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Overview. Eighteenth-century British artists and patrons used the terms "Grand Manner" or "Great Style" to describe paintings that utilized visual metaphors. By extension, the Grand Manner came to include portraiture—especially at full length and in life size—accompanied by settings and accessories that conveyed the dignified status of the sitters.
During his distinguished career as a painter, author, and teacher, Richard Schmid had been a candid spokesman for what is known as the Grand Manner, a certain mingling of virtuosity and unrestrained joy in art. At the age of 86, Richard passed away on April 18, 2021. He is survived by his wife Nancy Guzik and his three daughters, Bettina ...
Nov 27, 2015 · Additionally, exhibitions of Richard’s art were mounted at the National Academy of Science on Cape Cod, and Wellesley College in Boston. Throughout his distinguished career as a painter, author, and teacher, Richard Schmid has been a candid spokesman for what is known as the Grand Manner —a certain mingling of virtuosity and unrestrained ...
This ‘gives what is called the grand style to invention, to composition, to expression, and even to colouring and drapery’ (Fourth Discourse). In practice it meant drawing on the style of ancient Greek and Roman art and the Italian Renaissance masters such as Raphael.
- Beginnings
- Concepts and Styles
- Later Developments
The Renaissance
In his treatise on the theory of painting, De Pictura (1436), the Italian humanist architect and writer, Leon Battista Alberti, advocated the use of classical principles and an idealized treatment of subjects in painting. He argued that history painting was the highest ranked artform on the grounds that it required technical mastery, a solid education in the classics, and must serve a moral purpose. The resultant works would produce an edifying effect on the viewer, affording them qualities o...
Giovanni Pietro Bellori
Giovanni Pietro Bellori prefigured the concept of the Grand Manner in his Vite de' Pittori, Scultori et Architetti Moderni (Lives of the Artists) (1672) where he advocated an idealized and classical approach to painting, as exemplified in the works of Renaissance artists Raphael, Michelangelo and Alberti. Modelling his biography on Giorgio Vasari's seminal Lives of the Artists(1550), Bellori argued that artists should "form in their minds [...] an example of superior beauty and, reflecting on...
Annibale Carracci
The art historian Keith Christiansen noted that, with brother Agostino and cousin Ludovico, Annibale Carracci, "set out to transform Italian painting [by rejecting] the artificiality of Mannerist painting [and] championing a return to nature". In 1595 Annibale travelled to Rome to work for the Farnese family, where, influenced by the work of the Renaissance masters, he painted his fresco cycle The Loves of the Gods (1597-1601) in the Farnese Palazzo. The monumental work depicted narratives of...
The Swagger Portrait
Though portraiture had a long history of aristocratic and wealthy subjects desirous of visual confirmation of their elevated station in life, Anthony van Dyck is generally credited as the pioneer of the "swagger portrait", that being a form of portraiture that made a public statement; or a "conversation piece". Sitters adopted a cavalier pose that expressed an attitude of insouciance - or "swagger" - that gave the subgenre its name. This style was exemplified in a number of van Dyck's portrai...
History Painting and Contemporary Events
Just as the Grand Manner showed contemporary figures as idealized representations of virtue and nobility, so history painting began to import contemporary figures into heroic narratives. Despite its name (history painting), the genre had typically portrayed multi-figured mythical narratives taken from the Bible, Greek mythology and Roman history rather than contemporary historic events. The move towards contemporary events was fuelled by the emergence of modern states and a rising sense of na...
Empire and Revolution
In 1769, the year in which King George III established The Royal Academy of Art, Britain was an emerging global empire. The art critic Jonathan Jones noted that "Reynolds placed art at the centre of national political and public life [arguing] that beauty was as important as money and guns in Britain's imperial destiny". In his first lecture as newly appointed president of the Royal Academy, Reynolds argued that what was needed for the emerging empire was "elegance and refinement", an ideal a...
Grand Manner portraiture began to decline at the fin de siècle as the style was seen as "last century" and pretentious. In 1907 Sargent closed his studio (though he continued to paint landscapes) while Augustus John took the mantle of Britain's leading portraitist through the 1920s (though several critics noted his artistic decline following World ...
Richard Schmid's approach to art was encapsulated in what is known as the Grand Manner—a blend of virtuosity and an unrestrained joy for art. His philosophy and techniques have influenced countless artists, leaving a legacy that transcends his lifetime.On April 18, 2021, at the age of 86, Richard Schmid passed away, leaving behind a rich ...
Jun 8, 2021 · Schmid championed what is known as the Grand Manner, an idealized aesthetic style which he described as “a mingling of virtuosity and unrestrained joy in art.” He had studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago with William H. Mosby, an expert on European and American realism, who stressed the absolute importance of painting from life.
