Arnold Böcklin

Swiss symbolist painter, 1827-1901

"His father was engaged in the silk trade, Böcklin studied at the Düsseldorf academy under Schirmer, and became a friend of Anselm Feuerbach. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. His early works, where he treated ancient mythology (see ""Nymph and Satyr""), were much discussed, and together with Lenbach's recommendation, gained him appointment as professor at the Weimar academy. Böcklin is best known for his symbolist use of imagery and for his five versions (painted 1880 to 1886) of the ""Isle of the Dead"", which partly evokes the English Cemetery, Florence, which was close to his studio and where his baby daughter Maria had been buried."