Painters have been listed alphabetically ignoring all prefix except Le, La, El & Van, eg Van Gogh is listed as such. Last names, or town names before surnames existed, take precedence over preceding names, except where this would be positively misleading, eg Rembrandt & not Van Rijn. Well-known nicknames take precedence over real names, eg Volterra rather than Riciarelli.
CONTENTS: SURNAMES BEGINNING WITH LETTERS:
-AACHEN, Hans von, 1552-1615, Germany:
Background: He was born in Cologne Grove1 p5
Training: Probably with the portrait painter Georg Jerrigh who had trained in Antwerp Grove1 p5
Influences: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto; Jacopo Bassano for portraits, & Dutch Realism Grove1 p6
Career: During 1574-87 he was active in Italy & the Netherlands initially working in Venice as a copyist for Gaspar Rem before going to Rome, 1575; & then to Florence, 1582-3, & 1585; & in Augsburg, 1587. In 1597 he became the official portraitist to Rudolf II but did not have to reside at court & subsequently bombinated throughout central Europe 7 Italy until his death. After Rudolf’s death he was re-appointed by the Emperor Matthias after He also worked as an art agent & occasionally as a diplomat Grove1 pp 5-6, L&L, Oxford Companion
Oeuvre: Religious, historical, mythological & allegorical works, portraits which are remarkable for their psychological sensitivity, together with a few genre paintings as in Matchmaking Scene, 1610 (Kunsthistoriches) Grove1 pp 6-7
Speciality: Playfully erotic elongated female nudes often viewed from behind as in Triumph of Truth & Dominion/Allegory of Truth at the Imperial Cause, 1508 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). This is an allegorical work celebrating Rudolf’s victory over the Turks & the fruits of his just rule: love & peace OxDicCon, Grove1 pp 5-7
Phases: The colouring became darker in his later works Grove1 p7
Style: This was sophisticated Mannerism akin to that of Bartholomaus Spranger L&L
Circle: In Rome the northern artists Otto Van Veen , Joris |Hoefnagel, Jan Speechaert, Paul & Marius Bril & Joseph Heintz Grove1 p5
Grouping/Status: He was a leading painter among
those at the Prague court of Rudolf II, & along with Spranger & Heintz its leading late Mannerist Grove1 p5
Pupils: Pieter Isaacsz, Andreas Vogel, Christian Buchneer, & Hans Schurer Grove1 p6
Patrons: Portraits for the Medicis when he was in Florence, & for the Fuggers when in Augsburg Grove1 p5
Repute: He is itemised in the Oxford Companion
..ABBOT, Lemuel, c1760-1802, England, British Golden Age & Grand Manner:
Background: He was born in Leicestershire, the son of a clergyman Grove1 p24
Training: During 1776 he was briefly with Hayman in London & then possibly with Wright of Derby Gove1 p24Career: He went to London in the early1780s. From about 1788, until he went mad in the later 1790s, he had a considerable vogue Waterhouse1953 p314
Oeuvre: Portraits OxDicArt
Characteristics: His best portraits have considerable individuality but he was less successful when he painted below the waist Waterhouse1953 p314. In most of his portraits the heads are in three quarter profile as if the sitter has been distracted but later the movement of the head is balanced by, for instance, the sitter’s hand. His style is crisp but scratchy in technique Grove1 p24
Patrons: These were mostly drawn from the professional classes, particularly naval officers OxDicArt, Grove1 p24
Status: He was a lesser rival of Beechey Waterhouse1953 p314
Feature: He continued to exhibit at the RA after being certified as insane Grove1 p24
Pupil: Ben Marshall OxDicArt
Collections: Greenwich Waterhouse1953 p314
-ABERLI, Ludwig, 1773-86, Switzerland:
Background: He was born in Winterthur L&L
Career: He was mainly active in Berne L&L
Oeuvre: Landscape painter & draftsman L&L
Speciality: Medieval ruins L&L
Characteristics: Serene views of Swiss lakes & a fascination with medieval ruins L&L. He, like other Swiss artists, idealised motifs derived from Dutch 17th century art. Alberli’s work is neat verdute Novotny pp 82-3, 127
Innovation: He was one of the first artists to portray the beauties of the Swiss countryside Grove1 p31
Pupils: Biedermann etc Grove1 p31
*ABILGARDE, Nicolai, 1743-1809, Denmark:
Background: He was born in Copenhagen Grove1 p31
Training: In the 1760s at the Copenhagen Academy L&L
Influences: Ancient sculpture & Michelangelo’s works in Rome L&L
Career: During 1772-7 he had a scholarship in Rome where he became friends with Fuseli & associated with David. From 1778 to the early 1790s he painted ten huge paintings of the Danish dynasty for the Christianborg Palace, of which only three survive. In 1778 he became a Professor at the Academy L&L, OxDicArt, Kent p13
Oeuvre: This included architecture, costume & furniture design L&L
Grouping: He was the most prominent Danish Neo classicist & the last entirely devoted to History painting L&L. His paintings reveal Romantic interests Grove1 p31
Pupils: Carstens, Runge, Thorvaldsen & Eckersberg, though the latter went his own way L&L, OxDicArt
Collections: Statens Museum, Copenhagen
..Andreas ACHENBACH, 1815-1910, Oswald’s brother, Germany=Dusseldorf, Romantic-Classical-Realism:
Background: He was born in Kassel Norman1977
Training: At the Dusseldorf Academy when aged twelve, under Shadow & Schirmer Norman1977
Influences: His friend Gurlitt & together with his 1832-3 visit to Holland, where he became interested in naturalistic landscape Norman1977
Career: In 1835 he (& Rethell) left Dusseldorf for Munich & Frankfurt, & became successful. During 1835-45 he travelled widely to Norway, Denmark, Sweden & Italy etc. In 1846 he settled in Dusseldorf Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscape Norman1977
Speciality: Stormy North Sea views & Dutch windmills Norman1977
Phases: Initially his works were tightly painted with careful detail. From the 1840s his brushwork became broader with strong impasto. His later work was mechanically repetitious Norman1977
Grouping: The Dusseldorf School Norman1977
Politics: He allied himself with the revolutionary Socialism of the Dusseldorf Realists Norman1977
Pupil: His brother Norman1977
..Oswald ACHENBACH, 1807-1905, Andreas’ brother, Germany=Dusseldorf, Romantic-Classical-Realism:
Background: He was born in Dusseldorf Norman19
Training: From age 12 at the Dusseldorf Academy under Schirmer & then with his brother Norman1977, Grove1 p119
Influences: Gurlitt Norman1977
Career: He travelled in Bavaria, Switzerland & Italy where he spent much time. During 1863-72 he taught at the Dusseldorf Academy Norman1977
Characteristics: Strong colour effects caught with loosely flowing brushwork. His work sometimes has an anecdotal flavour due to the inclusion of processions, village festivals etc Norman1977
Grouping: The Dusseldorf School Norman1977
-ADAMI, Valerio, 1935-, Italy:
Background: He was born in Bologna OxDicMod
Training: 1953-7 at the Brera, Milan OxDicMod
Career: He mainly worked in Milan but during 1961-2 he was in London, & in 1962-4 in Paris OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & graphic art OxDicMod
Phases: Initially he painted abstracts but in the 1960s he turned to figuration OxDicMod
Characteristics: his work is often nightmarish. It is often fragmented & combines abstract & figure art in a manner suggestive of diagrams or comic strips L&L, OxDicMod. Advertising has been his main source for subject matter but he also uses literary, philosophical & political themes OxDicMod
Status & Status: He is Italy’s leading Pop artist & one of the few non-American & British artists to achieve international success in this field OxDicMod
..John Clayton ADAMS, 1840-1906, England:
Career: He lived in Edmonton & Guildford, & exhibited at the RA from 1863 to 1893 WoodDic
Oeuvre: He mainly painted views in Surrey & the southern counties WoodDic
Characteristics: His landscapes, painted in a rich, broad technique, are natural, realistic & full of feeling for light & colour WoodDic
Verdict: He is one of the most individual & least recognised late Victorian landscapists WoodDic
Repute: He is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary
..John Ottis ADAMS, 1851-1927, USA:
Background: Born in Amity, Johnson County, Indiana Wikip
Training: At the South Kensington School of Art, 1872-73 & the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, 1880-85, where Theodore Steele was a fellow student Gerdts1980 p104, Wikip
Career: He was inspired to become an artist in 1869 by a painting by Chase. In 1874 he returned to America where he painted portraits. He settled in Muncie, Indiana, in 1877 where he painted. Adams taught here & elsewhere with Steele & in 1894 exhibited at the Five Hosier Painters exhibition, which led to their becoming known as the Hosier Group. Its members often painted together at sites in Indiana. In 1896 he helped form the Society of Western Artists where he exhibited regularly from until 1914. From 1889 to 1906 helped found & also taught at various art schools & institutions in Indiana, including the Muncie Art School (1889-91) & the John Herron School of Art. In 1898 he bought an old house at Brookville, Indiana, with Steele with whom he had been painting since 1896 Wikip
Oeuvre: Landscapes, genre works, still-life & portraits Wikip, webimages.
Characteristics: His landscapes which are pleasing type covering different seasons & times of day painted from a low viewpoint. They include genre scenes of women active & working as in Wash Day, Bavaria, 1885 (Indianapolis Museum of Art) & The Farm, Prairie Dell, 1894. A distinctive feature of his work is the virtual absence of pretty young women doing little or nothing which are so frequent in American Impressionism. He found distinctive subjects of interest as in Hanging Moss, St Petersburg, c1915 (Indianapolis Museum of Art) webimages.
Grouping: The Hoosier School, American Impressionism Gerdts 1980 p103
Repute: He is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary
ADENEY, Bernard, 1878-1966, England:
Background: His father was a Cannon Wikip
Training: the RA, the Academie Julian & the Slade Wikip
Influences: Cezanne Spalding1999 p222
Career: In 1911 he helped Fry decorate the students’ dining room at the Borough Polytechnic. Together with Grant, who had also helped with the murals, he became a member of the Bloomsbury coterie & exhibited at the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition . He also exhibited (by invitation) at the Vorticist exhibition at the Dore Galleries in 1915 Harrison pp 61-2, 67, 116. He was a founder member of the London Group & its president during 1921-3, though Fry was the power behind the throne. Adeney was a member of the Fry circle that obtained assistance from the London Artists’ Association, & had temporary success in the 1920s. From 1903 to 1947 he taught at the St Martin’s College of Design where from 1930 he headed the textiles section Spalding1980 pp 222, 237, Wikip
Oeuvre: Paintings & textile design Wikip
Characteristics/Verdict: According to the critic Frank Rutter, he was a blameless echoer in biscuit & pale green of Cezanne’s less successful works Spalding1999 p222
Repute: He is not accorded a separate entry in the Grove Dictionary
..Jules ADLER, 1865-1952, France:
Background: He was born in Leuxiel in the Haute-Saone region. His father was a cloth merchant & the family was Jewish Weisberg1992 pp 90-91, RA1900 p366
Training: The Academie Julian under Bouguereau & Robert-Fleury, & then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts RA1900 p366
Influences: Dagnan whom he probably met in the early 1880s & became his friend & mentor. Parisian scenes of poverty & destitution were also influential as were Zola’s works Weisberg1992 pp 90-91
Career: His family moved to Paris in 1882 hoping to enrol him in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts RA1900 p366. By the early 1990s he had a studio in Paris. Adler went to Belgium in 1895 with the assistance of a government stipend, in 1901 went down the mines in Charleroi & painted Mine Country, Charleroi. However, he appears to have recognised that some scenes were too depressing to find purchasers, though he continued to paint scenes of human need Weisberg1992 pp 90, 92. He was a founder member of the Salon d’Automne RA1900 p366
Speciality: From the early 1890s street scenes featuring poverty & distress Weisberg1992 p90
Characteristics: Adler painted all sections of the Parisian working class from building workers to beggars & tramps. His paintings seem to have had an increasingly obvious social message Weisberg 1992 pp 90, 92
Politics: He was a strong Dreyfusard Weisberg1992 p91
Verdict: His large-scale figure compositions are among the most evocative social commentaries on the suburban deprivation which was the other face of bellepoque Paris RA1900 p366
Reception: He exhibited to great acclaim in the Salons of the 1890s RA1900 p366
Yankel ADLER, 1895-1949, Poland:
Background; He was born at Tusyn near Lodz OxDicMod
Training: 1913-4 in Germany at the School of Arts & Crafts, Barmen (Wuppertal) OxDicMod
Influences: Picasso & Klee (his friend in Dusseldorf) L&L
Career: About 1922 he settled at Dusseldorf where he painted several murals. In 1933 he left Germany, travelled widely but mainly lived in Paris. At the outbreak of war, he joined the Polish army in France but was evacuated to Britain. He went to Scotland but from 1943 he lived in London OxDicMod
Oeuvre; Mainly figure paintings OxDicMod
Speciality: Portrayals of Jewish life in Poland OxDicMod
Characteristics: His mature work was eclectic & expressionistic OxDicMod
Influenced: Colquhoun & MacBride with whom he shared a house in Bedford Gardens during the mid-1940s OxDicMod.
..ADSHEAD, Mary, 1904-1995, English:
Background: She was born in London where her father was the Professor of town planning at the University of London E&L p56
Training: 1921-4 at the Slade under Tonks E&L p56
Career: She painted early murals with Rex Whistler, in 1924 for Liverpool University, & in 1928 for Lord Beaverbrook. In 1930 she became a NEAC member. Adshead married the artist Stephen Bone, the son of Muirhead Bone E&L p56
Oeuvre: Murals, paintings & from the early 1960s mosaics E&L p56
Characteristics: She was able to paint in the Rococo, Victorian & Modern styles to satisfy clients E&L p56. Adshead with her repertoire of urns, semi-classical figures & sylvan glades (e.g., Spring, c1925) has been described as a decorator McConkey2006 p155
Repute: She has no entry in the Grove Dictionary but was featured in the exhibition of British Realist Painting in the 1920s & 1930s E&L p56
Aelst. See Van Aelst:
*Pieter AERTSEN, 1508-75, Pietersz’s father, Beuckelaer’s Uncle-in-law, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Background: born Amsterdam OxDicArt
Career: the Antwerp painters’ Guild 1535-before 1557 L&L
Speciality: scenes of country life, mainly festivals, social gatherings & popular customs Grove1 p168
Oeuvre: still-life, genre & altarpieces (largely destroyed) L&L
Characteristics: His works are usually large & have an abundant display of food & figures that are cooking or standing around. Women are often handling fowls (& it is significant that the Dutch word for bird & bird catching – vogelen/veugelen- also means copulation) Haak pp 76, 121, Fucks p45. His pictures have secular foregrounds with small religious scenes in the background. Aertsen’s modelling & brushwork are Italian & his paintings have dramatic monumentality & a sense of movement L&L. However, his peasants are stilted & mannered WGibson p199
Innovations: Aertsen painted the first scenes of country life, these having been previously restricted to prints & drawings; & his kitchen scenes were unprecedented. So also, were his market scenes in which peasants offer their goods Grove1 p168. He was a pioneer of independent still-life & genre L&L. However, his pictures, even where the religious scene is in the background. The words “Mary hath chosen the better part” is inscribed unobtrusively on the fireplace in Christ in the House of Martha & Mary Haak p121
Pupil: Beuckelaer L&L
Influence: Velaszquez’s bedegoines (via engravings) L&L
– AFRO/BASALDELLA, Afro, 1912-76, Italy:
Background: He was born in Udine, his father was a decorative painter OxDicMod
Influences: Initially Cubism but later Abstract Expressionism OxDicMod
Career: In 1938 he moved to Rome, where he lived for most of his life. During the War he served with the army & fought with the Resistance. In 1947 he joined the Fronte Nuovo delle Arte & in 1952 the Gruppo degli Otto Pittori Italian. From 1950 he often visited the USA, regularly exhibited in New York & taught at Mills College in Oakland OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Painter & stage designer OxDicMod
Characteristics: His work was vigorous & colourful L&L. After the War he developed a loose improvisatory & abstract style OxDicMod
Feature: He painted the mural The Garden of Hope at the UNESCO building in Paris, 1958
Status/Status: He is one of the best known Italian Abstract painters L&L. He worked in the Art Informal idiom OxDicMod
-AGAR, Eileen, 1904-91, GB:
Background: She was born in Buenos Aires, the daughter of a British businessman who made a fortune there OxDicMod
Training: 1925-6 at the Slade & 1928-30 in Paris OxDicMod
Career: She moved to England as a child OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & mixed-media three-dimensional works
Phases: During the 1930s she was a leading British Surrealist but in the 1940s & 50s she painted cool Tachite abstracts, though with Surrealist elements OxDicMod
Characteristics: Her Surrealist work has a cheerfulness rare in that movement L&L
Agudo. See y Agudo
-AIKMAN, William, 1682-1731, Scotland:
Background: His father was a country gentleman Macmillan1990 p95
Teacher: Medina, probably between 1701 & 1704 Macmillan1990 p95
Influences: High Renaissance painting with its clarity, dignity & order Macmillan1990 p95
Career: Aikman sold his family estate to travel abroad & improve his art Waterhouse1953 p151. He spent several years in Rome following his training but returned to Edinburgh in 1712. He painted assiduously in Scotland until he moved to London in 1723 L&L, Waterhouse1953 p151 . Latterly he painted the royal family. Despite his success, he had money problems, his health deteriorated, he drank too much & his wife nagged him mercilessly Macmillan1990 p98
Characteristics; In his work there is a careful balance of shape & colour under subdued, natural lighting which suggests an elegance that is not showy. His paintings are a mix of classicism & naturalism: a combination of dignity & order with simplicity that produces a fitness that might be called natural. There was an absence of Baroque refinements. His later, grander & very impressive portraits look back to Kneller Macmillan1990 pp 96-8
Patrons: Lord Burlington Macmillan1990 p97
Friends: Ramsay, Kent, Duncan Forbes (Lord Chancellor of Scotland), Pope & Thomson Macmillan1990 pp97-8
Status: With Richardson he was the best portrait painter of the post-Kneller generation L&L
Verdict: Opinions differ: according to the Yale Dictionary his portraits are monotonous but Macmillan says he is underrated, though he concedes that his work was uneven L&L, Macmillan1990 p95
Feature: Aikman did not want to move South but was forced to do so because of the draining away of patronage following the Union Macmillan1986 pp 10-11
Influenced: Ramsay Macmillan1986 p19 & 1990 p98,
..AIVAZOVSKY, Ivan, 1817-1900, Russia:
Background: He was born at Feodosia in the Ukraine; the son of a Ukrainian merchant 50Rus p93
Training: St Petersburg Academy of Arts 50Rus p93
Influences: Claude & J. Vernet Norman1977
Career: He received early commissions to paint views of Crimean towns. Aivazovsky met admirals & Decembrists, who had been demoted, in the Crimea. Here he studied the construction of warships. In 1840 he went to Italy & enjoyed great success with Chaos which was accepted for the Vatican Museum. He journeyed around Europe in 1843 & in 1845 took part in an expedition to the coast of Turkey & Asia Minor. He settled at Feodosia but spent the winters in St Petersburg, where he had become an Academician 50Rus p93.
Oeuvre: He was very prolific. He mainly painted seascapes but also naval battle-scenes 50Rus p93
Technique: He made a huge number of sea sketches &, assisted by a wonderful memory & a gift for improvisation, he was able to paint a canvas in a day 50Rus pp 93-5
Characteristics: Aivazovsky painted the sea in all its moods with rich light & colour effects, although over the years he became more restrained 50Rus p93. His work became increasingly expressive & reminiscent of American Luminist painting Wilmerding pp 230-32
Innovations: He was a forerunner of Realist landscape painting in Russia Norman1977.
Beliefs: “It is inconceivable to paint lightning, or a gust of wind , or a splashing wave from nature. The subject of a painting takes shape in my memory as the subject of a poem does in a poet’s 50Rus p94
Politics: He responded in his work to contemporary political life including Garibaldi’s movement & the Greek independence struggle 50Rus p95
Collections: The Feodosia Museum
ALBANI, Francesco, 1578-1660, Italy=Bologna; Baroque Criticism Movement
Background: He was in a line of descent from Ludovico & Annibale Carraci, through Saachi & finally Maratti NGArt1986 p366
Training: With Denis Calvaert, along with Reni, & then around 1695 at the Carracci Academy under Lodovico NGArt1986 p366.
Career: In 1601 he settled in Rome with Reni & worked in Annibale’s studio; also collaborates with (friend) Domenichino in decorative schemes NGArt1986 pp 366, 369; OxDicArt; painted the Assumption his first ideal landscape, which was light-filled, softly brushed, & serene; in c1617 Albani painted his first landscape cycle, the Borghese tondi NGArt1986p366; 1616 back to Bologna; latterly theoretical defence of Classical OxDicArt
Phases: By about 1625 he was painting landscapes which with new breadth, deep vista, distant lakes & mountains in hazy, warm sunlight NGArt1986p372
Specialties: lyrical light-hearted mythology & allegory in landscape L&L, OxDicArt; small exquisitely finished cabinet pictures NGArt1986 p366
Oeuvre: altarpieces
Characteristics: an idyllic, strife-free & sensuous world with allusions to ancient & contemporary poetry NGArt1986p366
Style: Classical Grove4 p277
Status: He was an important heir to & propagator of Annibale’s Classical ideal NGArt1986p366
Verdict: [Opinions differ widely.] According to the Yale Dictionary he only had slight talent L&L. dismissal unfortunate NGArt1986p366
Workshop: During the 1650s he had a busy workshop, quantity but it produced quantity rather than quality NGArt1986p366
Taught: Andrea Sacchi, Francesco Mola, & Carlo Cignani NGArt1986 p366.
Repute: He was very popular in England during the 18th century OxDicArt. However in the late 19th century there was a sharp decline in his reputation. His nymphs & putti were disliked NGArt1986p366
*ALBERS, Josef, 1888-1976, Germany:
Background: Born Bottrop, Westphalia OxDicMod
Training: 1913-5 at the Royal Art School, Berlin; 1916-8 at the School of Arts & Crafts, Essen; 1919-20 at the Munich Academy; & 1920-23 at the Bauhaus OxDicMod
Career: From 1908 to 1918 he worked intermittently as a school teacher. He taught at the Bauhaus from 1923 to 1933 & then at Black Mountain College in the USA, 1933-49. During 1950-59 he headed the department of design at Yale. It was not until he settled in America that he began painting in oil. His glass panels & paintings were much exhibited from 1936; & from 1949 he worked on a long series of paintings called Homage to the Square OxDicMod, L&L
Characteristics: His early lithographs were Expressionist but the Square series were uncompromisingly abstract. They consist of three of four squares set inside one another & painted in flat, usually fairly subdued colours. These often demonstrate that colours in close proximity appear to expand or contract, advance or recede OxDicMod.
