated on The Arch of Titus. Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1813, Healy received encouragement from painter Thomas Sully to pursue his artistic career. After opening his own portrait studio at the age of eighteen, Healy realized that he did not have the professional skills necessary in order for him to reach his fullest potential as an artist. Because of this, in 1834, he went to Paris to study with artist Antoine Jean Gros at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, one of the most influential art schools in France. The school focused on classical styles and on preserving these ideas to be passed on to future generations. After finishing school Healy completed a yearlong tenure under Gros. After this, by the mid-1840s, Healy’s reputation had begun to grow and he began painting portrait for prominent figures such as Lewis Cass, the American minister to France and Louis-Phillipe, king of the French. Eventually, Healy gained international recognition and a broad range of clientele. With his wife and seven children, Healy alternated residence between Europe and American. He continued to paint some of the most well known people of his time. One of his commissions included a series or portraits of the American presidents. In 1866 Healy moved with his family to Rome, and it was during his time there that he collaborated on The Arch of Titus. Healy’s contribution to The Arch of Titus was the figures, fittingly as he was a portrait painter. Throughout all his paintings, his sitters are always represented in a pleasant manner and evoked a certain sense of calmness, which is seen true in The Arch of Titus (Fink).

Unlike Healy and many of the other American artists of that time period, Frederic E. Church did not study abroad. Church was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1826, to a well-off family. His father secured him a spot to study under landscape artist Thomas Cole in Catskill, New York. Cole declared Church as “having the finest eye for drawing in the world.” After studying under Cole, Church opened his own studio in New York. In New York he established a reputation for his paintings of expansive New York and New England views. His reputation grew to international recognition for this painting Niagara. Church encountered the work of Alexander von Humboldt, a naturalist and explorer, who encouraged artists to travel and paint in South America. Inspired, Church made two trips to Colombia in 1857 and to Ecuador in 1957 respectively. After the loss of his wife and two children, Church traveled to Jamaica to help him deal with his grief. After starting a new family, Church continued traveling visiting Palestine and Jordan, and cumulating with a trip to Rome in 1969 (“Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History”). It was the memories and sketches from this visit that he drew upon for his part in the collaboration on The Arch of Titus (“The Arch of Titus”).

The last artist to collaborate on this painting is Jervis McEntee. A student of Church’s, McEntee was born in Rondout, New York in 1828. McEntee was trained at the Hudson River School, and there studied under Frederic E. Church. The school had been started by Church’s mentor, Thomas Cole. After finishing his studies, and an unsuccessful attempt in business, McEntee became a charter resident of the great American architect, Richard Morris Hunt’s Tenth Street Studio Building. (“Jervis McEntee Papers, 1796, 1848-1905”). In the 19th century, good studios were hard to come by so James Boorman Johnston, a successful businessman, sponsored the construction of a space designated specifically to act as an adequate work and exhibition space for artists. Church was lucky enough to secure one of the original spots in the studio. Here he lived among other artists, mostly painters and few sculptors, writers, and architects, and continued to develop his skills (Blaugrund 64-71). McEntee traveled through Europe in 1869, the same year the Church visited Rome. Although McEntee did not receive the same fame as Healy or Church, he is most well known for his meticulously kept journals. These journals, kept from the early 1870s until McEntee’s death, contain information from the day-today life of Hudson River School artists to information on the 1876 Centennial, basically encompassing the evolution of the entire art world during the late 19th century (“Jervis McEntee Diary: A Description of His Diary at Syracuse University”).

References

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