Frederick Antal – författare

First published in 1962, Hogarth and his Place in European Art attempts to convey the historical relevance, both in its native and European context, of perhaps the most outstanding English painter of the eighteenth century. Dr. Antal applies his method of establishing the close relationship between the political and social history and the arts and letters of the period. Thus, the book goes far beyond the limits of art historical appreciation. It gives a panoramic picture of the first half of the eighteenth century in England with all its social, literary, and artistic connotations. He shows how England, which during those years became both politically and economically the most advanced country in Europe, could provide in Hogarth, in spite of the slender native tradition, the most progressive artistic personality of his time – whose work revealed the views and tastes of a broad cross-section of society. He traces Hogarth’s stylistic origins back to their European sources and analyses his impact on contemporary European and English art as well as the influence he exerted on generations to come. This book will be of interest to students of art, art history, literature, and European history.

First published in 1962, Hogarth and his Place in European Art attempts to convey the historical relevance, both in its native and European context, of perhaps the most outstanding English painter of the eighteenth century. Dr. Antal applies his method of establishing the close relationship between the political and social history and the arts and letters of the period. Thus, the book goes far beyond the limits of art historical appreciation. It gives a panoramic picture of the first half of the eighteenth century in England with all its social, literary, and artistic connotations. He shows how England, which during those years became both politically and economically the most advanced country in Europe, could provide in Hogarth, in spite of the slender native tradition, the most progressive artistic personality of his time – whose work revealed the views and tastes of a broad cross-section of society. He traces Hogarth’s stylistic origins back to their European sources and analyses his impact on contemporary European and English art as well as the influence he exerted on generations to come. This book will be of interest to students of art, art history, literature, and European history.

First published in 1956, Fuseli Studies deals with the many-sided artistic achievements of Zurich-born Fuseli’s baffling personality, who was one of the most erudite and renowned intellectuals of his day in Europe. The author’s intention has been to place his subject in clear historical perspective within his own epoch, and thus traces Fuseli’s contacts back to sixteenth-century mannerism and forward to twentieth-century expressionism. In this book, the social background of that absorbing period covering the artist’s working years at the turn of the nineteenth century is evoked not only in analysing his style, poised between classicism and romanticism of the age, but also accounting for its appeal and relevance to the present day. This book will be of interest to students of art, art history, European history, and literature.

First published in 1956, Fuseli Studies deals with the many-sided artistic achievements of Zurich-born Fuseli’s baffling personality, who was one of the most erudite and renowned intellectuals of his day in Europe. The author’s intention has been to place his subject in clear historical perspective within his own epoch, and thus traces Fuseli’s contacts back to sixteenth-century mannerism and forward to twentieth-century expressionism. In this book, the social background of that absorbing period covering the artist’s working years at the turn of the nineteenth century is evoked not only in analysing his style, poised between classicism and romanticism of the age, but also accounting for its appeal and relevance to the present day. This book will be of interest to students of art, art history, European history, and literature.

First published in 1966, Classicism and Romanticism is a collection of important articles originally published in the author's famous book, Florentine Painting and its Social Background. Dr. Antal, a Hungarian by birth, was a man of the wildest culture. He studied art history in the universities of Budapest, Berlin, Paris and Vienna; thereafter, he travelled extensively in Italy, where he devoted himself to pioneering research in the history of mannerist painting. His exceptional sensitivity to the visual arts is apparent in such brilliant stylistic analyses as the essays on Netherlandish mannerism and on Girolamo da Carpi. He is known especially, however, for his application to art history of the sociological method. By returning art to its place in the general history of ideas and relating it to its economic, social, and political environment, he sought to give to the history of art a wider significance ad deeper meaning. This book will be of interest to students of art, history, literature, art history and European studies.