Clement VIII raised it from a feast of double rite to double major. The Mass is the common one for feasts of the Blessed Virgin; the Office is also the com- mon one of the Bl. Virgin, with the exception of the second Nocturn, which is an account of the alleged miracle. The congregation, which Benedict XIV in- stituted for the reform of the Breviary in 1741, proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office and that the feast should again receive its original name. "Dedicatio Sanctæ Maria".
Analecta Juris Pontificii, XXIV (Rome. 1885), 915; HOLWECK, Fasti Mariani (Frei- burg. 1892), 164-6.
MICHAEL OTT.
Overbeck, FRIEDRICH, Convert and painter of religious subjects, b. at Lübeck, 3 July, 1789; d. at Rome, 12 November, 1869. Overbeck is one of the most fascinating figures in the realm of modern Christian art. He was the soul of that roman- tic school of painters who, under the name of "Nazarites", exerted great influence on the formation of the German religious art of the nineteenth century. When eighteen years old, Overbeck became a pupil at the Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna. After he had attained proficiency he quickly withdrew from the compulsion and formalism of the academy, and went with three friends to Italy and above all to Rome as the great centre for the exercise of art. In 1810 he made his home in the monastery of the Irish Franciscans at Rome, San Isidoro, which was then unoccupied. He was the first to recognize that the tradition of ecclesi- astical art had been completely suspend- ed by the Reforma- tion and the icono- clastic outbreaks, and that later the stifling overgrowth of Humansim is in- troduced elements into it, which had cast a mythological garb over the Catho- lic ideal of art. work was, by the power of genius, to throw a bridge over the period of stagna- tion and depression that had lasted for three centuries. Overbeck lived to see the complete success of his titanic labours. At Rome the father of the "Nazarites", as perhaps he may now be called, was joined by the later masters, Cornelius, Schadow, and Philip Veit. and these men united together into a school. It was Over- beck's art and studies that brought him back to the Church, and the mystical power of his piety alone empowered him to produce his lofty crea- tions. The series of frescoes of the history of Joseph in Egypt in the house called Casa Bartholdi, those illustrating Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered" in the villa of Prince Massimo, and above all that won- derful composition "The Miracle of Roses" in the Portiuncula chapel at Assisi, astonished the world by modern technic, completely independent grasp of the subject, and most of all by proper relation of the
painting to the dominating sister art of architecture. Overbeek was not able personally to develop the ideal he had formed, the adornment of northern, especially German churches with frescoes, but his school, largely as represented by Eduard von Steinle, has partially carried out his wishes. The influence of Overbeck's spirit was by no means limited to Ger- many. France, particularly, under- stood the graphic speech of this new religious art; Belgium, Poland, and Spain followed in the footsteps of the master at Rome. The reputation of the new leader of art was spread throughout all classes of society, largely by his smaller works, espe- cially by his Biblical cartoons. His oil paintings are conspicuous for their qualities but are not numer- ous; the most noted of them, "The Triumph of Religion in the Arts", is the chief ornament of the Städel Gallery at Frankfort. If the work produced by Overbeck appears meagre, when contrasted with the amount put forth by artists who came after him, the reason is to be found in the subtility of his manner, owing to which he could execute masterly work, even in old age, as the wonderful cartoons of the "Seven Sacraments", and the sketches for the decoration of the cathedral of Diakovár, which were only used in part. Hostility to the art of Overbeck and his fol- lowers, the "Nazarite" school, did not fail to appear during Overbeck's lifetime, nor is it lacking now. Some say that the "Nazarites", most of all Overbeck, Veit, Führich, and Steinle, have introduced Italian
art into Northern
Europe, and have
made German eccle-
siastical art, which
wasstern and austere,
shallow and insipidly
sweet. Of the same
opinion as these
"orthodox" artists
are the "moderns",
who assert that the
"Nazarite" canons of
art are outstripped
and antiquated. To
these men, style,
the canons, and dog-
mas of art are super-
fluous, stereotyped,
and out-of-date.
Overbeck and his
companions have
been justified by
their extraordinary
success as far as re-
gards ecclesiastical
art, which must al-
ways be a religious
art. Their influence may be recognized also in
the closely related art of architecture, at least as
far as the Germanic people are concerned.
Friedrich Overbeck, Karlsruhe
HOWITT, Friedrich Overbeck, sein Leben und Schaffen, ed. by BINDER (Freiburg, 1886); ATKINSON, J. F. Overbeck: a memoir (London, 1882).
C. M. KAUFMANN.
Overberg, BERNHARD HEINRICH, German eccle- siastic and educator, b. 1 May, 1754; d. 9 November, 1826. Of poor parents in the peasant community of Höckel, near Osnabrück, he became a pedlar like his father. At fifteen a priest prepared him for college, and he studied with the Franciscans in Rheine. Later (1774) he studied in Münster, and was ordained