Beliefs: The square best distances a work of art from nature OxDicMod. All his work was aimed at awakening the capacity to see intensively L&L
Influence On Op Art OxDicMod
-ALBERTINELLI, Mariotto, 1474-1515, Italy=Florence, High Renaissance; High Renaissance Movement
Background: He was born in Florence the son of a goldsmith Grove1 p569m Brigstocke
Training: In Cosimo Rosselli’s shop L&L
Influences: An odd combination including at least in an earliest work Flemish painting, Perugino & early Renaissance painting Brigstocke
Career: He was Fra Bartolommeo’s associate from before 1500 & his business partner from 1508. In 1513 he temporarily became an inn keeper L&L. He said painting was less exacting & open to criticism, apparently declaring that he was sick of the everlasting talk of perspective. He visited Viterbo & Rome in his final years L&L, Murrays1959, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Religious paintings of which The [as in] Visitation, 1503 is the best example webimages, Grove1 pp 570-1, Murrays1959
Characteristics: He clung longer to a 15th century style than Bartolommeo but was sometimes more dramatic as in the Annunciation, 1510 (Academia, Florence) with its forceful, expressive chiaroscuro & colour L&L, Brigstocke
Innovations: The classic Christ on cross with one leg resting on the other & the head facing in the opposite direction in his Holy Trinity. All previous artists had separated the legs at the knees Wolfflin1899 p153
Verdict: He was very talented, sometimes tackled real problems but never developed a logical synthesis Wolfflin1899 p152
Pupil: Franciabigio Murray p155
-Adam ALBRIGHT, 1862-1957, Ivan’s father, USA:
Background: He was born in Monroe, Wisconsin, & brought up in grinding poverty on a farm in Iowa Wikip, Schwartz Collection site
Training: At the future Art Institute Chicago, under Thomas Eakins, & then for two years in Munich & Paris under figural painters Wikip, Schwartz Collection site
Career: Determined to become an artist he moved to Chicago, 1882; moved to a newly built log cabin in in suburban Edison Park around 1900; with the area losing its rural character built a larger log-studio residence in the Hubbard Woods section of Winnetrka; & in the mid-1920s moved to Warrenville Illinois. He travelled widely in the USA & visited Wales & Venezuela Schwartz Collection site
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Initially landscapes & portraits but then up-front figures in landscapes mostly featuring casually dressed active adolescents in out of doors activities on sunny days, as in Barnacles, 1907 (Art Institute, 1907) He painted in oils, using almost pastel tones & under Impressionist influence loosened his brushwork & brightened his colour. His work appealed to Chicagoans many of whom had nostalgic memories of their own rural origins Wikip, Schwartz Collection site, webimages
Grouping: Along with Winslow Homer, Eakins, & Henry Scott Tuke in England, he belongs with a number of artists who in the latter part of the 19th century painted juveniles’ adolescents in informal out of doors activities Sikorsky pp 38-9, Greer2003 pp 142-3
-Ivan ALBRIGHT, 1897-1983, Adam’s son, USA:
Background: He was born in Chicago OxDicMod
Training: 1915-7 architecture at North Western University OxDicMod
Career: He engaged in spare time painting at university & was a medical illustrator at an army hospital in France. There he drew & made watercolour paintings of wounds. Albright inherited money. He mainly lived in or near Chicago OxDicArt
Oeuvre: This was small because he worked slowly OxDicMod
Characteristics: Elaborate, highly finished pictures which display a morbid obsession with death & corruption. They have lurid lighting & often a melancholy feeling of past beauty OxDicMod
Feature: He stood apart from mainstream movements OxDicArt
Status: Albright is sometimes called a Magic Realist OxDicArt
Collections: The Art Institute OxDicMod
-ALDEGREVER, Heinrich, 1502-c55, Germany:
Background: He was born at Paderborn Grove1 p591
Training: After apprenticeship as a goldsmith, he trained as a painter Grove1 p591
Career: He was active in Soest from about 1525, Westphalia. After Soest became Protestant in 1531, he converted with enthusiasm & with diminished demand for sacred art turned to engravings of mercenary foot soldiers, genre scenes, allegories, portraits, etc. The latter included imprisoned Munster Anabaptists as in Jan Van Leyden, 1536 (Westfalishches Landesmuseum for Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Munster. However, his last works depict biblical subject -matter Brigsotcke, Grove1 pp 591, 594
Oeuvre: Engravings & woodcut design mainly of religious & allegorical subjects together with two firmly attributed paintings L&L,
Characteristics/Phases: Accomplished but brittle Durer-like prints. His work became Mannerist from the late 1520s with elongated bodies, smaller heads & muscular twisted nudes. There was also a switch to greater chiaroscuro & in his final work to billowing draperies, & rumpled garments & hair L&L, Grove1 p592-94
Status: He is usually regarded as a Little Master & was the most important graphic artist in Westphalia in the 16th century Brigstocke Grove1 p591
Reputation: It mainly rests on his ornamental designs: about a third of his engravings mainly intended as models for metalworkers Grove1 p591
Collections: The Rijksmuseum for his preparatory drawings
Bassen. See Van Bassen
-ALECHINSKY, Pierre, 1927-, Belgium:
Background: Born Brussels OxDicMod
Training: Book illustration & typography at the Ecole Superieure d’Architecture et des Arts Decoratifs, 1944-8. OxDicMod
Influences: Ensor OxDicMod
Career: In 1947 he joined Jeune Peinture Belge & in 1949 Cobra. In 1951 he moved to Paris. He became fascinated with Japanese calligraphy & in 1955 visited the Far East. From 1960 he travelled widely in Europe & North America OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & graphic art OxDicMod
Characteristics: Vigorous, even violent, expressive abstraction featuring turbulent fantasy with residual figuration OxDicMod. His work is sometimes witty L&L
Status: He is regarded as one of the leading Belgian artists of the 20th century & has an international reputation OxDicMod
Status: Art Informal L&L
..ALEJO, Fernandez, c1475-1545, Spain=Seville:
Background: He was born at Cordova. His father was apparently from northern Europe & his mother from Spain Wikip, Brown1998 p27
Influences: Northern & especially German art; & latter Italian influences including Pinturicchio & Raphael Brown1998 p28, Wikip
Career: He arrived in Seville in 1508 & immediately established his reputation Brown1998 pp 27-8
Oeuvre: Religious works webimages
Innovation/Characteristics: He abandoned the almost rustic use of Flemish conventions by Sevillian painters. His works are often staged in elaborate architectural settings as in The Flagellation of Christ, 1503 (The Prado) where he appears to have been more interested in the buildings & spectators than in Christ’s suffering Brown1998 p27 [refer to this work in the appropriate entry in Section 3]
Feature: He painted one of the few works that reflect the Spanish conquest of America in his [as in] Virgin of the Navigators, (Alcazar of Seville c1533). In the central panel she spreads her mantle over the Spanish invaders who include Columbus, together with the Emperor Charles V, who is clothed in red Brown1998 p28, Google Arts & Culture
Status: He was the pre-eminent printer in Seville from 1508 until shortly before his death Brown1998 pp 27-28
Cosmo ALEXANDER, 1724-72, John’s son:
Background: He was born in Aberdeen web
Training: His father web
Influences: Such painters as Cornelius Troost or Van der Mijn when he was in The Netherlands Waterhouse1953 p330
Career: He was in Rome in 1749; was back in Scotland, 1754; was a member of the painters’ guild in The Hague, 1763-4; was in London, 1765; toured the eastern USA, 1768-72; & returned to Edinburgh with his assistant the young Gilbert Stuart Waterhouse1953 p330, Wikip
Feature: He was a Catholic & took part in the 1745 Rising, then fled to Europe where he painted exiled Jacobite’s Wikip
Oeuvre/Verdict/Characteristics: His portraits, his only surviving works, were more sophisticated than his father’s but like those of his father have been seen as more competent than distinguished. This appears to be unduly harsh. Although some are wooden other works reveal amiability & character as in his two portraits of the Irvines at Drum Castle (National Trust for Scotland). His works range from head & shoulders to full length Waterhouse1953 p330, Macmillan1990 p93, webimages
Friends: James Gibbs Macmillan1990 p93
..John ALEXANDER, 1686-c1766, Scotland, George Jamesone’s great-grandson, Cosmo’s father:
Background: He was George Jameson’s great-grandson, & was born in Edinburgh, the son of an Aberdeen doctor Waterhouse1953 p330, NGs of Scotland web entry
Training: With Giuseppe Chiari in Italy Macmillan1990 p91
Career: He was in London, 1710; in Rome from at least 1714 to 1719, & then in Scotland where he worked for the Duke of Gordon, a fellow Catholic. He took part in the 1845 Jacobite rising, became a fugitive, but was back in Edinburgh & working by 1748 Waterhouse1953 p330, Macmillan1990 p93, NGs of Scotland web entry
Oeuvre: Portraits & a unique [as in] Scottish Baroque painting the Rape of Proserpine, 1720 (NG Scotland, Edinburgh) Waterhouse1953 pp 330-31
Characteristics: His portraits were rather stiff Macmillan1990 p93
Innovation: Like Aikman & Smibert he studied in Italy & this brought a new level of sophistication to Scottish painting Macmillan1990 p93
Patronage: The Medici & the Jacobite court in Rome Alexander1990 p93
Friends: James Gibbs, the architect Macmillan1990 p93
Repute: He is not itemised in the Oxford Companion or Grove
Progeny: His son Cosmo, 1724-72, painted portraits Waterhouse1953 p330; See Infra
..John White ALEXANDER, 1856-1915, USA:
Background: He was born at Allegheny, Pennsylvania Grove1 p611.
Training: 1877 in Paris & then Munich at the Kunstakademie under Gyuala Benczur Grove1 p611
Influences: William Leibl’s Munich realism as espoused by Duveneck & Chase; Hals & Velazquez; & then Whistler Grove1 p6 11
Career: In i875 he began as a political cartoonist & illustrator in New York for Harper’s Weekly. In 1878 he joined Frank Duveneck & other American artists at Polling, Bavaria. In 1879 they travelled to Italy. He returned to New York in 1881, worked as illustrator at Harper’s & as a drawing instructor at Princeton, becoming a highly successful society portraitist. In 1895 his reputation having soared he was commissioned to paint murals (Evolution of the Book) at the Library of Congress Grove1 p611
Technique: The use of coarse absorbent canvas painted with turpentine or petroleum medium so that the unglazed surface helps to avoid monotony & enhances the brushwork I&C p326
Phases: Early landscapes & genres in the 1870s: glossy, impacted surfaces. From 1881 he adopted a more limited palette & evoked mood through shadow & gesture Grove1 p611
Characteristics: Many of his later portraits, notably of women, are psychological studies rather than specific likenesses Grove1 p612. He suppressed the inessential & concentrated on an original & complete general effect, even hands are often only summarily indicated. Characterisation, though not elaborate, is direct & truthful I&C p529. His brushwork, now less painterly, became more concerned with suggesting abstract shapes. Throughout he favoured compositions with a single figure against a sharply contrasting background Grove1 p612.
Friends: Whistler & Henry James in Italy Grove1 p611
Alkmaar, Master of. See Buys/Master of Alkmaar:
..ALLAN, David, 1744-96, Scotland:
Background: Born Edinburgh Grove1 p648 Training: After studying at Foulis Academy, Glasgow until 1764, he was funded by Scottish aristocratic families to study in Italy, arriving in Rome probably by 1767, studied with Gavin Hamilton, & left 1777 Grove1 p649, Brigstocke
Career: From 1777 he lived in London mostly painting portraits; settled in Edinburgh, 1780, painted portraits & taught at the Trustee’s Academy from 1786 Grove1 p649
Oeuvre/Phases: Initially history paintings as in The Departure of Hector, 1775 (Accademia di S. Luca), lively genre pen & wash drawings as in Roman Carnival (Windsor Castle), portraits & illustrations. In his final years he produced genre works featuring Scotland as in his pen & watercolour Penny Wedding, 1795 (NG Edinburgh) Grove1 pp 648-49 Brigstocke
Characteristics/Verdict/Legacy: His early history paintings have wooden figures, poor design & harsh colour. The genre works, though anecdotal & sentimental, inspired the next generation of Scottish painters notably David Wilkie Grove 1 p649
..ALLEN, Harry, 1894-1958, England:
Background: He was born in Sheffield where his father worked in a steelworks E&L p57
Training: He was largely self-taught E&L p57
Career: Allen enlisted in 1915, sustained serious injuries in 1917, which led to a leg being amputated, & won the Military Cross. Both before & after the War he worked at a steelwork, exhibited at local art societies in the 1920s &, following redundancy in 1931, began painting full time. He spent his life in the Sheffield area E&L p57
Oeuvre: Local landscapes & Irish scenes painted in tempera, together with some portraits E&L p57
Speciality: Paintings that showed the creeping urbanisation of the rural landscape. They featured the edges of towns, market gardens, quarries, the felling of woodland, & tourist destinations E&L p57
Characteristics: Allen used pre-manufactured tempera paint. This he diluted & spread thinly in layers to produce a distinctive matt & pastel-like appearance E&L p57
Repute: He is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary
..ALLINGHAM, Helen, 1848-1926, GB; Looking Backwards Movement
Background: She was born in Burton-on-Trent. Her father was a Scottish doctor Woodc1988 p130
Training: Birmingham School of Design & RA Schools WoodDic
Influences: Birket Foster, & Frederick Walker who was a fellow illustrator on the Graphic WoodC1988 p131.
Career: She first earned her living as an illustrator on the Graphic. In 1874 she married the Irish poet William Allingham & in 1881 they moved to Witley, a Surrey village, where she became Foster’s neighbour. In 1874 she became an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society WoodC1988 p130, WoodDic, WoodC1999 p310
Oeuvre: Watercolours of rural scenes, old-fashioned cottages, sunny gardens with common flowers & little girls in sunbonnets WoodDic, Treuherz1993 p154
Characteristics: Her colours were wonderfully soft & delicate Wood1999 p310. She was essentially an illustrator & even at the time her work had a nostalgic charm Mass p231
Circle: She belonged through her husband to a literary circle which included Carlyle, Tennyson, Browning & Ruskin WoodDic, WoodC1988
Feature: Her work declared a concern to record old & decrepit cottages before they were demolished or improved Wood1999 p310
Verdict: According to Christopher Wood she was unquestionably the greatest Victorian watercolourists. Her work is considerably more poetic & subtle than Foster’s. His cottage scenes can seem quite garish compared to hers WoodC1988 p131
Reception: Her work was greatly admired by Ruskin along with that of Foster & Greenaway WoodDic, Maas p231
-Alessandro ALLORI, 1535-1607, Cristofano’s father, Italy=Florence; Mannerism Movement
Background: He was born in Florence & after his father’s death in 1540 was adopted by Bronzino Grove p670
Training: Bronzino L&L
Influences: Michelangelo whose work which he studied in Rome in the late 1550s, together with Veronese, Vasari & Santi de Tito L&L, Grove1 pp 670-71
Oeuvre: Works in oils & fresco including religious works, decorative figurative paintings & grotesques Grove1 pp 670-71
Characteristics: His altarpieces are perfectly composed & exquisitely rendered using pastel harmonies but his people are sometimes uninhabited bodies where they are merely elements in the design as in his Pearl Fishers, 1570-71 (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence). He used pastel harmonies. Although his work displays little stylistic innovation it fluctuated between Mannerist compositions & strikingly devout works in which he rejected a cluttered & confused Mannerist style. Here he reverted to the previously unfashionable Counter-Reformation style which had been revived by Santi di Tito as in Allori’s legible & devout Jesus & the Sumerian Woman at the Well, 1577 (Santa Maria Novella, Florence) Hall1999 pp 252-23, Grove 1 pp 670-71
Status: He was the most successful & prominent Florentine painter of his generation Hall1999 p253
Verdict: He flooded Tuscany with his insipid pictures Friedlaender1925 p51
Patrons: The Medici family & the related Salviati’s Grove1 p670
Influence: He had a limited impact on 17th century Florentine painting Grove1 p671
-Cristofano ALLORI, 1577-1621, Italy=Florence, Alessandro’s son & related to Bronzino; mainly Baroque
Background: He was born in Florence Grove1 p671
Training: His father & from around 1600 in Gregorio Pagani’s studio, having broken with his Mannerist father after intense arguments about art Grove1 p671
Influences: He owed his more naturalistic style to Lodovico Cigoli, Jacopo da Empoli, Dominico Passignano , etc, who were inspired by the Counter-Reformation, castigated Bronzino’s extreme Mannerism & praised Santi di Tito’s restraint & Federico Barocci’s use of colour Grove1 p671
Career: During 1610 he was in Rome where he was influenced by Caravaggio. From 1619 though confined to bed with a fatal illness he continued to paint. He was devoutly religious but had a mistress Murrays1959, Wikip, Grove1 p673
Oeuvre: Religious works in oils & fresco & untraced landscapes going into the countryside to sketch. Some of his religious works have extensive naturalistic landscape backgrounds Grove1 pp 671-3, webimages
Characteristics/Phases: Initially his work was like that of his father & Bronzino but between 1600 & 1605 he developed a more naturalistic & individual style. His work became more painterly & naturalistic & he depicted subtle & complex emotional states as in Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1613 (Royal Collection). The Hospitality of St Julian, 1612-18 (Palazzo Pitti, Florence) is a work of intense Baroque emotionalism & he painted small distinctive multi-figured scenes, alla prima, using a broad brush & bold handling as in the Resurrection (Uffizi). He also painted striking portraits as in his Count Davanzati Bostici (Ashmolean, Oxford) & an erotic nude Magdalene L&L, Grove1 p672, Murrays1959
Patrons: From 1605 the most important were Grand Duke Cosimo II de ’Medici, Maria Maddena of Austria & Michelangelo Buonarroti the younger Grove1 p672
Status: He was one of the most individual Florentine painters in Florence & became the most patronised Grove1 p672
Pupils/Followers/Influence: They were numerous & included Lorenzo Cerrini, Monanno Monanni, Lorenzo dal Borgo, Zanobi Rosi & Giovanni Vanni. His chief legacy to Florentine art was his lyricism Grove1 p673
..ALLSTON, Washington, 1779-1842, USA:
Background: Born in the Waccamaw region of South Carolina. He came of a patrician family, one of several who lived in a sort of feudal state I&C p108
Training: He studied drawing at the RA Grove1 p673. Mengs & Batoni I&C p110
Influences: Fuseli I&C p110
Career: When he was seven his mother re-married & he was brought up at Newport I&C p108. After graduating from Harvard, he sold his patrimony & in 1891 went to London, then in 1803 to Paris & in 1805 to Rome. He exhibited at the RA in 1802-3 & at the Salon, 1804, but achieved his first critical success in Rome, 1805. In 1808 he returned to Boston, went back to London in 1811, but returned to Boston in 1818 & moved to Cambridge port MA in 1830. Although he had had some success, he was in financial difficulties from around 1815 I&C pp 108-10, Grove1 pp 73-5.
Oeuvre: This was wide & included irrational figures, mythological works, comic pieces, Old Testament scenes, portraits, idealized women & landscapes Grove1 pp673-5.
Characteristics: Technical sophistication, including a Venetian method of glazing, & intellectualism Grove1 pp 673, 675.
Personal/Feature: He had a love of mystery. As a child Negro-witch stories filled him with delicious terrors & at college he steeped himself in romantic tales of mystery & horror I&C p110.
Circle: That of Benjamin West after his arrival in London Grove1 p673
Repute: He was regarded posthumously as a Romantic genius Grove1 p675
-ALMA-TADEMA, Sir Lawrence, 1836-1912, GB (Netherlands); Academic Painting 19th Century Movement
Background: He was born at the Dutch village of Dronrijp Times24/6/2017 (Campbell-Johnson)
Training: At the Antwerp Academy under Wappers & Leys, 1852-8 Norman1977 p29
Influences: In about 1874 he had his house rebuilt to create a series of vistas & then painted pictures with one space opening into another. Alma-Tadema abandoned sombre colours in response to his new blue-green studio. After 1885, & his move to a new house, a silvery light started to characterise his paintings. Such a light shimmered from his studio’s aluminium ceiling Times24/6/2017 (Campbell-Johnson)
Milestones: His visit to Pompeii in1863 which stimulated his interest in antiquity Norman1977 p30
Career: In 1859 he assisted Leys with a fresco at the Antwerp Stadhuis. He moved to London in 1869. In 1873 he was naturalised & in 1879 became an RA Norman1977 p29. He was enormously successful, happily married with two daughters & remodelled Tissot’s old house in St John’s Wood as a Roman villa OxDicArt, Wood1999 p204
Phases: His style changed little Norman1977 p30
Oeuvre: He painted about 400 pictures Maas p182. Initially he depicted medieval life, but then daily life in ancient Greece, Rome & Egypt; usually with pretty women Norman1977 p29
Characteristics: The rendering of surfaces, textures, flowers, silks etc Norman1977 p29. He had great compositional skill, his tones & surface were delicate but his paintings were intellectually undemanding L&L. His works were real, literal & anecdotal in contrast to Leighton & Watts’ noble, aspirational & intellectual art Wood1999 p204. Alma-Tadema used asymmetrical composition & truncated forms (inspired by Japanese woodblock prints) Trippi p31
Verdict: according to Ruskin he was the “worst painter of the 19th century” (Campbell-Johnson). Bellsaid that despite his originality (the attempt to bring modern techniques to ancient themes) & his ability to handle paint, he had very little to say. He painted scenes of Victorian everyday life in Roman clothing Bell pp 37-8
Comment: [Bell was undiscerning (as shown by his curious reference to Alma-Tadema’s decidedly plain girls) & there is no inherent reason why scenes of everyday Victorian life should be empty. If nothing else, he was surely saying something about a society in which women are idle & men often absent. Moreover, at the time his young women were distinctive in not being femme fatales.] See Misogyny, late Victorian & Edwardian.
