
Hans Makart
Austrian Painter, Designer, and Decorator
Movements and Styles: Aesthetic Art, Symbolism, Orientalism
Born: May 28, 1840 - Salzburg, Austria
Died: October 3, 1884 - Vienna, Austria

Table of contents
> Summary> Key Ideas
> Artworks
> Biography & Legacy
Influences and Connections
Resources
"It is divinely pleasurable to be able to smear paint around on such a large canvas; I shall abstain in future from painting small pictures"."
Summary of Hans Makart
Both celebrated and condemned for his sensual, historical and legacy paintings, Hans Makart produced richly colored and atmospheric works that had an extraordinary impact on late-nineteenth century Viennese culture. Markart was so popular, in fact, that he gave his name to the so-called Makartstil - or Makart-Style - a virtual school of art and design that helped decorate many of the public places in Vienna in the second half of the nineteenth century. Makart's art was condemned however by academics who took exception to the artist's general lack of regard for factual accuracy and for denigrating important historical events by featuring gratuitous female nudity. In the public sphere, meanwhile, he was known as much for the outrageous society parties as for his art. His sumptuously decorated Venetian studio was where royalty, politicians, artists and writers came to mingle and to "be seen". Such was his celebrity in fact that he has be referred to by several commentators as the Andy Warhol of his day.
Key Ideas

"Hans" Johann Evangelist Ferdinand Apolinaris Makart was born to Johann Makart and Maria Katharina Rüssemayr in Salzburg in 1840. His father, a failed painter, worked as the chamberlain of the Mirabell Palace, the home of the powerful Prince-Archbishops. Little is known about Makart's early years, but it is likely that he grew up around the Neoclassical splendor of this pleasure-palace and its extensive Baroque gardens. It seems likely that his grandiose surroundings left a lasting impression on an artist who would later indulge in surfeits of luxury and ornament, not only in his painting, but also in his work as a designer and decorator. His father may also have encouraged his son to take up painting, to succeed where he had failed, but his father died in Italy in 1849 shortly before Hans reached his tenth birthday.
Important Art by Hans Makart The below artworks are the most important by Hans Makart - that both overview the major creative periods, and highlight the greatest achievements by the artist. | |
![]() ![]() | Moderne Amoretten (Modern Cupids) (1868)Artwork description & Analysis: The three canvasses that make up this work are here arranged as Makart himself stipulated. All three depict a woodland scene, populated by pale-skinned women. Clutching one another, they are clad in loose, flowing drapery which appears to evoke a scandalously revealing version of contemporary fashions. In the central canvas, a woman crowned with flowers and two others are bourn up by four young children, two cupids and two fauns. Oil on canvas |
![]() ![]() | Venice pays tribute to Caterina Cornaro (1872-73)Artwork description & Analysis: In this vast tableau a large crowd gathers to pay tribute to a seated and richly-robed Queen who sits towards the right of the picture frame. Clothed in the richly-colored style that recalled the Venetian Renaissance, the crowd carry pots, musical instruments and even weapons. Fabrics drape the backdrop on the right-hand side, but to the left, blue sky, classical architecture and the sails of ships can be seen. Oil on canvas |
![]() ![]() | The Death of Cleopatra (1875-6)Artwork description & Analysis: In this painting Cleopatra, the legendary queen of Egypt, is shown at the moment just before her suicide. She reclines on a bed of fabrics, semi-nude and wearing jewelry and her crown. To her left, one of her servants weeps, whilst just below the queen another has already passed. A brazier burns on the left-hand side. Oil on canvas |
More Hans Makart Artwork and Analysis:
Influences and Connections


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Content compiled and written by Loïc Desplanques
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
" Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Loïc Desplanques
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
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First published on 20 Nov 2019. Updated and modified regularly.
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