Johann Liss or Jan Lys ( or 1597 – 1629 or 1630) was a leading

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

painter of the 17th century, active mainly in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Biography

Liss was born in

Oldenburg (Holstein) Oldenburg in Holstein () is a German town at the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. The nearest city is Lübeck. The town belongs to the (historical) region of Holstein, today in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Oldenburg was the chi ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, Germany. After an initial education in his home state, he continued his studies, according to Houbraken, with

Hendrick Goltzius Hendrick Goltzius (, ; born Goltz; January or February 1558 – 1 January 1617) was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, lauded for his ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Around 1620 he travelled through Paris to Venice. He moved to Rome around 1620–1622, and his first works there were influenced by the style of

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

. Although his earlier work was concerned with the contrasts of light and shadow, his final move to Venice in the early 1620s modified his style and gave impetus to brilliant color and a spirited treatment of the painted surface. In 1627, he painted an admired large

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

, the ''Inspiration of Saint Jerome'' in San Nicolò da Tolentino. His loose brushstrokes seem precursor to

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

styles of the

Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of ...

brothers. This final style, along with that of other "foreign" painters residing in Venice,

Domenico Fetti Domenico Fetti (also spelled Feti) ( – 16 April 1623) was an Italian Baroque painter who was active mainly in Rome, Mantua and Venice. Biography Born in Rome to a little-known painter, Pietro Fetti, Domenico is said to have apprenticed ini ...

and

Bernardo Strozzi Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644), was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included History painting, history, Allegory, allegorica ...

, represent the first inroads of Baroque style into the republic. Liss fled to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

to escape the plague spreading in Venice, but succumbed there prematurely in 1629. According to Houbraken, he worked day and night on his paintings, so that

Joachim von Sandrart Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the '' ...

felt that his health was at risk and urged him to join him in Rome. His legacy is as a painter of both sensuous

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

and pious biblical subjects, a master of colors and Baroque painting. He was most influential to Venetian 18th-century painters like

Sebastiano Ricci Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 165915 May 1734) was an Italian Baroque painter of the late Baroque period in Venetian painting. About the same age as Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Tie ...

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; 5 March 1696 – 27 March 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an import ...

and Giovanni Piazzetta. Joachim von Sandrart wrote in 1675 that "because he fared well in Venice, he soon returned there ... he died along with many others during the plague that began in 1629."

Nazi looting and restitution

In 1939, the Liss drawing entitled "Allegory of Christian Faith" was one of 750 Old Master drawings seized from the home of Arthur Feldmann and his wife by the Nazis. The Cleveland Museum of Art, which acquired the drawing from the art dealer Herbert Bier in 1953, reached a settlement with the Feldmann heirs in 2013. The Feldmanns, a Jewish couple, were murdered in the Holocaust.

Examples of work

*''Lute Player'' *''Visitation of St Jerome'' *''

Vision of Saint Jerome The ''Vision of Saint Jerome'' of ''The Madonna and Child with Saints'' is a painting by the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino, executed in 1526–1527. It is in the collection of the National Gallery, in London.Judith in the Tent of Holofernes
' (c.1622, National Gallery, London) *''

Death of Cleopatra Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, died on either 10 or 12 August, 30 BC, in Alexandria, when she was 39 years old. According to popular belief, Cleopatra killed herself by allowing an asp ( Egyptian co ...

'' *'' Abel mourned by his parents'' *'' Venus in front of mirror'' (1625–26, Uffizi) *'' Death of Phaeton'' *''Cupid'' (Cleveland Art Museum, Cleveland, Ohio)

Biography

Nazi looting and restitution

Examples of work

References

Further reading