Page:Cyclopedia of painters and paintings (IA cyclopediaofpain03cham).pdf/389

• Anth., 91, 2 (Pal. vi. 315, 316); Brunn, ii.

287.

OPIE (Oppy), JOHN, born at St. Agnes, near Truro, Cornwall, May, 1761, died in London, April 9, 1807. Son of a carpenter; began to paint when ten years old and sold portraits at sixteen. About 1780 he went to London, heralded by Dr. John Wolcot (Peter Pindar) as the Cornish Genius, was introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and became the wonder of the hour; but as his popularity was based upon admiration for the relative excellence of the painter's works to his years, it proved a misfortune, as it prevented him from obtaining a solid training in art. Opie painted some historical subjects, such as the Murder of James I. (1786) and the Death of Rizzio (1787), but his best work was in portraiture. He became an A.R.A. in 1787 and R.A. in 1788; in 1805 he was chosen professor of painting in the Royal Academy, and his lectures, delivered in 1807, show good literary ability, though, like Northcote, he excelled in conversation rather than in writing. His portrait of himself at the age of twenty-four (1785) is in the National Portrait Gallery, and his Troilus, Cressida, and Pandarus, and his portrait of William Siddons are in the National Gallery, London; Gil Bias securing the Cook in the Robbers' Cave, Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia.—Rogers, Opie and his Works (London, 1878); F. de Conches, 308; Ch. Blanc, École anglaise; Sandby, i. 198.

OPPENHEIM, MORITZ, born at Hanau in 1801, died in Frankfort, Feb. 26, 1882. Genre painter, pupil in Hanau of Westermayer and of Munich Academy; then studied, 1821-25, in Paris under J. B. Regnault and in Rome, and settled in Frankfort. Works: Return of Young Tobias; Susanna at the Bath; Return of Jewish Volunteer to his Family; Italian Genre Scene (1832), Kunsthalle, Hamburg; A Lesson; Noah and his Family; Lavater and Lessing at Moses Mendelssohn's (1846); Cycle from Jewish Family Life; Portrait of Heine; Interior of Sculptor's Studio (1852), Cross-Examination (1866), Portrait of Börne (1827), Städel Gallery, Frankfort; Mignon and the Harper, Provinzial Museum, Hanover; Scene during Entry of Archduke John into Frankfort in 1848 (1852), Leipsic Museum.—Cotta's Kunstbl. (1838), 45; D. Kunstbl. (1853), 186; (1854), 190; (1855), 328; Kaulen, 44; Meyer, Conv. Lex., xix. 697; Müller, 401.

OPSTAL, CASPAR JACOBUS VAN, the younger, born in Antwerp, July 2, 1654, died there, buried Jan. 12, 1717. Flemish school; history and portrait painter, son and probably pupil of Caspar, the elder, a pupil of Simon de Vos; master of the guild in 1676, dean in 1698-99. Works: Holy Family (1692), Darmstadt Gallery; Two Children blowing Bubbles, Brunswick Gallery; Infant Christ adored by Angels (1693), Jesuit Church, Antwerp; Mary Magdalen kneeling before the Crucified, St. Joseph with Infant Christ, Female Portrait, Orphanage, ib.; Male Portraits (2, one dated 1699), Museum, ib.; Venus and Cupid (1706), Hague Museum.—Cat. du Mus. d'Anvers (1874), 491; Kramm, iv. 1225; Michiels, ix. 93; Riegel, Beiträge, ii. 134; Van den Branden, 957.

ORBETTO. See Turchi, Alessandro.