Patrons: He frankly regarded the nouveau riche as the best contemporary picture buyers, & the bulk of his work went to America Maas p182
Legacy: This was Hollywood’s vision of ancient times, including Griffith’s film Intolerance Norman1977 p29, S&M p57. The production designers for Gladiator worked with a sheaf of Alma-Tadema paintings Times24/6/2017 (Campbell-Johnson)
Followers: His wife Laura (1852-1909), his daughter Anna (-1943), & also John William Goodward (1861-1922) OxDicArt
Repute: After his death his work was completely out of favour OxDicArt. There was no big exhibition of his paintings from the year after his death until the Leighton House show of 2017 Times24/6/2017 (Campbell-Johnson)
ALT, Rudolf von, 1812-1905, Austria:
Background: Born in Vienna Norman1977. His father Jacob (1789-1872) was a landscape painter Grove1 p687
Training: His father & at the Vienna Academy, 1826 Norman1977
Career: After long years of struggle, during which he made money by painting watercolours of noble residencies, he began to achieve fame in the late 1870s. In 1879 he became a professor at the Berlin Academy Norman1977
Oeuvre: Oil & watercolour landscape, architectural & interior paintings Norman1977
Phases: Initially he had careful linear draftsmanship but from about 1840 he evolved towards free & sparkling brushwork. His style matured during extensive travels in Austria, Italy, Bohemia, Germany & Belgium Norman1977
Innovation: Alt was a precursor of Impressionism Norman1977
Status: He was perhaps the most productive & accomplished watercolour painter in German speaking Europe during the 19th century Grove1 p687
**Albrecht ALTDORFER, c1480-1538, Germany=Regensburg;
Background: At one time a vast, dense primeval forest, known as the Hercynian Forest, stretched from the Cevennes on the south-eastern edge of the Massif Central in France to the Carpathians. However by Altdorfer’s time logging had greatly reduced the forest area. Nevertheless for patriotic & cultured citizens the forest came to stand for all that was distinctive about Germany WoodCS p128.
Influences: Cranach & Durer whom he met in 1520, & Mantegna Grove1 p714, OxDicArt
Career: He became a citizen of Regensburg in 1508, & from 1526 he was the town architect Grove1 p714
Oeuvre: This was mostly religious but it also included history paintings featuring ancient heroes & heroine, landscapes from 1511 woodcuts, engravings, etchings & drawings, many of which are independent works of art, together with a few free-standing portraits. He worked in oils, watercolour & gouache OxDicArt, Grove1 pp 714, 716, 718-19, WoodCS p140
Characteristics: He had a personal style & the forest was his favourite outdoor setting. It is enveloping, powerful & dominant as in Landscape with a Family of Satyrs, 1507 (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin). This is a puzzling painting but it has little to with the classical Some of his other smaller paintings are mysterious but playful as in Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1510 (both Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) with its frolicsome angels. These contrast with his dramatic & moving works involving Christ’s Passion as in the Agony in the Garden, & the [as in] Martyrdom of St Sebastian c1515 (both Abbey Museum, St Florian, near Linz) & These & other works show that Altdorfer was marvellous colourist in which the highlights almost seem to leap at the viewer & give his works a new expressive impact OxDicCon, Grove1 pp 714-18, WoodCS pp 140-41, webimage, etc.
Innovations: Landscape as an independent genre with two works that were pure landscape i.e. without any figures , one of which is [the as in] Landscape with a Footbridge, c1519 (NG), the other being in the Alte Pinacotheca, Munich. His landscape drawings are some of the earliest made from an identifiable site. Although his works in oils are precise he also produced some in watercolour & gouache of a sketchy & impressionistic nature as in Landscape with Sunset (University Library, Erlangen). His landscapes were not his only innovatory works as shown by his [as in] Birth of the Virgin c1520 (Alte Pinacotheca) which is set in a church, where she is surmounted be a halo of angels & unnoticed by St Joachim OxDicCon, Grove1 p715-18, WoodCS pp 138-41
Patrons: The Emperor Maximilian, & Louis Duke of Bavaria OxDicCon
Status: He was the leading Danube School artist OxDicCon
Repute: Although Alfdorfer has certainly not been overlooked, [he has not been accorded the outstanding stature he so eminently deserves. In his sketches he anticipated Impressionism, & he was one of the greatest colourists of all time. He has not, for instance, received the praise that has been heaped on Matisse,]
Brother: – Erhard, recorded 1506-61. He was trained by his brother & became court painter & architect to the Duke of Mecklenburg at Schwerin 1512. He made 85 woodcuts for the Lower German Bible L&L
ALTICHIERO, recorded 1369-84:
Background: He was probably from Zevio, near Verona L&L
Influences: Giotto’s frescos in the Arena Chapel OxDicArt
Career: He was engaged on fresco cycles in the Basilica of St Anthony at Padua, 1372-9, & in the Oratory of St George, 1377-84
Characteristics: His interest in the depiction of space & volume & preference for soft colours bathed in suffused light Grove1 p724. His figures have solidity & gravity but this is mitigated by their lively realism & animation Grove1 p724, OxDicArt
Firsts: He introduced International Gothic to Verona & his Paduan works were the first major development of Giotto’s realism L&L
Status: He was one of the most important northern Italian painters of the 14th century Grove1 p724
Influence: His naturalism in the study of plants, animals & portraiture contributed the new style of Pisanello OxDicArt
-ALTMAN, Nathan, 1889-1970, Russia:
Background: He born at Vinnitsa Bown p239
Training: Until 1907 at Odessa Art College & during 1910-11 at the Free Russian Academy, Paris Bown p239
Career: After the Revolution he taught at Petrograd’s Free Studios & belonged to the board of the Commissariat of the Enlightenment. During 1929-35 he was in Paris L&L
Oeuvre: He was a painter, sculptor & theatre designer Bown1991 p239
Phases: From 1935 he mainly worked in theatre Bown1991 p339
Features: In 1918 on the first anniversary of the Revolution he decorated Uritsky Square in Petrograd with large Suprematist shapes L&L. In 1920 he drew & sculpted Lenin from life Bown p239
-ALTOBELLO, Melone, active c1508-35, Italy:
Training: Romani, no? L&L
Influences: Boccaccio Boccaccino, Giovanni Bellini & Durer’s prints Freedberg pp 251-2, L&L
Career: From 1517 he continued the fresco series in Cremona cathedral that were started begun by Boccaccio Boccaccino L&L
Characteristics: He had a highly expressive style that combined lyrical Venetian elements with a spikier & more calligraphic approach L&L
Influenced: Romanino L&L
-AMAN-JEAN, Edmond, France:
Background: He was born at Chevry-Cossigny Norman1977
Training: In 1880 under Lehmann at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Norman1977
Influences: Rossetti, Burne-Jones, & later Bonnard Norman1977
Career: In 1884 he helped Puvis de Chevannes with The Sacred Grove L&L. He shared a studio with Seurat. He exhibited first with the Salon, & in 1892 & 93 at the Salons de la Rose + Croix, then regularly at the Salon des Societe Nationale. In 1924 he founded the Salon des Tuileries with Besnard Norman1977.
Oeuvre: This included portraits L&L
Speciality: Suave pictures of pensive young women L&L
Phases: His visits to Italy led him to brighten his colours & paint more like Bonnard L&L
Characteristics: His simple intimate paintings, often female studies, have a slightly mysterious poetry Norman1977, L&L
Circle: French Symbolist artists & writers (Mallarme & Verlaine) Norman1977
Status: Symbolism L&L
–AMBERGER, Christoph, c1505-61/2, Germany=Augsburg, Mannerism:
Training: Burgkmair L&L
Influences: At first Durer but later Venetian art, especially Paris Bordone’s Mannerist Portraits L&L, Benesch p170
Career: Amberger joined the Augsburg guild in 1530 Benesch p170. In 1548 he met Titian in Venice L&L
Oeuvre: This mainly consisted of portraits but he also painted a few figure figure compositions but they were less distinguished OxDicArt
Phases: There was an abrupt transition in his style to Mannerism, around 1540 Benesch p170
Characteristics: His style emulates the Venetian grand manner, paying as much attention to rich effects of dress & jewellery as to psychological subtlety OxDicArt
Status: He was an outstanding portrait painter L&L
Legacy: His son Christoph was Titian’s leading assistant during his latter years Hale p611
..AMERICO DE MELO. See De Melo, Americo Pedro, 1843-1905, Brazil; National Romanticism:
Background: He was born at Areia Grove1 p774
Status: Together with Meirelles de Lima he is considered to be Brazil’s greatest history painter Grove 21 p61
..AMERLING, Friedrich von, 1803-1887, Austria, Romantic-Classical-Realism:
Background: Born Vienna Norman1977
Training: The Vienna Academy, 1816-23/4; the Prague Academy; Lawrence, 1827; Horace Vernet, 1828 Norman1977
Career: His portraits became popular in the 1830s. He was in Italy during 1831-2, 1836, & 1840-3 Norman1977
Oeuvre: Portraits, single figure subjects, & landscapes which he painted for pleasure & did not sell Norman1977
Speciality: His spontaneous & often roughly sketched portrait studies that directly capture physiognomy Grove1 p775
Characteristics: Biedermeier naturalism combined with flowing brushwork & elegant composition Norman1977
Status: Austria’s most acclaimed portraitist of the 19th century Norman1977
Patrons: Rudolf von Arthaber, a wealthy textile manufacturer Norman1987 p30
Verdict: His portrait studies are among the most striking achievements of European portraiture of the period Grove1 p775
Grouping: Biedermeier Norman1977
*AMIGONI, Jacopo, 1682-1752, Italy=Venice (Naples), Rococo:
Training: This was in the manner of Solimena L&L
Influences: Giordano, Sebastiano Ricci, French Rococo & later Tiepolo L&L, Murrays1959
Career: From 1717 to 1727 he was in Bavaria working for the Elector & painted fresco cycles (Schleissheim, Nymphenburg, Ottobeuren). During 1729-39 he was in England where he diversified into portraiture. Then between 1740 & 1747 he was in Venice & in 1747 he went to Madrid as Court Painter L&L, Murays1959
Characteristics; His portraits were enlivened with luminous colour & playful putti. However, his work degenerated into rather lifeless classicising Rococo L&L
Innovations: He was a pioneer of Venetian Rococo, & introduced Rococo portraiture into England, though it was largely ignored by native painters Grove1 p784, Levey1959 p30.
Patrons: In England he particularly worked at Moor Park whose owner (Styles) had quarrelled with Thornhill Levey1959 p31
Last of the Venetian decorators to come to England OxDicArt
Verdict: He was rather pedestrian Levey1959 p30
Influence: This was on Bavarian & French Rococo, especially on Boucher Levey1959 p30
..Anna ANCHER, 1859-1935, Peter’s wife, Denmark:
Background: She was born at Skagen which, in the 1880s, was to become Denmark’s plein air centre Norman1977
Training: 1875-9 at the Copenhagen; Academy, & in 1888 in Paris under Puvis de Chavannes Norman1977, Kent p220
Influences: The Impressionists & the Dutch School Norman1977
Career: In 1880 she married & lived a simple life in Skagen. Anna became a member of the Copenhagen Academy in 1904 Norman1977
Oeuvre: Intimate scenes of village life & powerful domestic interiors Norman1977, Kent p220
Phases: After her training with Puvis she placed greater emphasis on mood with Symbolist overtones Kent p113
Characteristics: Her colour was full & juicy Kent p113
Status: She was unrivalled by any other Danish female artist & equal to the best Nordic artists of any period Kent p113
..Peter ANCHER, 1849-1927, Denmark, Anna’s husband, Denmark:
Background: He was born at Rutsker on Bornholm Norman1977, Kent p105
Training: 1871-5 at the Copenhagen Academy Norman1977
Influences: Dutch painting, especially Vermeer; also, probably Kroyer (for brushwork) Norman1977
Career: In the first visited Skagen & he settled their living initially at the Brondrum Inn Kent p105. He married Anna in 1880 & became a member of the Copenhagen Academy in 1889 Norman1977. During 1888-9 he was in Paris with his wife, but his visit was too late for a full absorption of international naturalism Weisberg1992 p248
Speciality: Local fishermen Kent p220
Phases: Initially his work was almost photographic but he then used broad Impressionistic brushwork Kent p105; Norman1977
Circle: There were frequent artistic gathering at the Anchers’ Skagen quarters at which outsiders were welcome, although there was initially tension with Kroyer Weisberg1992 pp 245, 247
Features: His favourite model was the fisherman Lars Gaihede Kent p105
Collections: Den Hirschoolsprungske Samling, Copenhagen
Andrea da Firenze. See Da Firenze, Andrea
Andrea del Sarto. See Sarto
Andrea di Bartolo. See di Bartolo
-ANDREWS, Michael, 1928-95, England:
Training: 1949-53 at the Slade under Coldstream OxDicMod
Influences: His intensely recalled visual experiences L&L Career: Andrews shunned publicity & was little known until the Arts Council exhibition of 1980. Thereafter he had a considerable reputation OxDicMod
Speciality: Ambitious figure compositions, subtly handled, often with an underlying emotional tension OxDicArt
Technique: He made frequent use of photos Wilcox1990 p41
Phases: During the mid-1980s he changed direction & painted huge & brilliantly coloured landscapes featuring Ayers Rock OxDicMod
Links: Auerbach, Bacon, Burra, Craxton, Freud, Minton & Vaughan who used to meet at the Colony Room, which was a private club in Dean Street Spalding1986 pp 143-5
..ANGILLIS/ANGELLIS, Pieter, 1685-1734, France:
Background: He was born at Dunkirk Walpole2 p266
Influences: Initially Teniers & Watteau but later Rubens & Van Dyck Walpole2 p266
Career: He visited Flanders & Germany when studying. In about 1712 he went to England where he soon gained favour. During 1728-31 he was in Italy & he settled in Rennes Walpole2 pp 266-7
Oeuvre: Genre with small figures enriched with images of fruit & fish. He painted an elaborate series of the martyrdom of Charles I Burke p119, Walpole2 p266, Waterhouse1953 p162
Characteristics: An easy & flowing composition but his colouring was too faint & nerveless Walpole2 p266. His scenes do not usually have a specifically British background Waterhouse1953 p162
Status: He belonged to the Covent Garden group & had something of the painterly glow & animation of the Baroque Burke pp 118-9
Personal: He was studious, sober & dedicated more to art than to earning money & exhibiting Walpole2 pp 266-7
*ANGUISSOLA, Sofonisba, 1527-1625, sister of the other Anguissolas:
Background: Shw was born in Cremona L&L
Teachers: Campi & Sojaro L&L
Influences: Moretto & Morone Murrays1959. She mastered the conventions of Hapsburg portraiture Brown1998 p50
Career: in 1560 she went to Spain at the invitation of Philip II & became lady-in-waiting & drawing teacher to the Queen. In 1575 Anguissola returned to Italy & lived in Genoa & then Palermo Brown1998 p50, L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits & a few religious works Murrays1959, Her output was very small & much has perished Brown1980 p50
Characteristics: Her portraits are in the realistic north Italian mode L&L
Verdict: Opinions differ: according to Jonathan Brown she was one of the most subtle of the Hapsburg portrait painters, but Freedberg says her portraits were literal-minded & heavy handed Brown1998 p50, Freedberg p407
First Italian female artist of international fame Murrays1959. She invented an early form of Conversation Piece L&L
Feature: Her sisters -Anna Maria, Elena, Europa, & Lucia- also painted L&L
-ANNIGONI, Pietro, 1910-88, Italy:
Background: He was horn in Milan OxDicMod
Training: At the Florentine Academy OxDicMod
Influences: The Italian Renaissance masters OxDicMod
Career: His portrait of Elizabeth II secured his fame & he subsequently painted other celebrity sitters, including Kennedy & Johnson, & the Pope. Most of his life was spent at Florence OxDicMod
Technique: He often employed tempera OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Portraits, religious works including frescos, ambitious allegorical scenes, & occasional sculptures OxDicMod
Characteristics: Very smooth & detailed finish. His paintings display melodramatic lighting & are melancholic in mood OxDicMod
Status: He was the only artist of his time to become famous as a society & court portraitist OxDicMod
Reception: His portraits are generally dismissed by the critics as tasteless & portentously inflated, but have proved highly popular OxDicArt
Feature: the Yale Dictionary says his portraits have a grandiosity which in the 20th century was “welcomed by totalitarian leaders” L&L
..ANQUETIN, Louis, 1861-1932, France:
Background: He was born at Etrepagny Norman1977
Training: First under Bonnat & then around 1882 he entered Cormon’s studio Denvir p198, Norman1977
Influences: Initially Delacroix & Michelangelo; then Degas, Monet & Japanese prints Norman1977
Phases: in 1886 he experimented with Pointillism but then adopted the Cosionnist technique. In the mid-90s he became more traditional & followed the example of Rubens Norman1977. His style became a kind of etiolated Baroque Denvir p78
Friends: Toulouse-Lautrec & Van Gogh Norman1977
Innovations: with Bernard Cloisonnism Norman1977
Personal: He was forceful & intellectually vital Denvir p198
ANSELMI, Michelangelo, c1492-1555, Italy:
Background: He was born in Tuscany into a Parma family L&L
Influences: Corregio, 1522-7, then the Mannerism of Sodema & Beccafumi, & from 1530 Parmigianino L&L
Career: He is known to have been in Parma by 1520. After Parmigianino’s death he was commissioned to paint in S. Maria della Stecatta Grove2 p128
Oeuvre: Frescoes, altarpieces & smaller religious works. He was an extremely stylish draughtsman Grove2 p128
Characteristics: His colour was boldly luminous with daring sfumato Grove2 p128
Status: He was arguably the most imaginative painter in Parma in the early 16th century after Correggio & Parmigianino Grove2 p128
..ANSHUTZ, Thomas Pollock, 1851-1912:
Teacher: The Pennsylvania Academy under Eakins Hughes 1997 p300
Career: He spent much of childhood in the iron town Wheeling; & succeeded Eakins at the Academy after his dismissal Hughes pp 300-1
Aim: In his twenties he wrote of wanting to visit “some woe begotten, turkey chawed, bottle nosed, henpecked country …Get out my materials & make as accurate a painting of what I see in front of me as I can” Hughes1997 p301
-ANTHONISZ, Cornelis, c1499-after 1556, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Background: He was born in Amsterdam L&L
Career: He was active in Amsterdam L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings, printmaker & cartographer L&L
Speciality: Group portraits of civic guards L&L
Innovations: The introduction of banquets into civic guard paintings, which had the advantage of providing a central focus L&L, Haak p105.
..ANTIGNA, Alexandre, 1817-78, France; Victorian Modern Life
Background: Born Orleans TurnerDtoI p6.
Training: At the school of drawing in Orleans & from 1837 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Delaroche etc TurnerDtoI p6
Influences: The effects of industrialization & the sufferings of the working class which he saw when living in the Ile St Louis, Paris TurnerDtoI p6.
