Henric Trenk
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| Henric Trenk | |
 The Olt at Cârlige (1868) |
|
| Born | 1818 Zug |
| Died | 1892 |
| Nationality | Swiss, Romanian |
| Field | painting, illustration |
| Movement | Romanticism |
| Patrons | Alexandru Odobescu |
| Influenced | Ion Andreescu |
Henric Trenk (Romanian-language version of Heinrich Trenk; 1818-1892) was a Swiss-born Romanian painter and graphic artist, best known for his Romantic landscapes and his association with writer and amateur archaeologist Alexandru Odobescu.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born to an ethnic German family in Zug, Trenk studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, in the Kingdom of Prussia's Rhine Province.[1] He first arrived in the Austrian-ruled region of Transylvania around 1846,[2] and moved to Wallachia in 1851.[3] He remained in Wallachia as it became a constituent part of the Romanian Kingdom, and never again left its territory.[4] Later in life, Trank was naturalized a Romanian.[5]
He came to associate with Odobescu, and was appointed by the latter official illustrator of the magazines printed by the Romanian Commission of Historical Monuments.[6] Trenk traveled throughout the regions of Muntenia and Oltenia, creating a large number of oil paintings featuring rural scenes, historical relics, and natural scenes — including several depictions of the Olt River near the Cozia Monastery.[7] For a while, he taught drawing at a Bucharest gymnasium, and had the major Romanian painter Ion Andreescu among his students.[8]
[edit] Work
With support from Odobescu, who was attempting to build a record of historical locations and folklore, Henric Trenk documented places of interest, as well as genre scenes in the Wallachian Plain — fairs, inns, lodgings, as well as more exotic portrayals of Roma people and the distinctively-dressed Romanian postilions.[9] While admired for their exactitude (unprecedented in Romanian art),[10] these works have drawn criticism for their impersonality.[11]
Among his most distinctive works is a mountainous landscape of the Olt at the meanders of Cozia (known locally as Cârlige, "Hooks"), which was attributed by some to his nostalgia for the Alpine landscape.[12] A similar feeling motivation was deduced from his earlier paintings, the Romantic picturesque landscapes showing the Southern Carpathian areas of Transylvania.[13]
[edit] Gallery
Click on an image to view it enlarged.
 Evangelical church in Sibiu |
 The entrance to Cheile Turzii |
 Julius Sigerus as a child |
 Mountainous landscape |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Drăguţ et al., p.138
- ^ Ciufu; Drăguţ et al., p.138
- ^ Ciufu
- ^ Drăguţ et al., p.138
- ^ Bulletin Scientifique. Savjet akademija nauka i umjetnosti SFRJ, 1991, p.2
- ^ Ciufu
- ^ Drăguţ et al., p.138-139
- ^ Ciufu
- ^ Ciufu; Drăguţ et al., p.138-139
- ^ Ciufu; Drăguţ et al., p.139
- ^ Drăguţ et al., p.139
- ^ Drăguţ et al., p.139
- ^ Ciufu
[edit] References
- (Romanian) Alina Ciufu, "Creaţie a plasticianului Henrik Trenk, în patrimoniul Muzeului de Artă", in Telegraf - Constanţa, December 21, 2006; retrieved July 22, 2007
- Vasile Drăguţ, Vasile Florea, Dan Grigorescu, Marin Mihalache, Pictura românească în imagini, Editura Meridiane, Bucharest, 1970. OCLC 5717220
