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erhaps readers of The Second Coming will also be
interested in some of the personal information about the
artist that turned up during my research. From the evidence
found in old magazines and other publications written during
his lifetime, and in the very precious letters and diaries
written by Hofmann himself, there is no doubt that he was
highly revered in his time.
Johann Michael Ferdinand Heinrich
Hofmann was born on March 19, 1824, in Darmstadt, Germany.
He was the eldest son of Heinrich Karl Hofmann, an advocate
of the High Court of Justice, and his wife Sophie. Heinrich
and his four brothers grew up in a household that was very
much devoted to art. Before her marriage, his mother had
given lessons in drawing and she was delighted to impart
to her sons the rudiments of an art they all loved. His
father was a gifted artist, too. Often the children would
watch him doing excellent watercolor drawings.
Though all the children showed
artistic talent, only Heinrich had the desire to make art
his profession. His early career produced many portraits
of wealthy and influential persons of the time. A turning
point came, however, in 1854, when his dear mother died.
It was in trying to overcome his deep sorrow that he began
his first large religious painting, "The Burial of Christ."
The next year he traveled to
Italy in search of artistic inspiration. Of Hofmann's time
in Rome, a 1901 article in The Strand (a popular
British magazine) noted: "The spiritual side of his nature
deepened more and more as the voice of his true calling
made itself heard, and from that time it became Hofmann's
lifework to depict the life and work of Christ, although
he did not then realize this fully."
In Rome he was introduced to
the famous German painter Peter von Cornelius (1783 –
1867), who supported Hofmann lovingly when he began his
great work, "The Arrest of Christ," which you find in The
Second Coming of Christ. In his Italian diaries he
remarks: "We talked much about the character and the deed
of Judas and about his physiognomy in the moment I wanted
to depict him...Judas was one of the apostles, a fact we
must never forget when searching for truth. He was tall,
perhaps sincere — how else would the Savior have chosen
him? He betrays the Savior, sees how they take him away...."
In 1870 Heinrich Hofmann was
appointed professor at the Academy of Art in Dresden. Happy
years followed in which he painted many of his famous works,
faithfully supported by his loving wife. In 1891 —
after having been married for more than thirty years —
Mrs. Hofmann suffered from an incurable disease and died.
The great artist never really recovered from this blow.
Shortly after his wife's death he retired from his position
at the Academy and lived a rather secluded life in Dresden
until his passing in 1911. He continued to work in his studio
and received guests on Sundays.
The image of Hofmann I garnered
from his unpublished letters and diaries is of an intensely
religious man. Before he painted any scene from the life
of Christ he deeply studied the Gospel. Often he would copy
out in his own hand a whole passage from the Bible that
inspired him. He not only read the Scriptures, but did his
best to follow them. Many of his letters confirm that he
gave financial support to needy persons. And his heart would
deeply feel with those who suffered from loss of a dear
one or from diseases. Of one of his paintings, he wrote:
"Originally I had painted it for myself. I wanted it to
hang over my bed, so that at night, before I would go to
sleep, Christ's eyes would ask me: 'Have you lived this
day according to my commandments?'"
n article printed in 1912, shortly after Hofmann's death,
in the Munich journal Die Kunst unserer Zeit ("Art
of Our Time") gave the following insights into the great
painter:
"To be able to create high quality
works in religious art it is not sufficient to be a gifted
artist; you must also have devotion and you must be sincere.
Those who are trying to depict religious subjects —
especially when the Savior is involved — without being
moved in their innermost soul do not have the capacity for
this task, even though they may be the greatest masters
of art in the whole world. We could compare this to a preacher
who gives a sermon about a subject he does not believe in
and that he has not made his own....
"About Heinrich Hofmann we know
for certain that he started and ended his day by reading
the Bible in which he was very well versed — far from
any type of bigotry....He very much cared for those less
fortunate than he and every Christmas he invited families
in need to his own home....
"His portfolios Remember
Me, Come Unto Me, and Peace Unto You
are spread among Christians everywhere — more so than
any of the modern creations....This is all the more impressive
because Heinrich Hofmann himself never worked on spreading
his fame — as is so common today — on the contrary,
he was a very simple person with a noble character and he
never aspired to be the center of attention. In his great
humility he always found any publication about his person
or his artwork embarrassing."
Often Hofmann was asked to write
something about his paintings, to interpret the figures
and the scenes. When he sensed that people were only curious,
he refused to talk about his inspiration; but when someone
expressed genuine interest he did answer — though often
reluctantly.
Mrs. Elise Drexler, for instance,
an American woman from San Francisco, had bought "Christ
and the Rich Young Man" from Hofmann (page
1086 in The Second Coming of Christ). In a letter
to him, she expressed the wish to know more about his concept
of the painting. Hofmann replied that it was very difficult
for him to recall and put into words the innermost thoughts
and inspirations that were present when he painted. But
then he tried to convey to her his philosophy:
"What always interested me deeply
in my art was the expression in the faces of men and women
because that expression reveals the inner life of a person.
Only painting and no other type of art — not even sculpture
— can do this. I believe that people are attracted
to my works because I succeeded in expressing some of the
soul qualities and the spiritual setup of the figures in
the paintings. The face of the rich young ruler, for example,
shows clearly that he is ashamed for he rejected what the
Lord had asked of him. But a far greater challenge was the
expression in the face of the Savior: His keen eyes should
fathom the innermost recesses of the young man's soul and
at the same time they should express deep sympathy, for
it is written that 'He loved him.' You have to judge for
yourself whether I have accomplished this task or not."
Because of the remarkable continuity
of Jesus' appearance throughout Hofmann's body of work,
the author of the article about Hofmann in The Strand,
Kathleen Schlesinger, assumed "that Hofmann must have had,
as a living model, someone he had known both as boy and
man." She wrote to Hofmann asking about this. In one of
his letter draft books in the State Archives, I found the
answer from the pen of the artist himself: "It is my pleasure
to answer the question you wrote to me. In my pictures I
have never used a model for the face of the Savior —
where on earth should I find one? When I read about Christ
in the Bible there arises quite spontaneously in my mind's
eye a picture of his countenance — that is what I try
to retain and reproduce."
n another very interesting letter about "Christ in the Temple"
(page 190 in The Second Coming of Christ) Hofmann
writes: "Referring to your kind request I would like to
note down a few comments on the figures in the painting
'Christ in the Temple.' In the old man who sits to the right
I thought to depict someone who firmly clings to the authority
of the law and who is amazed by the new interpretations
that the boy gives, while the sophist loves to raise captious
objections...and the white-haired gentleman only shows good-natured
delight in the wise boy. On the left you see the only one
who really allows the divine words to flow into his heart
(perhaps it is Nicodemus who later visited the Savior at
night), and finally we have in the background the beardless
man who turns away with contempt from the conversation his
colleagues have with a child. About my conception of Jesus,
the boy, I cannot talk — I believe that the way I have
painted him expresses everything I tried to convey."
The 1912 article on Hofmann
quoted earlier from Die Kunst unserer Zeit ends
on a prophetic note — one with which readers of The
Second Coming of Christ will surely agree:
"Art history calls him a painter
of historical paintings — if he is mentioned at all.
But a future generation will pay him due respect as one
of the few men and artists who helped to inspire the Christian
communities when destructive thinking reigned everywhere."
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