Career: In 1841 he first exhibited at the Salon. From 1857 he made several journeys to Spain & he visited Brittany many times Turner DtoI p6
Phases: He began by mainly painting religious scenes & portraits but from 1845 he turned to realist contemporary social subjects dominated by poverty & hardship. Around 1860 these were replaced by gentler anecdotal scenes. He increasingly painted landscape & mystical cum Symbolist works TurnerDtoI p6
Speciality: Large dramatic natural & manmade disasters with bold lighting, dramatic poses & rich colour TurnerDtoI p6
ANTOLINEZ, Jose, 1633-75, Spain=Madrid; Baroque Movement
Career: He was active in Madrid L&L
Speciality: The Immaculate Conception. This accounts for a third of his 70-odd known works. Also the Ecstasy of St Mary Magdalene L&L
Characteristics: He was a brilliant colourist with a sweet style similar to Murillo’s L&L, OxDicArt
Feature: His arrogance led to his death in a duel L&L
Antonello da Messina See Messin
Antoniazzo. See Romano
Antonio death’Enrico. See Varallo
Antonio Lombardo. See Solari
Autumn. See Van Antum
-APPEL, Karel, 1921-2006, Netherlands:
Background: Amsterdam L&L
Training: at the Amsterdam Academy, 1940-3 OxDicMod
Influences: Dubuffet OxDicMod
Career: In 1948 he was a founder member of the Cobra group & in 1950 he settled in Paris, & was seen as a leading Art informal painter L&L. Michel Tapie became an influential supporter. By the end of the decade he had an international reputation. He won the UNESCO Prize at the Venice Biennial, 1954, etc. He visited New York in 1957 & subsequently mainly divided his time between there, Paris & Monaco OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings, sculpture, ceramics & design OxDicMod
Speciality: Murals & other forms of large-scale public art L&L
Characteristics: His most characteristic works are in extremely uninhibited, vigorous & agitated Expressionist vein that attracts attention. They have strident colours & violent handling. Sometimes the paint retains the worm-like form in which it leaves the tube. At first glance the images seem purely abstract but they often suggest human masks, or animal or fantasy figures. Sometimes these derive from Norse mythology, & are fraught with terror or childlike naivety OxDicMod, L&L. “If I paint like a barbarian, it’s because I live in a barbarous age” OxDicMod
Status: He was regarded as the most powerful of the post-war generation of Dutch artists OxDicMod
Feature: His 1949 mural in the cafeteria of the Amsterdam City Hall caused such controversy that it was covered for ten years OxDicMod
..APPIANI, Andrea, 1754-1817, Italy, Neoclassical:
Background: He was born in Milan Norman1977
Training: The classicist Giudici in Rome Norman1977
Influences: The grace & colour of the Lombard 15th century Lombard school; Luini & Corregio Norman1977
Career: In 1796 he became Napoleon’s court painter in Italy & executed fresco cycles for the royal palace in Milan Norman1977
Oeuvre: He mainly worked in fresco Norman1977
Characteristics: Portraits that combine classical simplicity with Renaissance grace Norman1977
First Italian to tackle contemporary history Norman1977
Status: Neo-classical Norman1977
-APT, Ulrich the Elder, c1460-1532, Germany=Augsburg:
Career: He spent all his life in Augsburg where he became a master in 1481 & ran a workshop with his sons L&L, Wikip
Oeuvre: Religious works in fresco & on panel together with portraits which are sometimes double L&L, webimages
Characteristics: His religious works are lively & dramatic scenes of crowded up-front figures in rich colour as in The Lamentation, 1510 (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) webimages
Sons/Pupil: His three sons Jacob, Ulrich the Younger & Breu the Elder who carried on his style & Jorg Breu the Elder Wikip, L&L
Grouping: Late Gothic Wikip
-ARCIMBOLDO, Giuseppe, 1527-93, Italy=Milan:
Career: He was court painter in Prague from 1562 to 1587, after which he returned to Milan L&L, OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Paintings & stained-glass design L&L
Speciality: Grotesque allegorical or symbolic figures composed from still-life elements L&L
Repute: His paintings were generally thought to be in poor taste until the Surrealist era OxDicArt
-ARDON/BRONSTEIN, Mordecai/Max, 1896-1992, Israel (Poland):
Background: Born in the village of Tuchow, the son of a Jewish watchmaker OxDicMod
Training: At the Bauhaus,1920-5 OxDicMod
Influences: Expressionism OxDicMod
Career: In 1926 he moved to Munich; & from 1929 to 1933 taught at Etten’s school in Berlin. He taught at the Belazel School of Arts & Crafts, 1935-52, & was then artistic adviser to the Israeli Ministry of education. From 1965 he spent much of his time in Paris OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & work in other media L&L
Characteristics: His work in rich colour was often concerned with Jewish religion & mysticism but form the 1950s his work became more abstract OxDicMod, L&L
Status: Art Informal. He is probably Israel’s best known artist L&L
-ARELLANO, Juan, 1614-76, Spain; Baroque Movement
Background: During the 1640s flower paintings from Antwerp & Rome began to be collected in Madrid Brown p242
Influences: Seghers L&L
Career: By 1650 he was producing distinctive flower paintings BrownJ p242
Characteristics: In his latter years he tamed the exuberance of his Flemish flower models by concentrating his formidable powers of observation on individual species BrownJ p242
Status: The leading Spanish flower painter of the 17th century L&L
Pupil: His son the flower painter Jose & son-in-law Perez de la Dehesa L&L, Brown p242
ARENTZ/CABEL, Arent, 1585-1631, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Born: Amsterdam Haak p198
Oeuvre etc: He mainly painted polder landscapes in summer with a low horizon & rather clumsy & squat figures who are always active. His work has immediate & appealing simplicity: the polder landscapes had never been rendered so poignantly. He painted some beautiful winter scenes Haak p198
ARGUNOV, Ivan, 1729-1802, Russia:
Background: His family were serfs who belonged to the Counts Sheremetev Grove2 p409
Training: Georg Grooth who painted portraits of the Sheremetevs Grove2 p409
Career: He was most prolific in the late 1750s & 1760s but during the 1870s he painted few portraits. After the early 1780 he ceased painting & managed the Sheremetev estates Grove2 pp 409-10
Oeuvre: Mainly portraits (around 60 are known), especially of Sheremetevs Grove2 pp 409-10
Characteristics: The portraits of his prolific period are intimate in domestic surroundings with skilful depiction of the inner dignity of the educated classes. His colour is mostly restrained with predominant grey-brown & light blue, although the highlights are bright. His captivating & charming female portraits are his best work but his ceremonial portraits (eg Catherine II) are formulaic Grove2 p410
Teacher: His role was important & he taught other Sheremetev serfs, his sons Pavel/Nikolay, & Anton Losenko Grove2 p410
Feature: His simple & poetic Peasant Girl in Russia National Costume anticipates Venetsianov’s peasant pictures Grove2 p410
ARKHIPOV, Abram, 1862-1930, Russia; Russian Critical and Impressionism Tzarist Movement
Background: Born in Riazan province into a peasant family Lebedev p22
Training: 1877-83 & 1886-7 at the Moscow School of Painting (under Perov, Polenov, Makovsky). During 1884-5 at the Academy of Arts Lebedev p22
Career: In 1888 he made a trip down the Volga with friends, staying in villages, drawing & painting etudes 50Rus p217. He exhibited with the Wanderers from 1889. Between 1894 & 1918 he taught at the Moscow School of Painting Lebedev p22. He joined AKhRR Bown1991 p33
Oeuvre: Themes from peasant life 50Rus p215. From the early 1900s he painted northern landscapes & portraits of peasant women & girls from the Ryazan & Nishy Novgorod regions. They were dressed in bright national colours with embroidered scarves & beads 50Rus pp 217-8
Phases: Initially his work was careful & detailed. Around1890 it became freer & passionate. During the 1890s he mostly painted plein air 50Rus p217.
Characteristics: He seldom painted acute situations & actions; his meaning was revealed through the milieu & surroundings 50Rus p217
Diana ARMFIELD, 1920-, Britain:
Training: The Slade RAWeb
Career: She began as a textile & wallpaper designer but became a painter in 1965 & an RA in 1989. Married to Bernard Dunstan & a member of NEAC RAWeb, McConkey2006 p257.
Oeuvre: Landscapes, flower paintings & also literary subjects & portraits RAWeb
Characteristics: Her work is impressionistic & unshowy with a life-affirming serenity & a direct & affectionate response to subject matter. She likes to paint plein air RAWeb, McConkey2006 pp213-5.
Beliefs: “Figurative work is important & uplifting. It does not have to depict pretty subjects” RAWeb
..Maxwell ARMFIELD, 1881-1972, England:
Background: He was born at Ringwood, Hants, into a Quaker family E&L p58
Training: 1889-1902 at the Birmingham School of Art & then at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris OxDicMod. Southall taught Armfield the tempera technique at his Edgebaston studio E&L p58
Influences: The Pre-Raphaelites & Arts & Crafts Movement which still exercised a dominant influence at the Birmingham School of Art. However, Armfield was open to an unusually wide range of influences, including Japanese art, Art Nouveau & early Italian painting E&L p58
Career: In 1902 he travelled widely in Italy E&L p58. In 1909 he married the playwright Constance Smedley & became a Christian Scientist under her influence. After her death (1940) he became interested in mysticism & eastern religions OxDicMod. He was a conscientious objector & lived in New York & California from 1915 to 1922 . He exhibited at the NEAC from 1906 to 1914 & at the RA from 1913 to 1962 E&L p58
Oeuvre: He painted portraits, figure compositions often on literary themes, & numerous small flower paintings. He was also an illustrator, costume designer, craft worker, writer, composer etc OxDicMod, E&L p58
Characteristics: He worked in a traditional style often in tempera OxDicMod
Repute: He was rescued from obscurity by an exhibition at the Fine Arts Society, 1970 E&L p58
ARP, Hans/Jean, 1887-1956, France:
Background: Born at Strasburg OxDicMod
Training: At the School of Arts & Crafts Strasburg, at Weimar Academy, & then briefly at the Academy Julian in 1908 OxDicMod.
Career: Arp spoke fluent German & French; after training in Switzerland. In 1912 he met Delaunays & Kandinsky. He participated in the second Blaue Ritter exhibition. In 1915 he moved to Zurich & helped found Dada. He met & collaborated with Sophie Taeuber, who became his wife in 1922, on cut-out paper compositions & collages. During 1919-20 he was in Cologne where he continued Dadaism with his friend Ernst. From 1920 he mainly worked Paris, settling in nearby Meudon in 1928. He participated in the Surrealist movement from 1925 but later moved closer to abstract art, especially of the non-geometric type. In 1930 he joined Cercle et Care. During the Second World War he fled to the Riviera where he & wife lived happily with Sonia Delaunay & Magnelli. He fled 1942 flees to Switzerland in 1942. In 1943 his wife died & he then suffeed from depression. Arp returned to Meudon in 1946, & in 1959 made a happy second marriage, moving near Locarno OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Painter; sculptor; poet OxDicMod
Phases: He explored both geometric & biomorphic Abstraction. L&L. There was little stylistic development in his later work OxDicMod
Beliefs: Arp & Taeuber thought their joint collages would be non-egoistic & calming because of their impersonal techniques & geometric rigour TurnerEtoPM. Arp thought that collages produced by the laws of chance brought art closer to nature OxDicMod. He was interested in theosophy & believed that his work had penetrated beyond appearances to reveal a greater undelying truth Grove30 p711.
Arpino. See d’Arpin
.. ARRIETA, (Jose) Augustin, 1803-73, Mexico; National Romanticism:
Background: He was born at Santa Ana Chiautempan, near Tlaxcala Grove 2 p498
Training: At what became the local Academia de Bellas Artes Grove 2 p498
Oeuvre/Phases/Characteristics: Initially portraits but from about 1840 he concentrated on still-life & costumbrista paintings. They are scenes of flirtation & seduction in kitchens, taverns & markets which avoid sentimentality & condescension in what are mainly scenes of the lower class. His still-life combines luxurious & ordinary Mexican & European foods Grove 2 p498
Grouping/Status: The Puebla School, of which he is the most representative member in the mid–century Grove 2 p498
Collections: Museo Nacional de Historia, Mexico City, & Museo Bello, Puebla
-ARTHOIS, Jacques d’, 1613-86, Belgium=Brussels:
Career: He led an unstable life being imprisoned for debt & dying in poverty OxDicArt
Speciality: Large decorative scenes , many with Biblical subjects L&L
Feature: His figures were often added by Teniers the Younger etc OxDicMod
Workshop: This was large & he trained many pupils. It contained his brother Nicolas & his son Jean-Baptiste, whose work is scarcely distinguishable L&L
*Cosmas ASAM, 1686-1739, son of Hans, Germany:
Influences: Very probably North Italian Sacri Monti C-B p10. The Italian tradition of Correggio & Pietro da Cortona; & Bernini, Gaulli, Pozzo, Rubens L&L, Hempel p188.
Career: 1711-15 in Italy where the charicaturist Pierleone was his tutor C-B p10, Hempel p184. He worked with his brother, Egid, who was a sculptor OxDicArt. Cosmas completed his first frescoes in 1714. In 1716 his abbey church at Weltenburg was started & he began the dome fresco in 1718. Further frescos were completed during 1726 (Kladruby/Kladrau church in Bohemia), 1731 (Brevnor Abbey, near Prague), 1733 (Legnickie Pole/Wahlstadt church, Silesia), 1733 again (Osterhofen), & during 1733-46 (St Johannes Nepomuk at Munich) Hempel pp 184-5, 187-9.
Oeuvre: It was mainly religious frescos but included fine secular work at Mannheim & Alteglofsheim L&L, Hempel pp 187-9
Speciality: Ecclesiastical buildings where both brothers worked as architects L&L
Characteristics: Their church interiors were spectacular & illusionistic with light & colour as the chief actors L&L, OxDicArt. They are Gesamtkunstwerk or total artworks combining different aspects Grove2 p579
Innovation: The Pagodenburg in the grounds of the Nympenberg Palace, Munich, & the abbey church at Weltgenburg inaugurated the great period of Bavarian Baroque art Hempel p184
Status/Grouping: He was an outstanding exponent of German Baroque art in the earlier 18th century & his abbey church at Weltenburg inaugurated the great period in of Bavarian Baroque Grove 2 p579, Hempel p184
Verdict: Their buildings were the supreme expression of the Bavarian delight in decorative display & the ceiling decorations at Weingarten are outstanding in their imaginative power, technical ability & beauty of form OxDicArt, Hempel pp187-8
Patron: Abbot Quirin Millon of the Benedictine abbey at Tegernse Hempel p184.
Grouping: German Baroque Grove2 p579
Personal: He was sociable with impeccable manners Hempel p189
Repute: The ceiling fresco at Weingarten established his reputation outside Bavaria Hempel p187
Brother: In their collaborations at Weltenburg, St John Nepomuk in Munich & the Ursulinenkirche at Strauberg it is sometimes impossible to say who did what Grove2 p579
-Hans ASAM, 1649-1711, father of Cosmas, Germany:
Background: Born Rott am Inn, the son of a master brewer Grove2 p579
Training: The court painter Nikolaus Prugger Grove2 p579
Influences: The Italian High Baroque, particulary Pozzo’s richly figured & perspectival ceiling frescoes, together with 16th century Venetian painting Grove2 p579
Career: He mainly worked for monasteries, in particular Benediktbeuren Abbey. Around 1687 he visited Venice & possibly Rome Grove2 p579
Oeuvre: Frescoes, altarpieces & portraits Grove2 pp 579-80
Characteristics: His work is sometimes decorative with use of quadratura Grove2 p580
Feature: His wife, Prugger’s daughter, assisted him, as did his daughter (Maria Salome) Grove2 pp 579-80
-ASPERTINI, Amico, 1474-1552, Italy=Bologna:
Training: Francia OxDicArt
Career: He was in Rome during 1500-3, 1532-4 & 1535-40 L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings & sculpture L&L
Characteristics: His paintings are often bizarre OxDicArt
Grouping: Mannerist OxDicArt
Feature: His two sketchbooks of drawings of Roman remains are important records of contemporary knowledge of the antique OxDicArt.
-ASSELIJN/ASSELYN, Jan, c1615-52, Netherlands; Baroque Classicism Movement
Influences: Claude Art UK
Career: During the early 1630s he was in Amsterdam Haak p303. Between 1635 & 1644 he was in Rome, where he joined the Bentveughels, & later worked & married in France. In 1647 he was back in Amsterdam L&L, Haak p303
Oeuvre: Early battle scenes, a few exquisite Dutch landscapes but he mostly painted Italianate landscapes & harbour scenes L&L. He also produced a series of flood pictures inspired by a dike break in 1651 Haak p303
Characteristics: His landscapes usually have herdsmen & cattle, & evoke a hushed atmosphere suffused with luminous light Haak p303
Verdict: He was among the best Italianate Dutch painters Haak p303
ASSERTO, Gioacchino, 1600-1649, Italy=Genoa:
Background: He was born at Genoa Grove2 p 619. His work follows on from the Lombard style of the Borromeo period, which had been transmitted to Genoa by Giulio Procaccini Waterhouse1964 p210
Training: Around 1614 he entered the studio of Andrea Ansaldo Grove2 p619.
Influences: Giulio Procaccini, Strozzi, Cerano, Morazzone Grove2 p619
Career: In 1639 he went to Rome but soon returned disappointed
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescoes Grove2 p619
Phases/Characteristics: His early work was refined & vividly coloured Mannerism but then became bolder & more powerful with violent emotions highlighted by flaming torches & candlelight. During the 1640s he was an active frescoist, though few survive, & he painted many dark canvases. His late works have a sober realism often with delicate psychological tension between the three quarter length figures & beautiful still-life. They have been compared to Velazquez & Murillo. He also painted compositions with figures softly modelled in broad brown brushstrokes in some works approaching the poetic expressiveness of Rembrandt Grove2 pp 619-20
Verdict: He was a painter of distinction Waterhouse1962 p210
Ast. See van der Ast
-Lawrence ATKINSON, 1873-1931, GB:
Background: Born at Chorlton-upon-Medlock near Manchester Shone1977 p209
Training: He studied music in Berlin & Paris but was self-taught in art Shone1977 p209
Career: Atkinson joined the Rebel Art Centre in 1914 & exhibited with the Vorticists in 1915. He turned to abstract & near abstract carvings from about 1921 L&L, Shone1977 p209
Oeuvre: Much of his work has disappeared Shone1977 p209
Characteristics: Abstract paintings usually of rising geometrical structures L&L
Status: Vorticism L&L
-Terry ATKINSON, 1939-
Background: Born Thurscoe, Yorkshire OxModDic
Career: He was an original member of the Art & Language Group but left in 1975. Although he has produced Conceptual work, he is best known for his paintings OxModDic
Oeuvre: Drawings & paintings, which are like snapshots, & deal with political themes including the first World War, nuclear weapons & Northern Ireland OxDicMod, L&L
Beliefs: My work is concerned with “making a critique of art rather than a celebration of it” OxDicMod
-ATLAN, Jean-Michel, 1913-60, France:
Background: He was born in Algeria of Jewish-Berber ancestry OxDicMod
Training: Self-taught as an artist but with a degree in philosophy at the Sorbonne OxDicMod
Career: In 1930 he settled in Paris. He was initially successful with his post-war abstract work but from 1948 entered a period of neglect & poverty OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings, lithography & poetry OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: His early work was violently expressionistic & semi-figurative but after the war it became abstract with rhythmical mostly flat forms in deep, rich colour & thickly outlined in black OxDicMod
Beliefs: He said his works were instinctive & reflected the need for rhythmical expression L&L
Grouping: Art Informel L&L
Feature: Due to his Resistance activities, he was arrested in 1942 but feigned madness & was put into an asylum, where he was allowed to paint OxDicMod
ATWOOD, Clare, 1866-1962, English:
Background: She was born in Richmond, London, & her father was an architect Wikip
Training: Westminster School of Art & the Slade Wikip
Career: She first exhibited at NEAC in 1893 & became a member in 1912. During the War she painted for the Canadian Government, & produced scenes depicting the activities of women for the Imperial War Museum Wikip
Oeuvre: Interiors with figures, townscapes, portraits etc ArtUK
Personal: She lived in a ménage a trios with the writer Christabel Marshall & the actress & stage director Edith Craig Wikip
Collections: Imperial War Museum, Smallhythe Place.
AUDRON, Claude III, 1658-1734:
Background: Audron came from a family of painters & decorators OxDicArt
Career: In 1704 he became curator of the Luxembourg OxDicArt
Characteristics: His work features with arabesques, grotesques & trellises OxDicArt
Status: He was a leading decorator (& court painter) of the era & a Rococo pioneer OxDicArt, B-Supan2007 p28
Pupils: Watteau OxDicArt
-AUDUBON, John, 1785-1851, USA (France):
Background: He was born in Haiti L&L
Training: Briefly with David L&L
Career: He visited America in 1803 & settled there in 1806. Around 1820 he began drawing North American birds. In 1826 he went to Britain to find backing & have his watercolours turned into hand coloured aquatint engravings. His Birds of America appeared between 1827 & 1838. He returned to America in 1831 & with his sons prepared The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, 1845-48 L&L
Oeuvre: Wildlife though he also painted portraits L&L
Collections: University of Liverpool
AUERBACH, Frank, 1931-, England (Germany):
Background: He was born in Germany but in 1939 was sent to England by Jewish parents who died at Auschwitz OxDicMod, Wullschlager FT17/10/2015
Training: During 1947-8 he studied at the Borough Polytechnic under Davis Bomberg who emphasised risk taking & organic, unified form. Between 1948 & 1952 he was at the St Martin’s School of Art & 1952-5 at the Royal College of Art, & at inspiring evening classes under David Bomberg Grove2 p712, OxDicMod.
Career: In 1947 he became a UK citizen OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Portraits, nudes, building sites, & from the mid-1950s prints OxDicMod
Techniques: Heavy impasto with the paint modelled rather than brushed OxDicMod. At first he laid brushstrokes on top of one another but from the late 1960s he scraped down after each session & allowed relatively soft paint to spontaneously form peaks, channels & merged colours that reflected facts & his feelings Grove2 p712
Characteristics: His work displays a fascination with the physical nature of paint Spalding1986 p230
Grouping: He belonged to the School of London which was a loose group associated with the Colony Room. This was a private club in Dean Street. Its clientele also included Michael Andrews, Bacon, Burra, Craxton, Freud, Minton, & Vaughan Spalding1986 pp 143-5
Verdicts: People look like concentration camp refugees (Stephen Spender). His work expresses complex perceptions of simple things & he was the most interesting UK painter (David Sylvester, 1961). His paintings are muddy & overworked OxDicMod
Beliefs: Work that is inspired by despair that life is slipping away & ending in death. There enough pictures already but he hopes to make something new & to pin down the essentials of an experience before it disappears. Figuration is only sustainable through increasingly profound, sensational & evocative paint handling Wullschlager FT17/10/2015.
Reception: Throughout his career his art has been highly regarded in Britain & his international reputation grew during the 1980s Grove2 p712
-AVED, Jacques-Andre-Joseph-Camelot, 1702-66, France; Realism, 18th Century Movement
Training: Belle in Paris Wakefield p66
Influences: Rembrandt & the Dutch school; Tocque Wakefield p66
Career: Youth in Amsterdam Wakefield p66; 1721 to Paris L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits OxDicArt
Characteristics: Discreet & sober realism Wakefield p66; middle class sitters in daily life avocations OxDicArt
Clientele: A few French royals & foreign sitters Wakefield p66
Friends: Chardin (close) Wakefield p66
Influences: 1737 close friend Chardin’s move into portraiture Wakefied p67
-Hendrick AVERCAMP, 1585-1634, Netherlands=Kampen
Background: He was born in Amsterdam, the son of a schoolteacher who then became an apothecary in Kampen, which was an old Hansa town on the Zuider Zee Haak p197.
Training: In Amsterdam under the Danish painter Pieter Isaacs Haak p197
Influence: The Flemish landscape painters Hans Bol, Coninxloo & Vinckboons who had fled to Amsterdam as shown by a high horizon & use of trees & houses to balance a composition Grove2 p854
Career: By 1613 he was back in Kampen he was active in Kampen & his work was very popular L&L, OxDicArt
Speciality: Winter outdoor sport & leisure scenes with carefully observed figures L&L, OxDicArt
First artist in the Netherlands to paint winter landscapes & a pioneer of the realistic landscape Grove2 p854, Fuchs p87
Personal: Aver camp was deaf & dumb OxDicArt
Nephew: Barent Aver camp c1622-34, was considerably less talented than his uncle but his ice scenes have a certain charm because of the attractive subject matter & his rather naively portrayed figures Haak pp394-5
-AVERY, Milton, 1893-1965, United States:
Background: He was born in Altmar, New York OxDicMod
Teacher: Avery was largely self-taught L&L
Influences: Matisse L&L
Career: He spent most of his early life in Connecticut but in 1925 settled in New York City. Avery supported himself with night jobs so that he could paint. Only after his marriage in 1926 to a noted illustrator (Sally Michael) did he paint full-time OxDicMod
Technique: Thin veils of colour L&L
Characteristics: Flat areas of interacting & subtle, rich & distinctive colour OxDicArt, Hughes p489. His paintings are strangely luminous L&L. Although he never abandoned representation, some of his later works can at first glance be mistaken for abstracts OxDicMod
Verdict: Rothco praised “the sheer loveliness” of his work OxDicMod
Personal: He was mild, unassuming, disliked publicity & did almost nothing but paint OxDicMod
Influence: Avery was practically the only channel through which Matisse’s subtle colouristic tradition was sustained in America, & he inspired the Colour Field painters, especially his friend Rothko OxDicMod Hughes pp 488-9
.. AVY, Marius/Joseph-Marius Jean, 1871-1939, Albert Besnard’s son-in-law, France; the Great Tradition:
Career: He was born at Marseilles, the son of a wealthy businessman Celebonovic p180, Wikip
Training: Leon Bonnat & Albert Maignan Cerebonovic p180
Career: During 1990-30 he exhibited at the Salon des Artists Francais & then at the Salon Nationale des Beau-Arts. His masterpiece is the charming & poetic Bal Blanc, 1903 with its dramatic contrast between the dark piano & the whitish pinks of the pianist & young women dancers. They twirl together as emphasised by his free, modern & accomplished brushwork. In 1909 he married Germaine Besnard Celebrovnicv pp127-8, Wikip, etc.
