Profession: artist

In Schlichter’s art, three characteristics of Weimar-era Berlin run together: a keen commitment to leftist values, an interest in sexuality and death, and a heightened representational realism. Bellmer, as a young engineering student, met Schlichter. Brecht, Döblin, Jünger, Kisch and Kästner were among his writer friends (he painted a classic portrait of Brecht). Herzfelde, Heartfield, Piscator and Grosz founded a communist artists’ group (Rote Gruppe) with him; Heartfield was a close colleague, Grosz a good friend — he was at Schlichter’s wedding, described his knowledge as encyclopaedic, and did a drawing poking fun at his shoe-fetishism.

Boucher met Fragonard and sent him to study with Chardin, before being persuaded to take the 18-year-old on himself as pupil and assistant; Boucher was both a stylistic and a professional influence. David (who as a young artist had been influenced by Fragonard) was a friend and neighbour at the Louvre, where they shared a basement studio; it was his post-Revolutionary clout that led to Fragonard’s role in managing the state’s new collection of art taken from the church and aristocracy. Greuze grumbled to Fragonard how after 50 years’ work he had nothing: Fragonard himself died in relative obscurity.

The substantially self-taught Chardin is particularly known for his acutely-observed still lives and for his atmospheric use of light and shade — both strongly influenced by Dutch rather than French painting. Diderot met him through his official role as an academician, and became both a friend and a perceptive champion of his work (he admiringly described him as ‘grand magicien’ and commented that no-one ever watched him painting). Fragonard was briefly apprenticed to him. Boucher, Chardin’s close contemporary (and artistic opposite) was his neighbour in the Louvre apartments provided by the king.

The melancholy Friedrich is now recognised as one of the most significant artists of the romantic era. He studied with and was influenced by Abildgaard, his friend Lund a fellow-student. Schleiermacher, met in Greifswald, was another influence. Goethe, impressed by his freshness of vision, awarded him a prize (though he took against Friedrich’s later paintings). Runge enjoyed a close artistic relationship, especially for the 2 years that they both lived in Dresden, where Friedrich’s studio was a popular meeting-place for the likes of Kleist and Tieck. Dahl lived for years in Friedrich’s home, the two working and exhibiting together.

Cornelius’ significance is for his influence on the nineteenth-century revival of fresco painting in Germany. Mendelssohn, who had no time for most of the supposedly five hundred German artists based in Rome, made an exception for Cornelius, whose studio he visited. The sculptor Thorvaldsen was a senior figure among expatriate artists in Rome. Olivier, Schorr, Lund and Horny were all associates through the Nazarene group there, with Overbeck — alongside Cornelius — its leader. Mendelssohn later composed a march to celebrate Cornelius’ arrival in Dresden.

Turner was a one-off, his painting responding to that of earlier artists, yet potently foreshadowing both impressionism and abstraction. Girtin was a youthful friend and rival, and Soane (a fellow lover of light) another friend. He toured Lancashire with Fuseli, revered Lawrence, was respected by Frith, championed by Ruskin, and discussed pigment and light with Faraday. Scott, who planned a collaboration, liked his work more than him. Delacroix (they visited one another) said he looked like a farmer, Somerville marvelled at what the rough exterior concealed, while Constable said he was uncouth, but with a wonderful range of mind.

Morisot, a central member of the Impressionist group, was one of the most significant female artists of the 19th C. Corot advised her as a 20-year-old. She modelled for Manet, who became a close friend and her brother-in-law; each influenced the other. Degas, Monet, Renoir and the writer Moore were all friends; Pissarro and Cézanne were other Impressionist colleagues, while Nadar, who photographed her, loaned them his studio. Cassatt, Caillebotte and Mallarmé were among regular visitors, her house an artistic/intellectual rendezvous; Mallarmé, a particularly close friend, tutored her daughter (and gave her a greyhound named Laertes).