Description

Karl Becker (Berlin, 1820- Berlin 1900)

Cyrano and Rossana
Oil on canvas, 190×166 cm with frame, 148×122 cm.

The German painter Karl Becker trained in Germany under some of the greatest exponents of the Nazarenes, Peter von Cornelius and Heinrich Maria von Hess. The bond of these artists with Rome is very strong: the renunciation of the classical model of the Vienna Academy was abandoned here in favor of the search for a more pure and essential one, that of Christianity by Beato Angelico, Perugino and Pinturicchio.

Becker however, after a first two-year stay in Paris and the usual trip to Rome, will stop in Venice, a city that will have a very strong impact on him.

In fact, it is here that he comes into contact with the themes of the Venetian Renaissance: the lagoon painting will teach him to prefer color rather than drawing, as well as to pay greater attention to the architecture, to the details of the interiors and the living rooms in which he inserts portraits of group or daily life scenes.

In Cyrano and Rossana the artist illustrates a very specific moment: Cyrano, madly in love – but not reciprocated – by his cousin Rossana, hides in the shadows to help his friend Cristiano win over the girl; he is in fact an honest, courageous, handsome and loyal young man, but totally lacking in poetic virtues.
Cyrano, for his part, is a passionate and romantic character, but rather ugly; Rossana is in love with Cristiano and her protagonist therefore, to make her happy, tries to help her friend win her over.

Our reference: B01314