Oeuvre: Genre, landscapes which were often Italian, decoration Calebronovic p180, Wikip
Characteristics: His paintings feature beautiful young upper-class women who unless dancing are doing little or nothing. His colours are harmonious & his facture is impressionistic web images
AYRES, Gillian, 1930-, GB:
Training: 1946-50 at the Camberwell School of Art OxDicMod
Influences: She was negatively impacted by landscape, the life-room & neo-romanticism; & positively by Abstract-Expressionism & Colour Field Painting OxDicMod
Career: She taught at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, 1959-66, St Martin’s School of Art. 1966-78, & Winchester School of Art, 1978-81. Ayres then moved to Wales & painted full-time. Subsequently she worked in London & Cornwall. In 1960 she participated in the Situation Exhibition &1992 became an RA OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Abstract paintings OxDicMod
Phases: In the late 1960s she sometimes used Pollock’s drip technique & in the 1960s did some luscious colour stain paintings. From 1977 she moved back from acrylic to oils & her painting became richer & thicker OxDicMod
Characteristics: Her work is large, lyrical & dramatic L&L
-AYRTON, Michael, 1921-75, GB:
Background: Born London, the son of the poet Gerald Gould & the Labour politician Barbara Ayrton OxDicMod
Training: Heatherley’s & St John’s Wood School of Art OxDicMod
Career: He travelled extensively in Europe sharing a studio with Minton in Paris in 1939. After being invalided out of the RAF in 1942 he taught theatre design at the Camberwell School of Art. During1844-6 he was art critic at the Spectator where he was a leading & provocative spokesman for Neo-Romanticism. Encouraged by Moore he took up sculpture in 1954 OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic work, sculpture, theatre design, films OxDicMod
Feature: He was obsessed with the Daedalus & Icarus myth OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: His early work was often turbulent & melodramatic with anguished figures in strange landscapes, but he was later more restrained OxDicMod
..AYSHFORD/METHUEN, Paul/Lord, the 4th Baron 1886-1974; England; Impressionism British & Irish:
Training/Influences: Drawing at Eton; the Ruskin, Oxford; & classes by Walter Sickert, 1927, which permanently affected his style Wikip
Career: Worked at the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, & published scientific papers, 1910-14; served as captain in his regiment, 1939; had job protecting art works after the invasion; obtained commissions from the War Artists’ Advisory Committee & made a striking [as in] pen & ink drawing of bomb damage around St Paul’s, 1942 (V&A); president of the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, 1939-71; established the Bath Academy of Art at his house, Corsham Court, 1946; having occasionally exhibited with NEAC he threw his weight behind the Club from the late 1940s; became a Royal Academician, 1959 Wikip, McConkey2006, pp 180-81, OxDicMod p63
Oeuvre: Landscapes with buildings, animals & plants in oils, watercolour, etc OxDicMod p63; McConkey2006 p197-98; Wikip
Phases/Characteristics: After the war his work became less Sickert like & he produced pleasing paintings in an impressionist style but in the tradition of Constable etc as in his big sky painting Putney Bridge, Bath, during Restoration, 1951 (Brighton Museum & Art Gallery) McConkey2006 pp 197-98, webimages
Politics: He belonged to & remained a member of the Artist’s International Association voted for the removal of the political clause M&R p82
-Adriaen BACKER, c1631-84, Netherlands, Jacob’s nephew, Netherlands:
Influences: Not van der Helst Haak p373
Career: He worked for several years in Rome but was in Amsterdam from 1669. He appears to have been successful and was a successful portraitist L&L Haak p373
Oeuvre: Portraits etc Haak p373
Speciality: Group-portraits for fraternities etc Haak p373
..Harriet BACKER, 1845-1932, Norway:
Background: She was born in Holmerstrand into an artistic family. Her sister was a pianist & composer RA1900 p367
Training: Munich for four years; & during 1878-80 in Paris under Bonnat RA1900 p367
Influences: The Hague School Norman1977 p33
Career: In 1881 she visited Brittany but in 1888 returned to Norway. During the summers of 1886-7 she painted with Werenskiold & other nationalistic artists at Fleskum. Between 1889 & 1912 she ran a private painting school in Oslo RA1900 p367, Norman1977 p33, Jacobs1985 p91.
Speciality: Peasant interiors Norman1977 p33
Status: With Krohg she was a leading Norwegian painter at the turn of 19th century Norman1977 p33
Grouping: Social Realist Norman1977 p33
Legacy: Backer influenced succeeding Norwegian painters Norman1977 p33
-Jacob BACKER, 1608-51, Adrian’s uncle, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Background: Born at Harlingen, a Frisian port Haak p285
Training: Lambert Jacobsz in Leeuwarden where Flinck was a fellow student Haak p285
Influences: Rembrandt L&L
Career: Backer became prosperous OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Portraits & Histories; civil & military group portrait L&L
Phases: His later works show him turning to the new Italianate classical style L&L
Status: At his death he was probably more esteemed than Rembrandt OxDicArt Grouping The Dutch Classicists MB
-BACO/JACOMART, Jaime/Jaume, 1413-61, Spain:
Background: He was born in Valencia Grove 16 p832
Career: His patrons were Alfonso V of Aragon & His son John II & he lived at the Arogonese court in Naples & in Valencia. He collaborated with Pere & Juan Rexach Grove16 p832, L&L
Oeuvre: Altarpieces L&L
Characteristics: They are difficult to determine because his only documented work was collaborative Grove16 p832, Wikip
**Francis BACON, 1909-92, UK:
Background: He was born in Dublin, the son of a soldier who became a horse trainer. Bacon remembered him as highly strung, dictatorial & censorious. However his mother was easy going. The family moved back & forth between England & Ireland, changing houses every year or two Russell p12. The War was followed by angst due to recent atrocities & the Bomb Spalding1986 p143
Training: None except from his friend Roy de Moister L&L
Career: Due to asthma he never had a coherent education but was tutored by a local clergyman. Attempts to send him to school failed because he ran away. He spent much of his youth with his maternal grandmother at her largish house. When he was eight she was married to the Chief of Police for Kildare. There was a room sandbagged from floor to ceiling in which to shelter &, stuck one night in the Bog of Allen with his step-grandfather, they were hunted until they reached the nearest big house where the householder & his family stood behind the door guns in hand. Many Irish neighbours were drunken & given to bizarre behaviour Bacon was banished by his father for trying on his mother’s underwear Russell pp 12-14, 73. In 1925 he went to London where he was an interior designer of steel-glass furniture & Art Deco rugs Spalding1986 p145, OxDicArt. During 1926-7 he produced his first drawings & watercolours; & in about 1929 his first oils (but he destroyed much of his early work) OxDicArt. In 1933-4 he showed his paintings but his first one-man exhibition did so badly that he became discouraged & wasted the rest of decade L&L, Spalding1986 p145. However during the 1940s he made painting his priority L&L. In 1945 Three Studies for Figures at the Base of the Crucifixion caused a sensation at the Lefevre Gallery OxDicArt
Technique: Bacon used un-primed canvasses enabling him to drag paint a cross the weave to produce raw, textured marks. He usually avoided preliminary drawings & occasionally threw painty sponges at the canvas in order to suggest images. Bacon used thinned oil paints, or enhanced with pastels, for his central motif; and acrylics or house paints for backgrounds Hopkins p70.
Circle: The School of London & provincial bohemia, where, according to Berger, nobody gave a fuck (sic) about what was happening elsewhere WullschlagerFT26/9/2015
Links: Andrews, Auerbach, Burra, Craxton, Freud, Minton & Vaughan. They used to meet at the Colony Room (a private club in Dean Street) Spalding1986 pp 143-5
Sources: These included friends & gay lovers, photos & film stills, also reproductions of famous paintings & medical pictures of malformations & wounds L&L. He found sitters distracting & disquieting because he distorted them & their presence constrained his imagination Wilcox1990 p14
Settings: These featured vertical caging lines, circus-like areas & curtaining. There were also suggestions of interiors using doors, knobs, loos, basins, or a bed which could be an operating table. His paint surfaces were immaculate paint surfaces & sometimes in shocking colours L&L
Characteristics: Drama or even melodrama; slippery & pulled paints for figures & faces. His work is never joyful L&L. The faces & bodies of the principal figures are almost always distorted, usually grossly so. This holds true even for friends & lovers. Mouths are frequently open, sometimes screaming and/or with prominent teeth. His faces often lack definition & hence appear inscrutable & sinister. Bacon’s figures are usually alone or at least not interacting Russell etc
Beliefs/Aim: To be the Goya of modern history, a last painter of the tragic figure, telling truths that the camera could not Hughes1991 p298. This required a new kind of figurative narrative in tune with filmic imagery & also with modern war, persecutions & massacres L&L. He wanted to produce pictures that leave a trail of human presence like a snail leaving a trail of slime OxDicMod. However, he said “I’ve nothing to say about the ‘human condition’ ”; & facial & bodily distortions are a consequence of his search for a way of making the paint “come across directly on to the nervous system” by painting “as directly & rawly” as possible. Bacon viewed the nervous system as independent of the brain. He relied on marks on canvas (“the accident”) which he then developed into an image Spalding1986 p149, Berger1980 p112. According to Berger, Bacon’s aim was to shock Wullschlager FT26/9/2015
Status: He can be seen as a latter-day Expressionist who benefited from Surrealist developments L&L
Verdict: He was the foremost British painter of the 20th century L&L. But, according to Berger, he was a complacent, egocentric, conformist – not Goya but Walt Disney Wullschlager FT26/9/2015
-Sir Nathaniel BACON, 1585-1627, Sir Francis’ nephew, England:
Training: Perhaps in Utrecht by Terbruggen L&L
Career: He was a gentleman-amateur who worked for family & friends. Bacon made frequent trips to the Low Countries L&L
Oeuvre: This included numerous highly accomplished self-portraits L&L
First: Bacon was the first notable English amateur painter OxDicArt. He was also the first English-born painter to have produced stand alone landscape & life-sized kitchen & market scenes with still-life elements L&L
Verdict: He equalled Mytens & Johnson & was the finest portraitists in England before Van Dyke OxDicArt
Collections: Gorhamsbury OxDicArt
Influence: None Waterhouse1953 p66
*BADALOCCHIO, Sisto, 1585-active 1620:
Background: He was born in Parma Grove3 p32
Training: The Carracci in Bologna L&L
Influences: Lanfranco Grove3 p32
Career: After Agostino’s death in 1602 he & Lanfraco joined Annibale, becoming one of his chief assistants & working at the Palazzo Farnese. He returned to Parma in 1609 but was active in Rome subsequently L&L, Grove3 p32
Oeuvre: Paintings & engravings L&L
Speciality: Poetic nocturnal paintings of Christ’s Entombment L&L
Characteristics: After 1609 his work displays a lively play of light & shade. In his lyrical Holy Family, c1609, has Annibale’s clarity & grandeu with the colours & soft light of Correggio & Schedone Grove3 pp 32-3
Repute: His lack of application Grove3 p32, Waterhouse1962 p107
Grouping: Baroque after his return to Parma Waterhouse1962 p107
-BADGER, Joseph, 1708-65, USA:
Background : He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of a tailor Wikip
Career: He was also a house painter & glazier, & also painted signs & heraldic devices when portrait work was sparse. Badger worked in Boston to which he moved around 1733. He belonged to the Brattle Street Church & he succeeded John Smibert as the principal portrait painter in Boston Wikip, L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits, etc L&L
Characteristics: Portraits of men & women, together with a few children, largely from the waist up but with a few standing, who look the viewer in the eye. Some of his works display an interest in revealing character as in his severe & unflattering portrait of Elizabeth Cambell, c1750 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Repute: He was largely forgotten until rediscovered in 1918 Wikip
Collections: The Worcester Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; & the Phillips House, Salem, Massachusetts
BADILE, Antonio, c1518-60, Italy=Verona:
Background: Badile was born in Verona into as family of artist & his father was an engraver Grove3 p37
Oeuvre: Altarpieces & numerous portraits Grove3 pp 37-8
Characteristics: He was among the more conservative artists in Verona. Badile had skill as a colourist & in rendering rich fabrics & embroidery Grove3 p38
Verdict: He was mediocre L&L
Pupils: Veronese L&L
-BAERTLING, Olle, 1911-81, Sweden:
Background: He was born at Halmstad Grove3 p42
Training: Under Andre Lhote & Fernand Leger in Paris Grove3 p42
Influences: Mondrian L&L
Career: An amateur artist inspired by Matisse & Van Gogh he went to Paris in 1948.
Oeuvre: Paintings & sculpture Grove3 p42
Phases: By about 1950 his work was purely abstract
Characteristics: His work was similar to Op Art with simultaneous contrast & afte-images. From 1954 he enclosed clean, brightly coloured areas with black diagonal lines in which the edges seem to continue into space as in Composition, 1955, in which diagonal, wedge-shaped light areas open out to the edge Grove3 p42, L&L, LeymarieEtc p185.
Innovation: The open form Grove3 p42
Contacts: Auguste Herbin & Victor Vasarely Grove3 p42
**BAGLIONE, Giovanni, c1573-1644, Italy=Rome:
Background: He was born in Rome descended he said from a noble Perugian family Brigstocke, Grove3 p53
Training: Apprenticed to Francesco Morelli, a little known Florentine painter in Rome Grove3 p53.
Influences: Various including Raphael, the Cavaliere d’ Arpino, antique sculpture & Michelangelo. How far he was an adherent of Caravaggio is disputed Grove3 p53, Brigstocke.
Career: He joined the Accademia di S. Luca & was thrice elected it principal. Initially he worked with the team of fresco painters at the Biblioteca Vaticana & Lateran for SixtusV & Clement VIII. In 1605 he sued Caravaggio who had mocked his works Grove3 p53, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescoes of religious & mythological subjects, portraits Grove3 p51
Phases/Characteristics: His early work is sweet, eloquent & naturalistic with compact sculptural form. From 1610 his work became more inventive & increasingly Baroque with emphatic lighting to make the firmly modelled figures stand out. Dense shadows in draperies contrast with bright edges & graceful remote figures combined with realistic garments etc & objects produce a distinctive dream-like effect Grove3 pp 53–4.
Writing: His Vite de’ Pittori, Scultori et Archietti…, 1642, is probably the most reliable source for late 16th & early 17th century Roman artists L&L
BAILLY, David, 1584-1657, Netherlands=Leiden:
Training: His father & Cornelis van der Voort Haak p224
Career: Bailly went to Amsterdam around 1602, traveled through Germany & Italy, & settled down in Leiden Haak p224
Oeuvre: Portraits Haak p224
Innovations: He is usually called the father of vanitas still-life in Leiden Haak p266
Verdict: His work appears rather conventional Haak p224
Pupil: Harman van Steenwijck L&L
BAINES, Harry, 1910-95, England:
Background: He was born in Manchester artuk
Training: School of Art, Manchester, 1930-34 artuk
Influences: Renato Guttuso artuk
Career: After training he painted several murals in the north including Timperly church, Cheshire. He served in the Royal Engineers, 1941-6 & became design studio director for the Indian government’s exhibition division information department. In 1946 he moved to London & in 1956 he exhibited at John Berger’ Looking Forward Exhibition artuk, FF50S. Baines was a member of the Artists International Association before & after the war L&R pp 7, 80-1,
Verdict: John Beerger praised his superb draughtsmanship artuk
Grouping: Realism artuk
..BAIRD, Edward, 1904-1949, Scotland:
Background: Born in Montrose E&L p59
Training: Glasgow School of Art where Patrick became a close friend E&L p59
Influences: de Chirico Macmillan1990 p341
Career: Baird made a trip to Italy in 1928 but after his return in 1929 remained in Montrose for the rest of his life. He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy from 1933 to 1943 & occasionally at the RA. He suffered from chronic asthma & lived with his mother until his marriage in 1945 after a very lengthy engagement E&L p59
Oeuvre: Only about 30 completed oils, about half of which were portraits E&L pp 59-60
Technique: He often used layered glazes, constantly reworked his paintings & seldom regarded them as finished E&L p59
Characteristics: He had an obsessive attention to detail E&L p60
Grouping: The Scottish Renaissance Group E&L p59
Beliefs: He was a keen Scottish Nationalist E&L p59
Background: Emden Haak p480
Training: Allart van Everdingen & Hendrick Dubbels (Houbraken) Haak p480
Influences: Van der Velde for latish works Haak p480, L&L
Career: He went to Holland around 1650 for business training Haak p480
Oeuvre: Marine paintings & portraits, together with a few religious & genre works Haak pp 480-1, L&L
Characteristics: The water is often restless, even rough, & the diagonal clouds are usually blue-grey. In his later works the waves look glass-hard. He closely observed nature’s differing moods (sometimes going out in a boat to observe them) Haak pp 480-1
Status: After the van der Veldes went to England in 1672 he became the most renowned Dutch marine painter L&L
Personal: He was industrious, quiet, courteous & respectable (Houbraken) Haak p480
-BAJ, Enrico, 1924-. Italy:
Background: Born Milan OxDicMod
Training: While reading for a law degree he studied part-time at the Brera Academy OxDicMod:
Career: In 1951 he helped found the Nuclear Art Movement, which was a form of Tachisme, but made reference to fears about nuclear war. Andre Breton included him in the final edition of his Le Surrealisme et la Peinture OxDicMod,
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic art, sculpture OxDicMod
Phases: From 1955 he made use of collage in works which parallel both Pop Art & Nouveau Realisme OxDicMod.
Characteristics: He bitterly satirized the powerful, especially the military in works made of buttons, belts & medals. He also used Mecccano or inserted gnome-like figures into cheap paintings of landscapes or glamorous bodies suggesting some kind of alien invasion OxDicMod. These were both humorous & disturbing, & mocked Art Informel L&L.
Politics: He was a passionate Anarchist OxDicMod
*BAKHUIZEN/BACKHUYSEN/BACKHUYZEN, Ludolf, c1630-1708, Netherlands=Amsterdam (Germany):
Background: Born in Emden Haak p480
Training: Allart van Everdingen & Hendrick Dubbels (Houbraken) Haak p480
Influences: Van der Velde for latish works Haak p480, L&L
Career: He went to Holland around 1650 for business training Haak p480
Oeuvre: Marine paintings & portraits, together with a few religious & genre works Haak pp 480-1, L&L
Characteristics: The water is often restless, even rough, & the diagonal clouds are usually blue-grey. In his later works the waves look glass-hard. He closely observed nature’s differing moods (sometimes going out in a boat to observe them) Haak pp 480-1
Status: After the van der Veldes went to England in 1672 he became the most renowned Dutch marine painter L&L
Personal: He was industrious, quiet, courteous & respectable (Houbraken) Haak p480
BAKHUYZEN, Hendrikus van de Sande, 1795-1860, Netherlands:
Training: The Hague Academy LSD p38
Career: In 1841 he went on a study trip to Germany with his pupil Willem Roelfs LSD p267
Oeuvre: Landscape & animal paintings LSD p26
Innovations: Bakhuyzen was a forerunner of The Hague School L&L
BAKKER-KORFF, Alexander, 1824-1922, Netherlands:
Background: Born at The Hague Norman1977
Training: With Kruseman at The Hague Academy, & with Wappers & De Keyser in Antwerp Norman1977
Career: Bakker-Korff lived with his sisters who often modeled for him. In 1848 he retired to Oegstgeest where he developed his own style of miniature painting. During 1856 he settled at Leiden Norman1977
Oeuvre: Small cabinet & genre scenes Norman1977
Speciality: Vivacious ageing spinsters chatting, sewing, playing the piano etc Norman1977
Phases/Characteristics: Early on he painted biblical & historical canvases. Furnishings are depicted with a sharp eye & he is known as the Dutch Meissonier Norman1977
..BAKSHEEV, Vasili, 1862-1958, Russia:
Background: He born in Moscow Bown1991 p240
Training: Until 1888 at the Moscow School of Painting Bown1991 p240
Career: In 1896 he joined the Wanderers & in 1913 he became an Academician. During 1925-31 he was a member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AKhRR). He taught at the Moscow School of Painting (1894-1918), the Institute for Raising Artists’ Qualifications, Moscow (1933-40), & the Kalinin Moscow Artistic-Technical College (1945-51). In 1943 he won a Stalin Prize & was a member of the USSR Academy of Arts Bown1991 p240
Speciality: Silver birch trees Bown1991 p155
*BAKST/ROSENBERG, Leon, 1866-1924, Russia:
Background: He was born at Grodno OxDicMod
Training: 1883-7 at the Academy St Petersburg & then in Paris at the Academie Julian etc OxDicMod
Career: He made repeated trips to Paris in the 1890s. In 1899 he helped found the World of Art group contributing paintings to its exhibitions & producing illustrations & covers for its magazine Mir Iskusstva. Bakst was involved in many exhibitions in Russia & Western Europe, & became an international figure. From 1910 he lived mainly in Paris & Between 1909 & 1921 he made designs for the Russian Ballet, as well as other companies L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings, illustrations & stage design L&L
Characteristics: He worked in many styles benefiting from the exotic & period styles of the fin de siecle’s interest in exotic & period styles L&L
Believed that colour could have a significant emotional impact OxDicMod
BALDOVINETTI, Alesso, 1425-99, Italy=Florence:
Background: His father was a wealthy merchant Grove3 p 98
Influences: Domenico Veneziano, Fra Angelico & Andrea Castagno ShearerW1996
Career: He seems to have joined the painters’ guild around 1448 & to have worked in Florence for the rest of his life. From about 1481 he was increasingly engaged on the restoration of mosaics ShearerW1996, Grove3 p100
Oeuvre: Panel paintings, frescos & the design of stained glass & mosaics ShearerW1996, L&L
Characteristics: His work was linear & his Madonnas elegantly attenuated. He only included figures essential to a clear presentation of events & their scale is influenced by their status with space & volume being conveyed through lighting & composition. However, he took delight in rich colours & detail, though this was controlled by a strong decorative instinct.
