The realism of the portraits by Gottfried Lindauer caused a sensation amongst New Zealanders, at a time before colour photography. The artist was able to capture the quiet dignity of the sitter in a smooth, concise manner and with a convincing sense of light falling on a three-dimensional form. In many cases the figures appeared to emerge from the shadows, creating a dramatic presence.
In 1901, Apirana Ngata commented in the Māori
Visitors' Book at the Lindauer Art Gallery:
I am of the Ngati-Porou tribe. I have come here to
lament over the great men of other days, the people before us
coloured as if they were living. Pleasing to the eye is the
shadow-carving of the European artist - it is as if they had all
risen from the dead. Thankful are we to the man who has
preserved these pictures of our elders, our old chiefs, as a
treasure for the years to come.'1
(Translation by James Cowan)
Lindauer studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna under
Léopold Kupelwieser and Josef von Führich from 1855 to 1861.
His teachers were influenced by an affiliation of German painters
known as the Nazarenes, who established themselves in Rome in the
early nineteenth century. They revived the style of Italian
artists who had worked in the period known as the
quattrocento.2 The
Nazarenes came to influence a number of British painters,
especially a group of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelites, and
provided an important precedent for that group's medievalising
tendencies.3
For these artists, the translucency of the paint was a crucial
factor. The image was sketched out in pencil on a smooth
white ground and then thin glazes were applied. It was
believed that this was a better approach than the traditional
method of modelling forms first in dull brown, known as 'dead
colouring', which would have destroyed the purity of the white
ground shining through the transparent paints.4
This placed greater emphasis on the accuracy of the drawing but
it was possible to correct by rubbing or painting it out. It
appears that Lindauer worked out the composition on the canvas, as
very few preparatory drawings are known to exist. The
similarity between Lindauer's paintings and known photographs (Figs
1, 2) has led to speculation that he may have projected the images
on to the canvas to aid the drawing process. Certainly, the
pencil marks are very elaborate when viewed with infrared
photography (Figs 3, 4), but it can be assumed that even without
these aids, Lindauer was a highly skilled draftsman and painter.5
A survey of the paintings in the Auckland Art Gallery's
Partridge Collection that I conducted as the Gallery's Principal
Conservator, has led to many discoveries regarding Lindauer's
materials and techniques.
Fig. 5 Reverse of
a Lindauer painting showing the canvas/stretcher and inscription
Canvas
Lindauer's preferred painting support was stretched canvas
and these were obtained ready primed and stretched from a local
supplier (Fig. 5).6 The
expandable stretchers were of moderate quality, with mortise and
tenon joints.7 In most cases,
the canvas was tacked along the edge and trimmed at the back of the
corners. A majority of the works in the Partridge Collection
are painted on a high-quality twill-weave canvas (Fig. 6) and the
remainder in a plain weave (Fig. 7).8 Of the latter, about a quarter
have a pronounced weave texture due to a double weave.9
Primed canvas was probably imported on rolls and stretched
locally. Certainly there is a far greater range of sizes than
would be expected in an imported product and some of the stretcher
bars appear to be wood that has been reused.10 The canvases for the large
genre paintings would have been made to order, but again the sizes
vary considerably.
Fig.8
Cross-section showing ground in normal light
Ground11
All of the ground layers are an off-white colour and most
consist of an upper layer of lead-white pigment over a more
granular chalk layer. These grounds tend to be fairly
fluorescent under ultraviolet radiation which may indicate a
proteinaceous binder in addition to the oil, giving it a
semi-absorbent quality (Figs 8, 9).12 This was meant to provide a
better bond for the paint but was also intended to reduce the
glossiness of subsequent layers without absorbing too much and
darkening. As a consequence, those paintings that have
escaped being varnished at a later date have retained a velvet-like
quality to the surface.
Fig.9
Cross-section showing ground under UV light
Paint
Where glazes13 are
required to create a luminous quality, particularly in the flesh,
the artist has used transparent pigments and added a resinous
material to the oil paint, possibly a copal oil varnish.14 Resin is highly fluorescent
and can be identified in the cross-sections when viewed under
ultraviolet (Figs 10,11). The modified oil paint was still
fairly slow drying to allow sufficient time for manipulation with
the brush, so that smooth transitions of colour could be developed
between shadow and highlights. Darker areas do not
necessarily contain the resin but tend to be made up of a variety
of pigments, both transparent and opaque.
