Overbeck, Johann Friedrich (1789–1869)

German painter. A leading figure in the Nazarenes, who spent much of his life in Rome, he sought a revival of Roman Catholic art, his style based on that of Renaissance artists such as Pietro Perugino and Raphael Sanzio.

Overbeck's paintings in fresco and oil, devout in intention, were often little more than a pastiche of Renaissance works. His Triumph of Religion in the Arts 1846 (Staedel Institute, Frankfurt) is typical.

Overbeck was born in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein. and studied art at the Academy of Vienna, Austria, where at the age of 20 he started a ‘brotherhood of St Luke’ with the aim of reviving religious art. In 1810 he settled in Rome, cofounding the Nazarene movement. Like many of his associates, he did not return to Germany but spent his life in Rome, becoming a convert to Catholicism.