Feature: Some of his fresco experiments were unfortunate & have deteriorated Murrays1959, Grove3 p100
Baldung. See Grien
Balen. See van Balen
BALESTRA, Antonio, 1666-1740, Italy=Verona:
Background: He was born in Verona, the son of a wealthy merchant Grove3 p108
Training: After lessons in drawing he was under Antonio Bellucci in Venice & from 1691 to 1695 he was in Maratta’s school in Rome Grove2 pp108-9, Wittkower p481-2
Influences: Veronese, late Giordano, the Carraccis, Corregio Wittkower p484, Grove3 p109
Career: He returned to Verona after training but by 1697 he was in Venice where he more or less remained except for a trip to Bologna & Emilia in 1700 & a visit to Verona in 1701. After 1702 he travelled between Verona & Venice. During 1718 he settled permanently in Verona & in 1727 was elected to the Academia di S Luca, Rome Grove3 pp 108-9, L&L
Oeuvre: Religious & mythological paintings, prints & book illustration Grove3 pp 108-9, L&L
Characteristics/Style: He arranged his figures in a zig-zag diagonal. His colour became exquisite & included red & pale wine hues, & blue violets. In his late work he combined deep blues, scarlets & reds interspersed with a few subtle earth tones. His last works reflect the growing taste for Neo-classicism with few figures & restrained action & emotion Grove3 p109. According to Wittkower his work combined form-preserving academic Roman art & Venetian tonality. However Rococo C & S curves have been identified Wittkower p484, Grove3 p109.
Beliefs: “All the present evil”, he wrote in 1733, “derives from the pernicious habit, generally accepted, of working from the imagination without having first learned how to draw after good models & compose in accordance with the good maxims. No longer does one see young artists studying the antique” Wittkower pp 461, 571
Pupil: Pietro Rotari, Giambettino Cignaroli, Giovanni Mariotti & Pietro Longhi Grove3 p109, Levey1959 p106
Influence: Numerous painters in Verona & Venice etc
..BALKE, Peder, 1804-87, Norway:
Training: 1827-9 Tegneskolen, Chritiania under Jacob Munch. Then, 1829-32, at the Konstakdamien, in Stockholm under Carl Fahlcrantz; & during 1835-6 & 1843-4 Dahl Kent pp 66-7
Influences: Constable & Turner Kent p67
Career: In 1832 he visited the extreme North (East Finnmark where Dahl had also worked). Here he produced some awesome studies. During 1845-8 be was in Paris & between 1849 & 1850 in London Kent p67
Technique: Painterly weightiness produced by use of sponges, fingers or anything that was to hand Kent p67
Oeuvre: Landscape Kent p67
Characteristics: Sombre & hostile natural forces; & awesome beauty Kent pp 67, 220
Patronage: His sombre paintings lacked appeal in Norway but he had Swedish & French buyers, including Louis-Philippe Kent p67
Anticipations: Strindberg & Abstract Expressionism Kent p67
*BALLA, Giacomo, 1871-1958, Italy:
Background: He was born in Turin, the son of an industrial chemist & keen amateur photographer Braun p426.
Training: Previati &n drawing classes in 1891 at the Accademia Albertina in Turin, but he was essentially self-taught GibsonM p203, Braun p426.
Influences: He was interested in science, natural & artificial light, & chronophotography in which the evolving stages of locomotion are recorded Braun p426, Wikip
Career: He worked in Rome from 1893, adopted Divisionism when vesting Paris in 1900, joined the Futurist group in 1910 & signed its two Manifestos, studied the representation of motion in Dusseldorf during 1912-3, led a Futurist group in Rome, & mentored the Futurist revival after the War L&L, Brigstocke
Characteristics: His Futurist works have a strong sense of movement with Girl Running on a Balcony, 1912, showing legs in successive positions, & later works being more abstract. During the late 1920s his work became more naturalistic & by the late 1930s he believed in absolute realism, all else degenerating into decoration & ornament Brigstocke, Braun p426.
Oeuvre: Paintings, murals, theatre & other design work Braun p426
Beliefs: His early leanings were Socialist Braun p426
Pupils: Severini, Boccioni, Sironi Braun p426
BALTEN/BALTENS, Pieter, c1526-before1584, Belgium:
Background: He was born at Antwerp, the son of a sculptor Grove3 p126
Oeuvre: Painter & engraver Grove3 p126
Career: In 1550 he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke & in 1551 he & Pieter Bruegel the Elder collaborated on an altarpiece & other works show them to have been closely associated Grove3 p126
Repute: He was long considered to be an inferior imitator of Brugel but this view has been revised due to the re-attribution of a group of landscape drawings previously ascribed to Bruegel or Hans Bol Grove3 p126
Works: St Martin’s Day Kermis (signed) . (Rijksmuseum & Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp) Ecco Homo. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp)
-BALTHUS/Count Balthazar de Rola, 1908-, France:
Background: Born in Paris to Polish parents OxDicMod
Training: Self-taught mainly by copying Renaissance paintings OxDicMod
Influences: Piero della Francesca. He was encouraged by Bonnard, Derain & the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who were all family friends OxDicMod
Career: His first one man exhibition was in 1934 caused a scandal because of the sexual content of the pictures. Balthus made a living with portraits & stage designs. He joined the army but was discharged on medical grounds, spent 1943-6 in Switzerland, returned to Paris & built up an international reputation . In 1954 he moved to a chateau near Autun, & from 1961 to 1977 was director of the French Academy in Rome. After this he lived mainly in seclusion in Switzerland. He shunned publicity & was married to a Japanese woman 34 years his junior OxDicMod
Oeuvre: This was small as he worked slowly OxDicMod
Speciality: The adolescent girl awakening to sexual consciousness who are usually shown languidly sprawled or kneeling awkwardly over books in claustrophobic interiors OxDicMod
Innovation: One of the few painters to adapt traditional realism to contemporary purposes on such a monumental scale OxDicMod
Bamboccio. See van Laer
Banco. See di Banco
Bandol. See Bondol
BARABAS, Miklos, 1810-1898, Hungary:
Training: He was largely self-taught but in 1830 he entered the Vienna Academy for a year Norman1977
Career: During 1833-40 he was in Italy copying the Old Masters. He then settled in Budapest where he was deluged with commissions for portraits. The good reception of his sketches of street scene life led him to turn to larger works. Barabas became the first president of the Budapest School of Fine Arts Norman1977
Oeuvre: He was immensely prolific, mainly painting portraits Norman1977, Pogany p5
First painter of genre scenes of daily Hungarian life Norman1977
Legacy: He had many imitators & followers Norman1977
BARCLAY, Edgar, 1842-1913:
Background: Born in London Web
Training: In Dresden with Schnoor von Carolsfeld Newall p70
Career: From around 1870 he divided his time between England & Italy where he became, & remained, a close friend of Costa with he shared an exhibition in Rome during 1874. He belonged to the sketching club which Crane organised in Rome during the early 70s. During the 1880s he settled in England & began painting Wessex scenes, particular Stonehenge Barclay exhibited at the RA from 1871 & later at the Grosvenor Newall pp 20-1, 70, Young Gallery (Salisbury).
Oeuvre: Landscape & figure studies in oil & watercolour Newall p70
Speciality: Italian & North African subjects Newall p70
Phases/Characteristics: From 1881 he concentrated on subjects in the English rustic tradition Newall p70. They are lyrical & display a skilful handling of light with big skies Young Gallery, etc
Aim: To paint scenes of simple [Italian] life showing a robust peasantry clad in primitive draperies & their natural setting of grand & magnificent scenery Newall p 20
Repute: He is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary
-BARENDSZ, Dirck, 1534-1592, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Background: Born Amsterdam Grove3 p230
Training: With Titian L&L
Influences: Bassano & Aertsen Grove3 p230
Career: In 1555 he went to Rome & Venice returning in about 1562 & remaining there Grove3 p230
Oeuvre: Paintings & oil sketches Grove3 p230
Characteristics: Strong colours & rapid sketchy brushwork. His lively civic guard paintings contrast with the stiff ones produced in Amsterdam around that time Grove3 p230
First: to introduce an Italian style & outlook to the Netherlands L&L.
Circle: It was cultivated Grove3 p230
Feature: Barendsz was an accomplished musician, mathematician & linguist Grove3 p230
BARLOW, Francis, c1626-1704, England:
Background: He may have been born in Lincolnshire Grove3 p244
Oeuvre: Painter, etcher & draughtsman Grove3 p244, He was a prolific book illustrator OxDicArt
Technique: His drawings of Birds & animals were frequently taken from life Grove3 p244
Speciality: Birds & animals L&L
Characteristics: Vivid, loving observation of animal structure & character & an almost naive charm OxDicArt, Waterhouse1953 p119. However he worked with a restricted palette & his compositions were weakly organised & crammed with creatures. He matured early & developed little Grove3 p244-5
Status: He was the father of British sporting painting & its distinguished exponent Waterhouse1953 p119
Influence: This was limited & he left no direct followers Grove3 p245
Baburen. See Van Baburen
Baciccio. See Gaulli
Barna da Siena. See Da Siena, Barna
BAROCCI, Federico, c1535-1612, the Zuccaros’ cousin, Italy=Urbino:
Background: He was born at Urbino Grove3 p253. Following the Council of Trent painters were faced with the conflicting demands for decorum & virtuosity, or what was termed vaghezza, meaning alluring. Hitherto vaghezza had been perceived in complex compositions of ideal figures in artful poses. These now came under scathing attack & faced artists with the problem of how decorum & allurement were to be reconciled Lingo p6, Hall2011 p202.
Training: The Mannerist Battista Franco Grove3 p253
Influences: These included Raphael & Titian, as seen in the collection of the Duke of Urbino & his first visit to Rome, & Correggio’s work with which he somehow became familiar between 1563 & about 1570 L&L, Grove3 p254. Either he made a trip to Emelia or, as Bellori said, he saw cartoons & coloured drawings Grove3 p254.
Career: He spent all his life at Urbino except for early Roman trips during the mid-1550s & 1560-3, & a visit to Pesaro where he saw paintings by Titian & other Venetians. He was allegedly poisoned by a rival in Rome, virtually ceased painting for four years, & remained an invalid & subject to depression. During 1567-9 he worked on his Deposition for the Cathedral in Perugia which was the first in his series of great altarpieces OxDicArt, Grove3 p254, Freedberg p437, Hall2011 p211.
Oeuvre: Oils & a few frescos & engravings almost all of which are religious Lingo pp 27, 66 etc
Technique: His grounds were tinted & this provided tonal unity & a soft sensuousness effect Hall2011 p80
Phases/Characteristics: He had an early linear & formalistic manner Posner1971 p27. In his mature works from the time of The Disposition he employed warm assimilative colours which group together & are close to each other in hue, value & saturation. By avoiding colours that contrast, & by making colour fields small with easy transitions, Barocci encourages the viewer to scan his paintings instead of viewing them as a frozen moment. The eye flows from one point to another which generates a flickering effect, produces excitement, heightens the emotional impact, & promotes reverie Hall2011 p211. He used glowing scarlet & orange reds, sometimes with vibrant Indian yellows. Although his paintings often approach sentimentality with liquid eyes, languid gestures & soft light, they contain elements of intense Realism, especially the still-life details Bailey p29. He had a dramatic painterly style combining expressive colour & light with highly emotionalised but convincingly natural figures & spatial construction Posner1971 p27. As his style developed the space in his pictures became deeper, the atmosphere denser, the chiaroscuro stronger. The pictures have deeper space, denser atmosphere, & the figural movements are more flowing, rapid & unified H&P p71.
Patrons: The Pope, Emperor, King of Spain & Grand Duke of Tuscany Grove3 p253
Friends: Taddeo Zuccaro in Rome L&L
Innovations: No contemporary artist made such a strong emotional appeal Bailey p29. By painting works that ravished the senses through colour, & by other means which did not violate decorum, Barocci circumvented the dilemma with which artists had been faced due to the Counter-Reformation Lingo p6, Hall2011 p202. His sincerity & lyrical pathos perfectly expressed Counter-Reformation sensibility L&L. He made extensive use of coloured chalks OxDicArt
Features: He used drawings of a nude female model for his painting of the Virgin Spear p142
Grouping: He has alternatively been seen as an Anti-Mannerist, a late Mannerist, & an eclectic who led the transition from late Mannerist art to the Baroque Friedlaender1925 pp 50, 74, Pevsner1968 p15, L&L
Status: He was the leading altar painter in Italy during the second half of the 17th century & one of the master colour manipulators of his time Grove3 p253, Bailey p29
Influence: During his time his popularity exceeded that of any contemporary & his influence was more profound. Those influenced included the Carracci, Rubens, Reni, Jordaens & Schut Grove3 p253, L&L, Posner1971 p27, Lingo p2, Spear p185, Vlieghe p89,
Repute: Until the mid-20th century he was not as celebrated as Tintoretto & El Greco Grove3 p253
Batz. See de Batz
-BARONZIO (DA RIMINI), Giovanni, c1340-62, Italy=Rimini:
Oeuvre/Characteristics: His only secure work is a polytptych in the ducal palace Urbino. He was a competent craftsman with a delicate colour range but his unsuccessful attempts to indicate volume suggest imperfect awareness of Giotto & his rooting in the ossified Veneto-Byzantine tradition. However his work displays narrative inventiveness Grove3 p261, L&L
– BARRA, Didier/ Desiderio, c1590-active 1652, Italy =Naples but born France: Baroque
Background: He was born at Metz & it is now generally accepted that works previously attributed to a Monsu Desideria were painted by Barra, Francois de Nome or another artist Grove3 p271, Wikip
Influences: Land & townscape painters encountered in Naples Grove3 p271
Career: He appears to have left Metz around 1608 & from around 1630 was active in Naples Grove3 p271
Oeuvre: Landscapes & townscapes Wikip
Characteristics: His forte was dramatic, precisely painted buildings & townscapes featuring dramatic backgrounds as in Landscape with Buildings (Hermitage, St Petersburg) & the signed Panoramic View of Naples, 1647 (Museo Nazionale di San Martino/Certosa di San Marino) which is shown with spirited brushwork & shipping Grove3 pp 271-2, L&L, wikip, webimages
– BARRERA, Francisco, 1595-active 1657, Spain =Madrid;
Career: Worked in Madrid L&L
Oeuvre: Still-life with spectacular displays of foodstuffs and figures Grove3 p275
Characteristics: Derivative artist of modest abilities, the Four Season 1638 is his best work, depicting footstuffs in landscape settings, which are large symbolic and drawn from traditional iconography Grove3 p275
Innovations: During 1634-39 he represented his profession in legal battles concerning the status and rights of painters Grove3 p275
-George BARRET the Elder, c1732-84, Ireland/England
Career: In 1762 Barret went to London from Ireland. His initial success was followed by improvidence OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Paintings in oils & watercolour OxDicArt
Characteristics: His forte was topographical views of picturesque locations on private estates, but he later tried to imitated Wilson’s Classical manner L&L, OxDicArt, Waterhouse1953 p241
Patrons: The Dukes of Portland & Buccleuch L&L
Features: Barret was a founder-member of the RA L&L
Verdict: His Wilson-like works are not so well designed & his trees lacking Wilson’s sense of organic growth Waterhouse1953 p241
Progeny: His painter children included James, Joseph & the miniaturist Mary OxDicArt
-George BARRET the Younger, c1767-1842:
Career: Began exhibiting in 1800 WoodDic
Oeuvre: Landscape watercolours WoodDic
Characteristics: With other early stars of the Society of Painters in Watercolours (Cristall, Varley & Glover) Barret displayed a certain fossilisation of the British landscape tradition, seeing landscape through Old Master eyes, particularly Dughet’s. As time went on he specialized in poetically idealized composition, often of sunsets, sunrises or other effects of glowing light. Latterly he liked fruity colours with much purple & orange Reynolds1971 p99, WoodDic
BARRY, James, 1741-1806, Ireland:
Background: Born at Cork the son of a publican & coastal trader Grove3 p284
Training: With the landscape painter John Butts in Cork & under the portrait & history painter Jacob Ennis at the Dublin Society’s drawing school Grove3 p284
Influences: The great Renaissance masters particularly Parmigianino & Annibale Carracci; & also Salvator Rosa OxDicArt, Grove3 p285
Career: Early on he determined to become a history painter In 1764 he went to London & during 1766-71 he was in Italy with money from Burke. Barry became an RA in 1773. Between 1777 & 1784 he painted six large murals free of charge at the Society of Arts on the Progress of Human Culture. During 1782-99 he was professor at the RA but was expelled. He died deranged & in poverty Grove3 pp 284-5, L&L
Oeuvre: History paintings, portraits & prints Grove3 pp 285-7
Verdict: He engaged in self-martyrdom Kraske p59. His ambition outstripped his talent OxDicArt. His portraits in the elevated style advocated by Reynolds were more consistently successful than his other works L&L
Personal: Barry was fiery & unbalanced with an overwhelming ambition to succeed as a painter of heroic subjects. His Catholicism & Republican sympathies caused difficulties L&L, Grove3 p285
Feature: He was buried in St Paul’s Grove3 p285
Andrea BARTOLO, c1370-1428; Bartolo di Fredi’s son L&L
*Domenico DI BARTOLO, c 1400-45, Italy=Siena:
Background: Vasari believed that Taddeo was his uncle Grove 9 p94.
Training: He may have been a pupil of Filippo Lippi L&L
Influences: Florentine art of the 1420s as shown by his first securely attributed work Grove9 p94.
Career: It seems likely that he worked early on in Florence but must have returned to Siena before 1433. In 1433 he painted his masterpiece the Madonna of Humility. During 1435-40 he frescoed scenes from the lives of the patron saints of Siena in the sacristy of the cathedral but only a fragment survives. He frescoed scenes of everyday life at the Sienese Hospital of S. Maria della Scala between 1440 & 1444 Grove9 pp 94-5.
Oeuvre: Panel paintings & frescos Grove9 pp 94-5.
Phases: In the late 1430s he seems to have returned to a traditional Gothic style Grove9 p95.
Innovation: The transformation at Siena from Gothic to Renaissance style work Grove9 p94.
Status: He was with Vechietta the most modern Sienese artist in the mid-15th century L&L
Bartolo di Fredi. See di Fredi
Bartolommeo. See Fra Bartolommeo
Basaldella. See Afro
BASCHENIS, Evaristo, 1617-77, Italy=Bergamo; Baroque
Background: He was born in Bergamo into a family of artists recorded from 1400 who painted in a limited & provincial style Wikip, OxDicCon, Grove3 p321
Influences: Caravaggio, & possibly the fame of the Amati family of violin- makers in Cremona. Also Renaissance intarsia for which See Intarsia, Section 5; together with the Italian still-life tradition as practiced by Ambrogio Figinio, etc, & vanitas paintings to be seen in Bergamo. Baschenis was himself a keen musician L&L, OxDicCon, Grove3 p321,Verdi p53
Career: Around 1647 he was ordained. He became a parish priest & spent all his life at Bergamo, with a possible visit to Venice OxDicCon, L&L, Grove3 p321
Oeuvre: Still-life together with & a few religious & also genres work as in the [Wikipedia Commons] Agliardi Triptych, around 1667 L&L, OxDicCon, Wikip
Characteristics/Innovations: He painted still-life almost entirely composed of musical instruments in which tones & intervals were carefully harmonized & the instruments were often covered with dust & of a melancholy, vanitas nature. His work has a solemn & meditative quality that has often been compared with that of Vermeer. Still-life was uncommon in Italy prior to the 17th century L&L, Waterhouse1962 p144,Verdi p53, Grove3 p321
Phases: During the period from around 1655 to about 1665 his work is characterised by monumentality & complexity as in Musical Instruments with Casket & Globe (Academia, Venice). Thereafter until 1677 he painted a few prominent objects set in the foreground against a plain background as in Still-Life with Musical Instruments c1660 (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham). . This & other works are notable for their dramatic light effects, glowing, sumptuous colour, great beauty & painterly quality Grove3 p32, Verdi p53.
Status: He was one of the most original still-life painters of the 17th century L&L
Studio: This was responsible for numerous look-alikes L&L
Grouping: He was a Lombard painter of reality Waterhouse1962 p144
Influenced: Bartolomeo & Bonaventura Betterra, & apparently the Modenese artist Cristoforo Munari L&L, Wikip
Reception: He achieved rapid success as shown by the many works in contemporary collections, copies & imitations, etc Wikip
Legacy: The maniera Bergamasco which persisted until the beginning of the 19th century Wikip
Repute: He is itemised in the Oxford Companion
Collections: Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
*BASELITZ, Georg, 1938-, Germany:
Background: Born Deutschbaselutzm, Saxony OxDicMod
Training: He was expelled from the East German Academy for ideological immaturity. He was later at the Academy in West Berlin OxDicMod
Influences: Mannerist distortions, the violent language of Antonin Artaud, whom Baselitz admired, & German history OxDicMod
Career: In 1956 he moved to West Berlin. He found abstraction as unpromising as Socialist Realism. In 1961 he had an exhibition in collaboration with Eugene Schonebeck for which they produced their Pandemonium manifesto. An early picture The Great Pis-Up was seized by the police when first shown. During 1965 he made a trip to Florence OxDicMod. From 1977 he was Professor at the Karlsruhe Academy L&L
Oeuvre: He is a painter, draughtsman & sculptor OxDicMod.
