erbert Gustave Schmalz was born in Ryton on Tyne, near Newcastle, in 1856. His father, Gustave Schmalz, was German by birth but had moved to Newcastle aged 27 and had become a well-known and successful merchant rising to the position of German Consul. His mother Margaret Carmichael was the daughter of seascape painter James William Carmichael. Gustave Schmalz had hoped that his son would take on the family business, but instead Herbert followed in his grandfather’s footsteps. Despite his initial disappointment, Gustave supported his son’s career choice, allowing him to attend art school first in Newcastle, then in London at South Kensington and the Royal Academy, he even paid for him to receive continental training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Herbert’s studies in Antwerp were however cut short, when a friend in England informed him that Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton would be visiting teachers at the Royal Academy. Herbert hurried back to London and completed his training at the Royal Academy, exhibiting his first paintings there in 1879. The following year Schmalz moved into one of the newly developed Studios at the end of Holland Park Road.
Throughout the 1880s Schmalz built his reputation through a series of large historical paintings, which took their inspiration from everything from the classical world to Ancient Britain. Too Late exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884, is in many ways typical of these paintings which often explored themes of love and loss. The picture shows a young Christian barbarian soldier returning from battle to find his young wife dead. The young woman’s family crowd around her bed in various aspects of grief while in the foreground an illuminated shrine surmounted by a cross represents their faith. The picture received mixed reviews, Henry Blackburn conceding that while "no picture this year excited more interest during its progress ... the figure of the returning warrior ... is less successful" (33-34). This was to be a recurring theme throughout Schmalz’s career: his work was often more popular with the public than it was with critics.
Too Late, by Herbert Gustave Schmalz, 1886.
In February 1890 Schmalz travelled to Jerusalem with his new wife Edith Dene, sister of Dorothy Dene, who had modelled for Schmalz on numerous occasions. The purpose of the trip was originally limited to gathering material for his next exhibition painting The Return from Calvary, but it ended up informing and defining the rest of his career. As Schmalz later recalled, "I found the landscape just suited me, and seemed at once to open up a new field." Upon his return Schmalz set to work on The Return from Calvary. He had hoped to exhibit it at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1891 but failed to finish it in time so instead exhibited it at Dowdeswell’s Gallery, Bond Street alongside other studies from his travels. The Return from Calvary takes its subject from St John’s Gospel and depicts John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalen returning from the crucifixion. Schmalz shows John supporting Mary as they walk up some steps, looking back over Jerusalem towards Mount Golgotha with a dark brooding sky overhead. Schmalz himself was deeply religious and later, in the Art Journal, said he chose the subject because he "felt that the idea of those dear to our Lord, returning to their homes after the awful event, contained in it more human interest of a pathetic character than any other scene of that eventful epoch" (97).
The Return from Calvary, by Herbert Gustave Schmalz, 1891.
While the work received a somewhat ambivalent response from the critics, it was an enormous success with the public. Following its initial exhibition at Dowdeswell Gallery the work embarked on a tour around the country. Entrance was 6d per visitor and regular lectures were given by members of the clergy at each venue. The work was also supported by a written preface by Bishop Popham Blythe, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, attesting to the "faithfulness" of the painting. The church undoubtedly played a significant role in promoting the popularity of the picture. Prior to its initial exhibition in London, Schmalz invited 6,000 members of the clergy from different denominations to see the work. And as one critic astutely observed, "if each of these gentleman induce five of their flock to pay a shilling at the turnstile to see The Return from Calvary the enterprise should meet its own reward." By 1895 the work had been seen by over 500,000 people, on one occasion attracting 1,700 visitors in a single day.
Following the success of The Return from Calvary Schmalz produced a series of religious pictures which he exhibited in a similar manner, choosing to largely eschew more traditional venues such as the Royal Academy and Grosvenor Gallery. The popularity of these exhibitions enabled Schmalz to purchase 49 Addison Road in 1893, and commission architect John Simpson to extend the house to include a grand studio space costing £1,187.
49 Addison Raod, North Kensington, with its grand studio.
Alongside his religious paintings, Schmalz produced portraits and continued to paint classical and historical works. In 1900 he mounted an exhibition titled A Dream of Fair Women at the Fine Art Society which featured 41 studies of women, some of which were portraits and others which represented idealised types. Around this time Schmalz also made a return to the Royal Academy with works such as The Awakening of Galatea 1907 which depicted sculptor Pygmalion prostrate at the feet of his sculpture Galatea which is shown in the moment of transfiguration stretching upwards towards the light. However, he remained best known for his religious paintings. After the defeat of Germany in the First World War Schmalz adopted his mother’s maiden name becoming known as Herbert Carmichael for the rest of his life.
A Bowl of Roses, by Herbert Gustave Schmalz, 1925.
By 1931 The Return from Calvary had been touring around Britain and internationally for forty years and was said to have been viewed by over fifteen million people. Despite the continued popularity of the painting, Carmichael’s own reputation had long been on the decline. In 1933 he produced his final religious painting Moses Going up Mount Nebo. In a telling review in the Nottingham Journal that April, a critic, who misprinted Carmichael’s name as George, reported that "this 77 year old painter is daring to be Victorian once more" and "has been working on a religious work in the old style" (6). Schmalz died two years later in 1935.
Bibliography
"Art Notes: Messrs Dowdswell's Gallery." Illustrated London News. Vol. 99. Saturday 7 November 1891, p.600. Internet Archive.
Belfast Newsletter, Tuesday 10 November 1891, p.7.
Blackburn, Henry, ed. English Art in 1884. New York: Appleton, 1885. Internet Archive.
Blakemore, Trevor. The Art of Herbert Schmalz. London: George Allen & Company Ltd, 1911.
Globe, Wednesday 16 January 1895, p.6.
Globe, Wednesday 11th November, 1891, p.6.
Lancashire Evening Post. Thursday 27 June 1895, p.1.
London Sentinel, Tuesday 3 February 1931, p.4.
Newcastle Chronicle. Saturday 1 June 1895, p.9.
Nottingham Journal. Saturday April 1933, p.6.
Pall Mall Gazette, Friday 18 September 1891, p.1.
Schmalz, Herbert Gustave. "A Painter’s Pilgrimage," published in The Art Journal Vol. 55 (1893): 97-102. Internet Archive.
Created 28 August 2024