Nazarene

Any member of the Brotherhood of St. Luke, an association formed in 1809 by young German, Swiss, and Austrian painters in reaction against Neoclassicism. It was the first effective antiacademic movement in European painting. The members acquired the originally derisive nickname Nazarenes because of their affectation of biblical style of hair and dress. The Nazarenes believed that all art should serve a moral or religious purpose. They admired medieval and early Renaissance painters and rejected most subsequent painting, believing it abandoned religious ideals in favour of artistic virtuosity. Members lived and worked together in a semimonastic existence, trying to imitate the teaching situation of the medieval workshop. The leading members were Friedrich Overbeck (1789–1869), Franz Pforr (1788–1812), and Peter von Cornelius (1783–1867).

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