Speciality: Since 1969 he has painting his subjects upside down 1001 p254
Characteristics: His figure subjects imply significance but deny their heroic character by fragmentation, distortion & wild brushwork L&L, OxDicMod. They were in his 1961 exhibition massive but weakly drawn wandering amid piles of rubble Hughes1991 p405
Aim: According to the Pandemonium manifesto “We want to… abandon ourselves irrevocably….in happy desperation, with inflamed senses…vulgar Nature, violence…Hughes1991 p405
Grouping: Neo-Expressionism L&, Lucie-S2003. He has been regarded as a Neue Wilden TateTerms
Status: He is one of world’s biggest-selling artists 1001 p854
Reception: By around 2007 much of the controversy about his work had died down OxDicMod
BASIATI, Marco, c1470-1530, Italy=Venice:
Background: Basiati was probably of Greek origin L&L
Influences: Giovanni Bellini whom he weakly imitated L&L; & Giorgione from around 1610 Murrays1959
Career: From the mid-1490s he was Vivarini’s studio assistant L&L
– BASQUIAT, Jean-Michel, 1960-88, USA:
Background: Born New York. Puerto Rican and Haitian heritage. Grove3 p338
Training: Attended City-as-School 1976-8. Collaborated with Al Diaz inventing SAMO (same old shit) a fictional character until they parted ways Grove3 p338
Influences: Childhood influences through mother’s fashion designs and skechings. Reading of French, Spanish and English texts. Cartoons, Alfred Hitchcock films and cars. MAD magazine by Alfred E. Neuman. Graffiti artist, Al Diaz. Met Andy Warhol in 1983 collaborating work with him Grove3 p338
Career: Graffiti artist around Lower Manhattan, article printed in Village Voice 1978. First exhibition was in group ‘Times Square Show’ then solo show at Annina Nosei Gallery, New York. Eventually brining bicultural perspective to new figuration of 1980’s Grove3 p338
Oeuvre: Childlike painter, sculptor, draughtsman. Graffiti artist. Created t-shirts and postcards Grove3 p338
Characteristics: Bright and bold. Symbolism from African, Aztec and Greek cultures. The letter A, circles and chains holding up cars. Black culture and popular street-based imagery Grove3 p338
– BASSA, Ferrer, recorded 1324-48, Spain; Italian Renaissance
Influences: His murals reflect are similar to works by Sienese & Florentine artists Grove3 p339
Career: He was court artist to king Pedro & had a workshop Brigstocke, Grove3 p339
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, murals in oil & illuminations Grove3 p339
Characteristics: He appears to have used Giottesque modelling, his or his son’s figures have physical substance, faces that are oval with slanting eyes & full lips, & fingers that are long & often curved as in his oil wall painting Virgin & Child with Angels, 1346 (Monastir de Pedralbes, Barcelona) Grove3 p339, Brigstocke
Innovation: He founded 14th century Catalan painting Brigstocke
Patronage: It was mainly royal Grove3 p339
Progeny: His son Arau Bassa, recorded 1245-8, was also a painter Grove3 p339
Jacopo BASSANO/BASSANI/DAL PONTE, c1510-92, Italy=Venice:
Background: His father Francesco the Elder (c1475-1539) was a village painter OxDicArt
First: He was the first modern landscape painter. Hitherto they had decorative backgrounds & were seldom direct studies from nature Berenson p52
Status: He was a late Mannerist Pevsner1968 p15
Sons who worked in the Bassano workshop: Francesco the Younger, 1549-92; Giovanni, 1553-1613; Gerolamo, 1656-21; Giovanni, 1553-1613; also, Leandro, 1557-1622, for whom See separate entry
Leandro BASSANO/BASSANI/DAL PONTE, 1557-1622, Jacopo’s son & brother of Francesco, Gerolamo & Giovanni, Italy=Venice:
Background: Born in Venice Grove3 p349
Training: He entered his father’s shop when very young Grove3 p349
Influences: Initially Tintoretto’s portraits, then Emalia portraits, especially by Passarotti. From the late 1580s he was influenced by the Mannerism of Paolo Fiammingo Grove3 pp 349-350
Career: His ability was soon recognised, & in 1578 he became his father’s principal assistant after Francisco moved to Venice. In 1588 he joined Francesco in Venice & the painters’ guild. He opened his own workshop but maintained contact with the family workshop at least till 1592. During the late 1580s he contributed to the development of naturalistic & allegorical subjects with pictures rich in figures, landscape vignettes & a fresh Mannerist sensibility Grove3 pp 349-350
Oeuvre: About 70 known portraits & numerous altarpieces Grove3 p349
Phases: His early works’ have precise colour areas producing an intarsio effect. From around 1590 he had his own portrait style with a new naturalism. During the late 1580s his composition became clearer with distinct colour, smooth forms but a certain academic coldness Grove3 p349..
Characteristics: Fine brushwork & cool light colours that were smoothly applied in well-defined areas in contrast to his father’s dense & robust brushstrokes Grove3 p349.
Verdict: He was a particularly talented portraitist, & the family’s best painter of large historical & religious scenes Grove3 pp 349-350
Personal: He was ambitious, pleasure loving & wealth flaunting Grove3 p350
Pupil: Tinelli Waterhouse1962 p130
-BASTIANI, Lazzaro, 1429-1512, Italy:
Background: Born in Venice Grove3 p35
Influences/Career: Andrea del Castagno, Vivarini & later Gentile Bellini with whom he worked for the Scuola Grande di s Marco during the 1480s
Oeuvre: Largely religious works Grove p35
Phases: Some of his early work was impressive, but it became increasingly conventional & arid Frick p16, Grove3 p35
Characteristics: Some of Bastian’s works display an interest in perspective & space Grove3 p35
Pupils: Possibly Carpaccio Grove3 p35
BASTIEN-LEPAGE, Jules, 1848-84, France; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: Bastien-Lepage was born at Danvillers into a peasant family ShearerW1966
Training: With Cabanel at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts ShearerW1966
Influences: Barbizon, Impressionism L&L
Career: He first worked in the Post Office. His first exhibit at the Salon was in 1876 but after failing the Prix de Rome he returned to his village to paint peasant subjects ShearerW1966
Oeuvre: Genre scenes, history scenes & portraits etc L&L
Technique: He used square brushes, worked plein air & painted standing. This is how we usually see & means that (i) less sky is visible than when sitting, (ii) there is less illusion of distance, (iii) trees etc are no longer profiled against sky & tend to mix in with their background. His facture indicates perspective with a detailed foreground, broader square brush strokes for the middle distance, & softer less definite strokes for the far distance ShearerW1966, Billcliffe pp 33-4
Characteristics: Bastien-Lepage’s work features individual figures from everyday life with few surrounding distractions & studio props; a strong tendency for figures to be placed on the picture plane so giving them dominance & immediacy & silhouetting them against receding landscape; the presence of teasels & other vertical features that originate at the bottom of the picture; & an emphasis on tonal values in cool grey light because his technique precluded fast completion. Hence his work can seem unrealistically photographic & austerely detached Billcliffe pp 33, 35-6, 59
Verdict: Zola: ”Impressionism corrected, sweetened and adapted to the taste of the crowd” OxDicArt
Grouping: Naturalism Billcliffe p34
UK Exhibits: 1880 seven pictures at Grosvenor Gallery (apparently first non-portraits); 1881-2 six at various London Gs Billcliffe pp 57-8
Influence: This extended to the Glasgow & Newlyn Schools, & Australians such as Tom Roberts ShearerW1966, F&G p16
Repute: In the early 18090s Bastien-Lepage was already under severe critical attack by Whistler, Sickert & perhaps most viciously George Moore F&G pp 16-7. [He was then forgotten until the recovery of interest in Naturalism around 1980.]
..BATEMAN, James, 1893-1959, England:
Background: Born at Kendal & the son of a blacksmith E&L p62
Influences: He studied sculpture at the Leeds College of Art E&L p62
Career: In 1907 the family moved to Leeds. After war service with the Royal Flying Corps he enrolled at the Slade in 1920 but his war injuries forced him to abandon sculpture for painting. He taught at Cheltenham Boys College during 1922-8 & at Goldsmith’s College. Bateman exhibited at the RA from 1924 to 1959 & became an RA in 1942. During the Second World War he worked briefly at the Camouflage Unit at Leamington Spa under Lancelot Glasson; & in 1940 the War Artists Advisory Committee commissioned him to paint four works on the land & faming E&L p62
Speciality: Rural landscapes, often farm scenes E&L p62
Feature: In 1935 his Commotion in the Cattle Ring was acquired with Chantrey money E&L p62
Links: In 1939 he exhibited Haytime in the Cotswolds at the RA where Brockhurst & Spencelayh also had pictures E&L p62
-BATONI, Pompeo, 1708-87, Italy:
Background: He was born at Luca L&L
Training: Conca OxDicAr
Influences: Raphael L&L
Career: In 1728 he settled in Rome L&L
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, mythological scenes, & Grand Tour portraits often in antique settings L&L, OxDicArt. About 200 from Britain sat for him Strong2000 p397.
Characteristics: Though not unaffected by 18th century grace & elegance, his paintings belong to the classical tradition H&P p354
Verdict: His characterisation was not profound but was vivid. Sitters were presented with poise & dignity OxDicArt. However, his pictures were ill composed because Batoni finished each part separately Reynolds p221
Status: After Mengs left Rome in, Batoni was the pre-eminent portrait painter OxDicArt
Friends: Winckelmann OxDicArt
Influenced: Mengs & Gavin Hamilton L&L
Collections: Upark, Sussex
BATTISTELLO/CARACCIOLO, Giovanni, 1578-1635, Italy/Naples & Sicily; Baroque Movement
Background: Born in Naples Grove5 p693
Influences: Initially the tradition of Cavaliere d’Arpino but later Lanfranco & Domenichino L&L
Career: In 1614 Battistello went to Rome where saw Annibale Carracci’s work. Then he went Florence & Genoa. He returned to Naples in 1618 L&L
Oeuvre: Fresco & oils L&L
Phases: His early work was Mannerist but he was converted to Caravaggio’s tenebrous & naturalism during the latter’s Neapolitan visit in 1606. Battistello’s later work displayed greater classicism L&L, OxDicArt
Contrast with Ribera: Battistello stiffened Caravaggio’s style with hard contrasts & compositional austerity in order to render drama, but Ribera loosened it through a painterly chiaroscuro with flickering light effects Wittkower1973 p356
Verdict: He was one of Caravaggio’s greatest followers &, unlike many others, emulated his depth of feeling L&L, OxDicArt. His talent was of first rate Wittkower1973 p356
Grouping: Virtually Baroque L&L
Legacy: Battistello helped make Naples into a Caravaggesque stronghold OxDicArt
BAUCHANT, Andre, 1873-1958, France:
Career: Bauchant was a market-gardener who at 45 became a full-time painter OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Still-life, landscapes & history paintings OxDicMod
Characteristics: He was a naive painter OxDicMod
BAUDOUIN, Pierre-Antoine, 1723-1769, France:
Training: Boucher whose daughter he married L&L
Oeuvre: Biblical & Life of Virgin illustrations, but he is best known for his much engraved erotic genre L&L
Characteristics: Baudouin used gouache L&L
Style: Rococo L&L
-BAUGIN, active before 1630-c1650, France:
Oeuvre/Status: He was the most remarkable French 17th century still life painter L&L
Characteristics: Strongly poetic but modest works notable for geometrically rigorous & subtle compoition built up of simple forms representing a few familiar objects seen from a high viewpoint above a table with minute attention to surface detail L&L
Problem: It is not clear whether this painter was Lubin Baugin. the Yale Dictionay says not but the Grove Dictionary says yes L&L, Grove 3 p399’
*Lubin BAUGIN, 1612-63, France:
Background: Baugin was born at Pithiviers L&L
Influenced: The Fontainebleau School, Reni, Raphael, Parmigianino, Corregio, & Barocci Grove3 p399
Career: From around 1636 Baugin was in Italy but by 1641 was back in Paris. In 1645 he joined the Academie of St Luke & in 1651 the Academie Royale Grove3 p399. He made a trip to Italy around 1645-50 L&L.
Oeuvre: With notable exceptions his paintings have religious subjects. He also painted portraits but no originals survive Grove3 p399
Speciality: Large-scale canvases for Parisian churches & small-scale Holy Families for collectors L&L
Characteristics: His work has Mannerist features: elegant elongated bodies, self-consciously graceful poses, slightly acidic colouring, & curving compositional rhythms Grove3 p399. Gaugin was strongly poetic but modest works notable for geometrically rigorous & subtle composition . This was built up from simple forms representing a few familiar objects as seen from a high viewpoint above a table with minute attention to surface detail L&L
Verdict: Blunt only mentions him in a footnote Blunt1954 p215
Problem: There was a painter of the same surname who may have been Lubin. The Yale Dictionary says he was not but the Grove Dictionary says he was L&L, Grove 3 p399
Status: Baugin was the most remarkable French 17th century still life painter L&L
BAUMEISTER, Willi, 1889-1955, Germany:
Background: Born in Stuttgart into a family of craftsmen JRS p479
Training: Interior decoration & at the Stuttgart Academy under Holzel . Here he was influenced by Neo-Impressionism & preoccupied by Cezanne JRS p479, OxDicMod
Influences: Cubism, together with a lifelong interest in Middle Eastern & African art OxDicMod, JRS p479
Career: During 1911-4 Baumeister made several trips to Paris. After military service he produced wall paintings which had a texture effect due to the addition of sand, putty. etc. In 1930 he joined Cercle et Carre & in 191 Abstraction-Creation Between 1928 & 1933 he was a professor at the Stadel School, Frankfurt. Four works were shown at the exhibition of Degenerate Art, 1937. Baumeister worked in obscurity in Stuttgart earning his living as a commercial artist & organizing exhibitions abroad. In 1941 he was banned from showing his work. After the war Baumeister was a professor at the Stuttgart Academy OxDicMod, JRS pp 461, 479. In 1950 he took part in an acrimonious debate with Karl Hofferat Darmstadt. Here Baumeister vigorously pleaded for the recognition of non-figurative painting & Hofer advocated figurative art. Henceforth nearly every large exhibition led to a quarrel about ideology JRS pp 57, 466, 479
Phases: In the mid-1920s his work became more figurative, but in 1930-1 started abandoning figuration. After 1933 it was freer, like an abstract Surrealism & included primitive imagery. In the post-war period, with his attention now focused on plant life, archaic civilisations & abstraction, forms & colours are informal & almost light-hearted OxDicMod, JRS pp 462, 479
Status: After 1945 Baumeister became a hero for young German abstractionists OxDicMod
Grouping: Abstraction OxDicMod
Friend: Oscar Schlemmer & during the 1930 he got to know Leger, Le Corbusier & Ozenfant OxDicMod
Reception: Baumeister was acclaimed in Paris & in 1927 had his first French exhibition JRS p479
BAWDEN, Edward, 1903-8, England:
Background: Born at Braintree, Essex Grove3 p420
Training: Cambridge School of Art, 1919-22; & the Royal College of Art, 1922-5, under Paul Nash OxDicMod
Career: Bawden taught at the Royal college of Art. He was an Official War Artist L&L, OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Watercolours, murals, illustrations, posters, tapestry & theatrical design OxDicMod
Speciality: His murals during the 1950s & 60s L&L
Characteristics: Bawden’s graphic work is full of energy & humour L&L
Friends: Eric Ravilious OxDicMod
BAYES, Walter John 1869-1956, England:
Background: Born in St Pancras, London. His father Alfred, 1832-1909, was a painter & etcher; & his brother Gilbert was a sculptor Wikip, OxDicMod
Training: Evening classes & briefly at the Westminster School of Art under Frederick Brown, c1902 Barron p83
Career: He was art critic for the Athenaeum, 1906-16, & a founder member of the Camden Town & London Groups, 1911 & 1913. Bayes was principal of Westminster Art School, 1919-34, & director of painting at the Lancaster School of Arts & Crafts, 1944-9 OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Landscapes; street beech & interior scenes, nudes, etc webimages
Beliefs: Subject matter, composition, colour & the application of paint are secondary matters what is crucial is visual & aesthetic harmony as achieved through theoretical knowledge. He opposed painting from direct observation Morby p3
Characteristics: His works are clear cut & often painted in a somewhat simplified manner with large areas flat & undifferentiated paint as in Under the Candles, 1933 (The Tate)
Reception: The Ford, 1912, was warmly praised by the critics when it was exhibited in 1912 Maltby pp 1-2
Repute: He is not itemised in the Oxford Companion & has fallen into relative obscurity Maltby p1
BAYEU Y SUBIAS, Francisco, 1734-1795, Goya’s brother-in-law, Spain:
Background: Born Madrid Grove3 p424
Training: In the studio of Juan Marlein, with Jose Luzan & at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de S Fernando, Madrid, under Antonio VelazquezGrove3 p424
Influences: The Italian painterly tradition of Corrado Giaquinto, via Velazquez, & the Mengs’ cooler Neo-classicism Grove 3 p424
Career: He returned to Saragossa in 1759; in 1763 went to work under Mengs at the Palacio Real, Madrid; in 1765 he joined the Academia where he taught; & in 1767 was appointed a royal painter. After working in Saragossa in 1775-6, returning to Madrid, & working in Toledo until 1783, he was appointed artistic director of the royal tapestry factory, Madrid. In 1795 he became Director General of the Academy & worked at the Palace of Aranjuez Grove3 pp 424-5.
Oeuvre: Paintings, frescoes & portraits Grove3 pp 424-5
Characteristics: In his sketches he used loose painterly brushwork whereas his finished frescoes are sober & powerful with clearly delineated figures showing Mengs’ classicizing influence. In his mature work he skilfully grouped figures & depicted them in perspective L&L, Grove3 p424.
Status: He was the most successful Spanish painter in the later 18th century L&L
Influence: On Goya’s early works Grove3 p425
Brother: Ramon, 1746-93, was a painter & tapestry cartoonist L&L
BAZILLE, Frederic, 1841-1870, France:
Background: Bazille born Montpelier into a wealthy Protestant family, the son of a senator Grove3 p434
Training: In 1862 he went to Paris where he entered Gleyre’s studio & became friends with Monet, Renoir & Sisley Norman1977
Influences: Courbet, Manet & Monet for his figure compositions Grove3 p435
Career: After obtaining poor results in medicine, which he had been jointly studying, he turned exclusively to painting. In 1865-8 Bazille shared his studio with Monet & Renoir. From 1868 Bazille belonged to the group of artists who from gathered at the cafe Guerbois. He together with Monet, Renoir & Sisley regularly went on plein air sketching expeditions to the forest of Fontainebleau & in particular to the village of Marlotte. His entries for the Salon of 1867 were rejected but Family Reunion was accepted in 1868. Bazille enlisted & was killed in 1870 Norman1977, Reyburn pp 48-9, 52.
Oeuvre: Landscapes, still-life, figure subjects & portraits Norman1977, Grove3 p434
Characteristics/Phases: His early work is Barbizon-like with drab but subtle ` colouring & austere subjects. The handling of multi-figure compositions was essentially traditional & initially the figures were somewhat stiff. However his later work, which included still life & depiction of a sensuous model, were transformed by a bright even light that intesified forms Grove3 pp 434-5
Status: Bazille was a companion & collaborator of the Impressionists & an important financial prop to Monet & Renoir Norman1977
-BAZAINE, Jean, 1904-75, France:
Background: He was born in Paris OxDicMod
Training: Initially sculpture but then he was largely self-taught as a painter, though he studied at the Academie Julian L&L, OxDicMod
Career: In 1924 he turned to painting & from 1931 exhibited at the Salon d’Automne OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & stained glass L&L
Phases: His early work was mildly Expressionist but after the war he was a leading Lyrical Abstractionist L&L
Grouping: Art Informel L&L
BAZIOTES, 1912-63, USA:
Background: Baziotes was born at Pittsburg to Greek American parents Grove3 p435
Training: 1933-6 at the National Academy of Design, New York OxDicMod
Influences: Baudelaire & French Symbolist writers to whom he was introduced by a local poet when growing up. Baziotes as also influenced by cave paintings, the precise, exotic colours of Persian miniatures, & by Picasso, Miro & Klee Grove 3 p435, Hughes1997 p468, Everitt p13
Career: When his father’ s business failed in the mid-1920s he was exposed to poverty, gambling dens & brothels. He went to New York in 1933 & was on the Federal Arts Project teaching at the Queen’s Museum, 1936-41. In 1940 he met the Surrealist Matta & was excited by the idea that abstraction could impart psychic meanings. Matta also introduced him to the concept of psychic automatism in which spontaneous marks are thought to release subconscious associations. Baziotes exhibited at the International Surrealist Exhibition but was relatively unknown before showing at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery, 1942. He was at the height of his powers in 1947 Grove3 pp435-6. Everitt p13.
Oeuvre: Baziotes produced a wide range of mostly careful abstract & semi-abstract work L&L
Technique: He used automatism & tried to strart each work without preconceptions, although he worked over pictures many times using rich translucent glazes L&L, Grove3 p435
Characteristics/Phases: Baziotes’ paintings feature a lurking sense of evil. He achieved an all-over effect through tonal harmony & the elimination of depth. His soft brushing provided a misty liquid quality. His mature work of the early 1950s was not fully abstract but used biomorphic shapes & his later works, painted in recoil from the more extreme developments of Abstract Expressionism, were tastefully decorative but somewhat cautious. A mood of stillness prevails with meandering shapes suggesting simple organisms Grove3 pp 455-6, Everitt p13
Beliefs: “It is the mysterious that I love in painting. It is the stillness & the silence. I want my pictures to take effect very slowly , to obsess & to haunt OxDicMod
Friends: Motherwell whom he met in 1941 Grove3 p435
Grouping: Abstract Expressionism within the category who of those inspired by the primitive &spiritual Hughes1997 p467
BAZZANI, Giuseppe, 1690-1769, Italy=Mantua:
Background: He was born at Mantua, the son of a goldsmith Grove3 p436
Training: Giovanni Canti Grove3 p436
Influences: Magnasco, Fetti, Benkovic, Rubens L&L, Wikip
Career: He spent most of his life in Mantua & became
director of the Accademia in Mantua, 1767 Wikip, Grove 3 p436
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Religious & historical works Grove3 p436
Characteristics/Phases: His works up to 1739 featured Baroque drama & theatrical splendour but during the following 20 years he developed a lighter more Rococo style. He was a painter of the fantastic & grotesque employing nervous brush-strokes, magic light effects & often dark emotionalism as in his Ecstasy of St Theresa (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest) c1647 Grove3 p436, L&L, Wikip
Influenced: Maulbertsch L&L
Patrons: Giacomo Biondi Grove3 p436
Verdict: He had exceptional skill Grove20 p322
-BEALE, Mary, 1632-99, England:
Background: Her father was a Suffolk clergyman L&L
Training: It was probably from her father’s friend Robert Walker & she taught by the Beales’ friend Thomas Flatman Greer1979 pp 255-6,W&M pp180
Influences: Lely Waterhouse1953 p113
Career/Phases: Around 1551 she married. Her Covent Garden house became a resort of rising clerics, artists & literary figures. Many became sitters. In 1665 the Beales left London escaping the plague. In 1670 they moved to Pall Mall & her clientele increased rapidly. However, her popularity waned due to changing fashion & she resorted to replicas of own & Lely’s work and the Beales were always short of money Waterhouse1953 p113, Greer1979 pp 256-7
Oeuvre: Portraits of which there were a large number) L&L
Speciality: Heads in fictive stone ovals adorned with stone fruit L&L
Verdict: Opinions differ. Her work has been found drab, unoriginal & tedious save for the occasional portrait of a sympathetic sitter. However, her self-portrait has been described as vigorous, expressive & dignified Waterhouse1953 p114, W&M p180, Greer p207
Feature & First: She had two sons & after her husband, Charles, he lost his position in the Patents office in 1665, he ran the household & looked after her business affairs. Her portrait of him is remarkable for its sense of domestic sensuality Greer1979 p256, Grove3 p444. [She must be the first notable female professional painter in England].
