5 great artists who violated the norms of public morality

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Artists are personalities, as a rule, overwhelmed by passions. They, like other people of art, need the intensity of emotions in order to create truly ingenious creations. But it often happens that in search of impressions, painters cross the line of what is permitted by moral norms.

Rembrandt and nannies

Saskia, the wife of the great artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, made the artist rich thanks to her dowry. But she was sick with tuberculosis. All children from her, except for the son, who received the name Titus, died in infancy. For the boy, in March 1642, a nanny was hired - Gertier Dirks. In June of the same year, Saskia dies, and the unfortunate widower quickly finds solace in the arms of a young nurse.

He lived with Gertier until 1649. The woman took over all the management of the house and the household, in addition to caring for the child. The artist himself was extremely careless in this matter. And in 1647 a young maid appeared in the house - the brunette Hendrickje Stoffels. Gradually the windy Rembrandt switched to a new passion. Enraged by her betrayal, Gertier wrote a complaint against him to the "Chamber of Family Quarrels" and was able to win. She demanded that the artist either marry her or provide her with maintenance.

Rembrandt could marry after Saskia only in case of great love, for the sake of which everyone sacrifices, or a rich woman. Indeed, all the luxury and wealth of the family was based on the wise Saskia. Van Rijn's wife knew her husband's frivolity and therefore bequeathed that in the event of the artist's next marriage, all the property and finances received in the dowry would not be transferred to Titus (in this case, the artist received a percentage of the inheritance), but to one of her sisters. Rembrandt went bankrupt and was forced to move to a modest house on the outskirts.

Gertier triumphed not for long. The vengeful Rembrandt, whose business was not going very well, and the new concubine demanded large cash infusions, calculated that he had no reason to spend on Dirks. And a year later he filed a response against her, in which he accused the nanny of all mortal sins. The court ruled to send the woman to a correctional house. In fact - to jail. So she paid for her love and jealousy for the great, but avid artist for young ladies.

Jacques-Louis David and the Stolen Candles

Artist and politics are a rather dark combination. At least that's what happened to Jacques-Louis David. This temperamental man is used to achieving his goal in all possible ways. So, for example, he went on a hunger strike in order to receive a grant to study in Italy, for which the artist unsuccessfully applied for several years.

Having become a friend and political associate of Robespierre during the French Revolution, Jacques-Louis David became the head of the Public Security Committee. Taking advantage of his position, he did not disdain without trial and investigation to send to the guillotine everyone whom he considered "enemies of the Revolution." His personal ill-wishers also fell under this definition. Some historians claim that he shamelessly signed a sentence to a woman who denied him intimacy, accusing her of stealing candles.

Jacques-Louis David easily renounced his vows. For example, having promised to drink poison with Robespierre, he "forgot" about it. After his arrest, the artist renounced many of his beliefs, promising to retire from politics and devote himself entirely to the cause of art.

Caravaggio. Molesting minors

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio had a violent disposition. Perhaps it was this love of freedom that made him a "revolutionary from art." In his canvases, the artist boldly departed from academism and mannerism, characteristic of the painting of that period. He often got involved in fights, and one of them caused him to flee to the Column. The artist was outlawed for the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni.

His unwillingness to obey the moral norms of society manifested itself in sexual attachments - Caravaggio did not limit his attachments to only the female sex. Cecco di Caravaggio (not a relative, but just a fellow countryman) is a boy of 11-13 years old, at first he was his model, and later became his lover. The artist was tried for homosexuality, but his powerful patrons once again saved the talented painter.

Kiprensky as Shakespeare's Moor

The son of a serf and landowner, Orest Kiprensky was a brilliant artist. And this was noted by the masters of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, having accepted the peasant into the ranks of students. The best and most famous portrait of the poet A. S. Pushkin belongs to the brush of this particular painter. For his talents, he was awarded the right to study abroad on a state scholarship. This played a fatal role in his life.

In Italy, Orestes became friends with a beautiful laundress, who also worked as a model for the artist. Once the girl was found murdered - she was lying under a canvas doused with turpentine and set on fire. A few days later, her lover, whom the painter showed as the main suspect, died of an unknown illness. And although the court acquitted Kiprensky, the Italians-commoners did not believe in his innocence. And the subsequent development of events suggests that Orestes was somehow connected with this dark affair.

After the death of the woman, her little daughter, Anna Maria Falcucci, was left an orphan. Kiprensky wanted to become a guardian, but he was not allowed. Then he took it upon himself to pay for her maintenance in one of the monasteries, and when the girl grew up, he married her. The difference in the age of the newlyweds was three decades. The marriage was short-lived - the artist died a few months after the wedding.

Pornographer Egon Schiele

Young Egon, a student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, was taken under his patronage by Gustav Klimt. The teacher, whose paintings were already very popular and sold well at that time, helped Schiele and “promoted” his paintings, which were saturated with eroticism.

Since 1909, the painter in his studio apartment has been fond of depicting teenagers. According to the memoirs of the artist Paris von Guterslosh, young sitters lived in this studio, and Egon made sketches, including frankly sexy ones. In 1912, young Schiele was convicted on charges of distributing pornography, which he made his main source of income. However, he spent less than a month in prison and was released.

It may seem strange, but there are famous paintings with inaccuracies, imperceptible at first glance … Not everyone is aware of this.