The artist has used a limited palette. It includes
pigments such as Lead White, Carbon and Bone Black, Vermillion, Red
Ochre, Yellow Ochre, Raw and Burnt Umber and Terre Verte
(or green earth). Analysis also identified chromium (chromium
green or viridian) and possibly ultramarine.15 There is very little blue in
the paintings apart from the occasional sky. More research is
necessary to fully understand the range of pigments used by
Lindauer.
When surveying the paintings in the Partridge Collection it is
possible to see a variety of approaches taken by the artist that
can be categorised by the level of clarity and detail in the
image.
Those in the 'sharp' or super-real category, tend to be from
Lindauer's first two decades in New Zealand, such as the portrait
of Raiha Reretu (Figs 12, 13) painted in 1877. The
forms are simplified and clearly delineated, while the paint is
more colourful as well as being reasonably opaque with white added,
and covers the underdrawing. This style of painting appears to be
closest to that used by the artist when he was painting religious
subjects in Europe before his arrival in New Zealand.16
Fig. 13 Hone Heke
MHR detail of eye
A related category is described as 'simple-sharp' because the
clarity remains but the forms are more simplified and there is much
less modelling. An example is Hone Heke MHR (undated
but possibly 1901) (Figs 14, 15).
Fig.14 Gottfried
Lindauer, Hone Heke MHR, oil on canvas, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o
Tamaki, gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915
The opposite of 'sharp' are the paintings from the 'muted'
category, where the contrast is reduced considerably, the paint is
the most transparent with little or no white added, and the pencil
underdrawing is clearly evident. Such a painting is the
portrait of Whitiora Te Kumete, which is undated (Figs 16,
17).
A majority of the works in the collection fit a 'medium-sharp'
category, which includes paintings from all periods. An
example is the portrait of Whetoi Pomare painted in 1896
(Figs 18, 19). These paintings are very detailed but seem
more realistic than the 'sharp' category as the colour is more
muted, slightly darker, more transparent and the pencil
underdrawing is more apparent.
In all cases the paint layers are thinly applied and the
underlying canvas texture is clearly visible on the surface.
Varnish
It seems likely that paintings often left Lindauer's studio in
an unvarnished state and works in this condition still exist.
Many paintings were later varnished, but the glossy and discoloured
surfaces detract from the image and are hard to remove
safely. The varnish tends to highlight the canvas texture to
a greater degree and any discolouration causes a dulling of the
colour contrasts.
Frames
The works in the Partridge Collection were all reframed in a
plain wooden moulding when the Lindauer Room at the Auckland Art
Gallery was reopened in late 1954. The original frames were
destroyed as they had borer and were no longer valued.17 Examples of original frames
do still exist, such as on the portraits of Mr and Mrs Paramena
1885 in the Te Papa collection, and these have gilded
decorative mouldings and wide slips.18 It is probable that in most
cases it was left to the owners to choose frames for their
paintings. In the 1980s the Partridge Collection paintings were
reframed again and placed in a modern moulding with an aged gilded
appearance.
Comparison with Charles Frederick Goldie
(1870-1942)
The careers of the two artists overlap and Goldie painted his
first Maori portrait of Tamehana in 1900, when Lindauer
was still very active.19
Although their styles differed from each other, they both showed
little variation in their own approaches to painting over the
course of their careers. Goldie attended the Académie Julian
in Paris from 1893 to 1898 where he received a traditional academic
training. He was taught to prepare a painting by drawing the
image in charcoal and to apply a dead colouring before the main
body of paint was applied. Goldie preferred not to add resin
to his paint and the results were more opaque and more painterly
than the Lindauer paintings. The surfaces of paintings by the
two artists also differ. The texture of the canvas is prominent in
Lindauer's painting because the paint is very thin and
smooth. However, Goldie disguised the canvas weave by
applying another ground layer of interlocking brushstrokes to the
primed canvas. Goldie also painted on wooden panels to
produce a very smooth result.
Sarah Hillary, Principal Conservator, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o
Tāmaki