Close Friend: Lely W&M pp180-1
Pupil: Sarah Curtis Greer1979 p207
Collection: St Edmundsbury Museum
BEARDSLEY, Aubrey, 1872-1898, England:
Background: born Brighton Norman197
Training: 1891 at the Westminster School of Art Norman197
Influences: Botticelli, Rococo & Japanese prints Norman197
Career: He began by working in a city insurance office but was persuaded to train as an artist by Burne-Jones. Illustrations to Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, 1893-4, established his reputation. In 1894 he provide illustrations for Wilde’s Salome & the Yellow Book. In December 1897 he went to the south of France where he died of Tuberculosis Norman197
Oeuvre: black & white drawings including a substantial series of erotica Norman197
Characteristics: an ornamental combination of sinuous line & dark masses displaying fin de siècle decadence with sinister undertones of corruption Norman1977
Influence: his drawings had an important influence on Art Nouveau Norman1977
Career: 1894 joined NEAC Thornton p15
BEAUCLERK, Lady Diana, 1734-1808:
Background: She was born in London & was the Duke of Marlborough III’s eldest daughter Hussey p258 , Grove3 p449
Career: She married the 2nd Lord Bolingbroke in 1757, was divorced in 1768 & married man of fashion Topham Beauclerk two days later Grove3 p450
Oeuvre: Mostly paintings of children & cupids & also illustrations Grove3 p450
Characteristics: She painted brilliant pastiche of Gainsborough, revelling in picturesque gnarled boughs & gipsies etc Hussey p258
Beaumetz. See de Beaumetz
-Francois BEAUCOURT, 1740-94, son of Francis, Canada:
Background: He was born near Montreal L&L
Influences: Fragonard L&L
Career: During 1773-86 he travelled in Europe settling for a time in Paris L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits & religious subjects L&L
Beaumetz. See de Beaumetz
–Paul BEAUCOURT/BEAUCOUR, 1700-56, father of Francois, Canada (France)
Background: He was born in Paris Reid p15
Career: He served with the French colonial infantry in Canada, 1720-41 & became a naif painter in Quebec L&L
Status: He was one of only two painters of some merit known from the French colonial era Reid pp 14-5
Beaumont, Sir George. See Section 4
..BEAUX, Cecelia, 1855-1942, USA:
Background: Beaux had a distinguished Philadelphia lineage but her father was French NGArtinP p224
Training: Around 1872 under Adolf van der Whelen who was Dutch; 1877-9 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; 1881-3 under William Sartain; 1888 at the Academy Julian under Bougueureau & Robert-Fleury; drawing classes at the Academie Colarossi under Dagnan-Bouveret; & private instruction from Benjamin-Constant NGArtinP p224
Career: She began painting on porcelain & producing lithographs & portrait drawings Grove3 p463. In 1888 she went to Paris & spent the summer at Concarneau painting plein air landscapes & peasant subjects; & then toured Italy. During 1889 she exhibited at the Salon & the Exposition Universelle but returned to Philadelphia. During 1895-1915 she taught at the Pennsylvania Academy. She returned to Europe several times & in 1896 exhibited six works at the Salon. About 1900 she settled in New York, spending the summers in Gloucester Massachusetts NGArtinP p224. Her double portraits brought her recognition & awards Grove3 p464
Characteristics: She did not paint conventional portraits. Her sitters wear ordinary dresses in familiar surroundings & are at their ease. The brushwork is broad & strong using pure colour. It is Sargent-like but unlike Sargent she is in sympathy with her sitters who are likeable & charming, & enlist the affection of the spectator. They lack his vivid insight into character I&C p530, Grove3 p464
Status: She was considered America’s best woman portraitist, although Cassatt thought she was slick Grove3 p464, Mathews p167.
*BECCAFUMI, Domenico, c1484-1551, Italy=Siena; Mannerism Movement
Influences: Fra Bartolommeo, Michelangelo, Raphael OxDicArt.
Career: He made Roman trips around 1511?, 1519, & in 1541. During 1519-24 etc he designed Biblical episodes for inlay in the pavement of Siena Cathedral. In 1528-9 he executed panels for the apse in Pisa Cathedral L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings L&L
Speciality: Contre-jour effects & bare trees as if in filigree against the sky L&L
Characteristics: His work is in a Sienese tradition that goes back to Duccio but assimilates Florentine, Umbrian & Roman influences. It combines calligraphic line & rhythmic contours with intense & decorative colourism employing subtle shot colour. There are striking light & perspectival effects & there is a notable sense of fantasy & intense emotion L&L, OxDicArt, Murrays1959.
Status: With Sodoma he was the leading late 16th century Sienese painter L&L
Grouping: Mannerism OxDicArt.
Last of the great Sienese painters Murrays1959
-BECERRA, Gaspar, c1520-1570; Spain
Background: He is said to have been born in Baeza Brown1998 p51
Training: In Rome under Michelangelo & Vasari L&L
Influences: Michelangelo Grove3 470
Career: He went to Rome in 1545 & helped Vasari paint the hall of the Palazzo della Cancellara. He then assisted Daniele da Volterra. He returned to Spain in 1557 having become an adept painter in the maniera style. He settled in Valladolid & after becoming court painter to Philip II in 1563 worked on frescos in the king’s quarters of the Alcazar & Pardo. A portion of the latter, which have pagan & mythological themes, have survived Wikip, Brown1998 p51, Moffitt p122, L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings, frescoes & sculpture Wikip
Characteristics: His figures have extravagant musculature as in his [Wikimedia] Saints Pedro & Pablo (Navarre Museum, Pamplona). They are often gesturing have twisted postures & fill most of the canvas as in his fresco featuring Perseus & Danae in the Prado Palace, Madrid, c1563. [Select section which illustrates my point if there is limited room. There is a place where her leg appears dislocated.] His huge super-elaborate high altar in Astorga Cathedral, 1558, is his masterpiece Wikip
Innovations: He introduced maniera into Spain Brown1998 p51
Status: He was a major figure in Spanish art around 1560 Grove3 p470
Pupil: Miguel Barroso Wikip
..BECKWITH, James, 1852-1917, USA:
Background: He was born at Hannibal, Missouri NGArtin P p226. The market for American paintings was bad during the latter part of the 19th century & Beckwith’s friend many of the available commissions Burns pp 262-3
Training: At the Academy of Design, Chicago, 1868-7; at the National Academy of Design, New York, 1871-3; at Carolus-Duran’s atelier 1873. After failing to matriculate at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, & sceptical of Duran’s non-traditional teaching, he moved to Bonnat’s atelier & then went to the Ecole NGArtin P p226
Career: He made trips to Barbizon, Brittany etc during 1874, to Italy & Munich in 1875 & to Italy & Normandy in 1878. He exhibited regualrly at the Salon from 1877 to 1890. He taught at the Art Students League, 1878-1882 & 1886-97, but made frequent refresher trips to Europe NGArtin P p226
Oeuvre: Landscapes, genre & society portraits Wikip
Characteristics: His work kept the quality of Carolus-Duran’s handling better than almost any other pupil. Hence his work is rather sumptuous swift heavy impasto, rich shadows & broad, strong handling I&C p526
Circle: That of the eminent architect Stanford White whose other friends included J. Alden Weir, Robert Reid Willard Metcalf & Edward Simmons. They all attended the Pie Girl affair in 1895 when a pretty young model in black gauze emerged from a gigantic pie at a dinner organised by the Wall Street broker Henry W. Poor. Subsequently the event was denounced in the press Burns pp 86-7
Personal: There was little bohemian about his life. He led a settled, childless domestic life with his wife, worried a great deal about money, bought a tenant house but found rent collecting difficult, had to work hard to get commissions, & was almost morbidly self critical of his work. He was plagued by a sense of failure Burns pp 262-3.
BECKMANN, Max, 1884-1950, Germany:
Background: He was born at Leipzig; his father was a flour miller OxDicMod
Training: 1900-3 at the Weimar Academy OxDicMod
Career: He made a trip to Paris but in 1904 settled in Berlin. In 1915 he was discharged from the army after a nervous breakdown. He settled in Frankfurt & in 1925 exhibited with the Neue Sachlichkeit at Mannheim. During 1929-33 he was a professor at the Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, but wintered in Paris. He was dismissed in 1933 & during 1937-47 lived in the Netherlands. In 1947 he emigrated to the USA, teaching art schools in New York & St Louis OxDicMod
Phases: Initially he had a conservative semi-Impressionism style & produced drawings & drypoints during War OxDicMod. After his wartime crisis & he produced tormented, grotesque, angular, static, cool work Dube pp 164-7. After his post-War return to painting he used horrifying distorted imagery influenced by Germany Gothic OxDicMod
Characteristics: Symbolic & allegorical paintings depicting evil but not, like Dix & Grosz, specific instances of this OxDicMod
Goals: To paint fundamentals & the soul of things without sentimentality Dube pp 161, 166-7. ”We must”, he wrote in 1922, “ participate in the great misery to come, we have to lay our hearts and nerves bare to the deceived cries of people who have been lied to …the sole justification for our existence as artists, superfluous and egotistic though we are is to confront people with their destiny.” Hughes1991 p290
Verdict: He produced one of the most potent commentaries on the disorientation of the modern world OxDicMod
Features: After the Nazis came to power, 500 pictures were removed from galleries & ten figured in the Degenerate Art exhibition L&L
-BEDOLI, Girolamo Mazola, c1502-69, Italy=Parma:
Background: He was born at Viadana Grove3 p486
Training: Parmigianino’ s uncles when Parmigianino was a fellow student L&L
Influence: Parmigianino, being his principal desciple. During the 1540s Giulio Romano Grove3 p487
Career: He & Parmigianino fled Parma together during the war of 1521-2 but subsequently mainly worked there Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescoes of religious & some mythological subjects, also portraits including charming children Grove3 p487
Phases: During the 1540s his work became more frozen & mannered with strong chiaroscuro & interest in nocturnal illumination Grove3 p487
Status: After Parmigianino’s deathe he became the most wanted painter in Parma Grove3p487
Grouping: Mannerism L&L
Progeny: His son Alessandro Mazolla, 1547-1612, was much less talented Grove3 p487
-BEERSTRATEN, Jan, 1622-1624, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Oeuvre: Topographical views of towns & castles, sometimes with the parts re-arranged & often in winter. He also depicted imaginary seaports, beach views, & a few sea battles OxDicArt, Haak p482
Characteristics/Verdict: His townscapes are generally quite fluently painted with a good sense of proportion, & his his many winter views have a feeling for atmosphere. However his figures are often weak & his work is uneven Haak pp 479-80, 482
Progeny: His son Jan, born 1643, worked in his father’s style but sometimes with a burst of originality Haak p483
-BEECHEY, Sir William, 1753-1839, England, Grand Manner & Golden Age: British Golden Age Movement
Background: He was born at Burford, the son of a solicitor Wikip, Baldock p27
Training: After training as a lawyer, he entered the RA Schools, 1772, & was taught by Zoffany Grove3 p489, Baldock p27, L&L
Career: He first exhibited at the RA in 1776. During 1782-7 he was at Norwich but then settled in London Grove3 p489, Waterhouse1953 p313-4. In 1793 Beechey became Portrait Painter to Queen Charlotte L&L. Around 1797 he painted six portraits of royal princesses, three being shown drawing, a skill that Beechey taught them, for the Prince of Wales Solkin2015 p300. In 1798 he became an RA & was knighted. After 1830 he was appointed principal portrait painter to William IV. Although impetuous & cantankerous he was known for his generosity to young artists & took a keen interest in the career of John Constable Baldock p27, Grove3 p490
Oeuvre: Portraits, landscapes, & also subject pictures, e.g. [the non-as in] Venus & Cupid, 1822 (NT, Petworth House)
Characteristics: He painted competent portraits in the tradition of Joshua Reynolds. His standard head & shoulders works from his early George Maltby, 1782 (Art Collection, Durham University) with his penetrating gaze & quizzical pose, were highly competent &, as here, enlivened by some distinguishing feature which was usual. At his best his work was first rate as in his Portrait of John Cook of Norwich, 1784 (Rhode Island School of Design Museum. It is splendidly composed, painted in scintillating colour employing painterly brushwork & the sitter has a riveting gaze. He was a versatile artist & other works feature a delicate, personal use of white as in Lady Herbert, Elizabeth Beauclerk, 1793 (Wilton House); & his portrait of Ellen Smith of Nottingham (Private) [but Wikimedia Commons. See if you can find its date] in which she is posed with a pigeon. Here the figure is posed in an inventive manner which was a characteristic of his oeuvre webimage, Grove3 p489, Baldock p27
Phases: His work exhibits little stylistic change OxDicCon.
Pupil: Crome Baldock p27
Reception: He had no shortage of clients over his long career Grove3 p489
Repute: Art historians have with the notable exception of the arts journalist John Wilson in the Grove Dictionary been critical of his work, repeating time & again the complaint originally made by John Opie in 1795 that his works were of mediocre quality. For instance, the [usually reliable] Ellis Waterhouse says that his works, though conscientious, were “deadly dull” Grove3 p489.Waterhouse1953 p312, OxDicCon, L&L
Verdict: [It is high time that art historians before parroting well-worn critical assertions look at his work] .
Painter Children: George Duncan, 1798-1852; & Richard Brydges, 1808-1895, who was an Admiral Wikip
-BEERSTRATEN, Jan, 1622-1624, Netherlands:
Oeuvre: Topographical views of towns & castles, sometimes with the parts re-arranged & often in winter. He also depicted imaginary seaports, beach views, & a few sea battles, OxDicArt, Haak p482
Characteristics/Verdict: His townscapes are generally quite fluently painted with a good sense of proportion, & his his many winter views have a feeling for atmosphere. However his figures are often weak & his work is uneven Haak pp 479-80, 482
Progeny: His son Jan, born 1643, worked in his father’s style but sometimes with a burst of originality Haak p483
-BEERT, Osias, c1580-1624, Flemish=Antwerp:
Career: He became a master in Antwerp in 1602 & was also a cork merchant OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Still-life & flower pieces OxDicArt
Speciality: His paintings of oysters OxDicArt
Characteristics: Carefully detailed spread tables where atmosphere is of secondary importance. Sometimes there is a moralising Biblical scene in the background L&L
First Flemish painter known to have included Chinese porcelain in his pictures L&L
..BEETON, Alan, 1880-1942, England:
Background: He was born in Hampstead, London into a wealthy family with an estate near Reading where Alan moved in 1934 E&L p63
Training: In Pairs around 1902-3 where he became a close friend of Gerald Kelly E&L p63
Career: He went ot Charterhouse & Trinity College, Cambridge, but left early to become an artist, served in the Royal Engineers, won an MC, & joined a camouflage unit E&L p63
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Fastidious with his technique, his output was not great. Because of his wealthy he could turn down portrait commission & paint more idiosyncratic subjects, particularly lay figures & dolls in almost surreal set-ups. His ability to register values was remisniscent of the Dutch masters E&L p63
Repute: The Chantry Bequest bought Decomposing in 1931 but he is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary E&L p63
-BEGA, Cornelis, c1631-64, Van Haarlem’s grandson, Netherlands=Haarlem:
Background: He was born in Haarlem into a prosperous family. His father was a gold & silversmith, & his mother was Van Haarlem’s daughter TurnerRtoV p16
Training: He was the first & best pupil of Adriaen van Ostade whom he imitated L&L
Career: His first dated work was in 1652. In 1653 he made a trip to Germany, Switzerland & France, & in 1654 joined the Guild St Luke TurnerRtoV p16
Oeuvre: It mainly consisted of genre paintings of peasants in village tavern & kitchens. The figures include drunks, smokers, gamblers, nursing mothers & prostitutes. There are about 160 known paintings, 80 drawings, 34 etching, & eight monotypes SuttonP p132, TurnerRtoV p16
Specialities: A woman confronted with a besotted man, & also alchemists & quacks Franits pp 139-40
Phases/Characteristics: His early paintings were freely executed, dark & coarse. During the early 1660s he began painting colourful & psychologically expressive scenes with figures that are more carefully observed, less numerous, calmer & more genteel as in The Duet, 1663. His brushwork became smoother & tighter TurnerRtoV p16, NG Ir Vermeer No 51, Franits pp139-40, SuttonP pp132, 135.
Religion: He was probably a Catholic TurnerRtoV p16
Circle: He traded drawing & shared models with Gerrit Berckheyde & other Haarlem School artists TurnerRtoV p16
Influenced: Wijck, Steen, Brakenburg, Dusart, Oostrzaen, Toorenvliet TurnerRtoV p17
BEGAS, Karl, the Elder, 1794-1854, Germany:
Background: Begas was born in Hainsberg near Aachen Norman1977
Training: In Bonn & with Gros, 1813-21 Norman1977
Influences: Ingres & French classicism & later the Biedermier Realists Norman1977
Career: His early religious works attracted the interest & patronage of Wilhelm II of Prussia. He spent 1822-4 in Italy associating with the Nazarenes. In 1824 Begas settled in Berlin & in 1826 he became a professor at the Academy where he was an influential teacher Norman1977
Oeuvre: Highly finished portraits. He imitated the archaic Romanticism of the Nazarenes in Rome & then produced History Paintings which echo the literary-theatrical preoccupations of the Dusseldorf School. From around 1840 Begas painted scenes of contemporary life Norman1977, Norman1987 p64
Characteristics: His works have more technical skill than profundity Norman1987 p64
Legacy: He contributed to the French orientation of the Berlin school Norman1977
-Bartel BEHAM, 1502-40, Hans Sebald’s brother, Germany=Nuremberg:
Training: Durer L&L
Influences: Italian portraits with their half & knee length formats L&L
Career: In 1525 he was expelled from Nuremberg for anarchism & atheism but the sentence was revoked. From 1530 he was court artist to the Duke of Bavaria at Munich & Landshut. He died death on a trip to Italy L&L
Oeuvre: Painter, printmaker L&L
-Hans Sebold BEHAM, 1500-50, Bartel’s brother, Germany=Nuremberg:
Training: Durer L&L
Influences: His subjects were borrowed from engravings by Mantegna, Pollaiuolo & Raimondi L&L
Career: in 1525 he was expelled from Nuremberg for anarchism & atheism but the sentence revoked. He 1535 he settled in Frankfurt L&L
Oeuvre: There are no known paintings. He was an etcher, engraver & stained glass designer. He made popular prints, often genre subjects & topical events L&L
Beyeren/Beijeren. See Van Beyeren/Beijeren
-BELL, Graham, 1910-43, England (South Africa):
Background: Bell was born in South Africa OxDicMod
Training: Durban Art School & then by Duncan Grant OxDicMod
Influences: Sickert towards end of 1930s especially in his pub & cafe interiors Shone1988 p90
Career: In 1931 he moved to London. From 1934 to 1937 Bell turned to journalism, writing in a Socialist vein for The Left Review & the New Statesman OxDicMod. He argued for a realism reflecting contemporary life L&L. In 1937 Bell helped found the Euston Road School & during 1938-9 taught there L&L. In 1938 he painted in Bolton with Coldstream Spalding1986 p123, TurnerEtoPM p163. Bell volunteered in 1939 but was killed in an RAF training flight OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Portraits, landscapes, interiors, still-lifes OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: In the early 1930s Bell painted abstracts but when he returned to painting it was in a soberly naturalistic style OxDicMod. He avoided social realism Spalding1986 p122
Beliefs: Modern painting is decadent due to middle class patronage Spalding1986 p122
*BELL, Vanessa, 1879-1961, England:
Background: She was born in London, was Virginia Woolf’s sister, & the daughter of the eminent man of letters Sir Leslie Stephen. From him she inherited a High Victorain attitude to art to which she reacted against Grove3 p630
Training: Under Arthur Cope & at the RA Schools, 1901-4, where Sargent was one of her tutors L&L, OxDicMod.
Influences: Matisse whom she had met in Paris where she also encountered Picasso in 1914 L&L, OxDicMod
Career: In 1905 she founded the Friday Club which was first a discussion group for artists & then an exhibiting society until 1922. She married Clive Bell in 1907 with their house (46 Gordon Square) becoming a centre for the Bloomsbury Group. From 1916 she lived at Charleston, a Sussex farmhouse, with the [homosexual] Duncan Grant by whom she had a daughter in 1918. She also had an affair with Roger Fry. She produced designs for his Omega Workshops. Julian her son died in the Spanish Civil War OxDicMod, Grove3 p631
Oeuvre: Portraits, landscapes, figure compositions; & design work, including covers for the Hogarth Press OxDicMod
Phases: Her work up to about 1910 was tasteful & fairly conventional. Then, stimulated by the Post-Impressionist Exhibitions, she worked with bright colours & bold forms. By 1914 her work was completely abstract & she was briefly in the forefront of the avant-garde. However after the War she reverted to a more naturalistic style Grove3 p631 OxDicMod.
Characteristics: Many of her works are pleasing, especially the still-life M&D pp 102-6, 110. However some but not all, of her figure compositions have are painted in a somewhat casual manner with, for instance, body part that are anatomically improbable & discoloured M&D pp 59,63, 68, 72, 78, 80. A feature of the faces is the frequent absence of salient features M&D pp 67-8, 70, 79-80,124, 127
Repute: After 1945 her work became unfashionable OxDicMod. However, her work is now praised for “Her resolute de-skilling” & “the sheer brutality of her brushstrokes” M&D p21
*Jacques BELLANGE, active 1595-17, France; Mannerism Movement
Background: Lorraine was an independent duchy Grove3 p634
Influences: The prints of Parmigianino: Schongauer, Durer & other German masters; & Goltzius & other Flemish masters L&L
Career: During 1600-17 he was at the ducal palace at Nancy Blunt1954 p125
Oeuvre: Paintings, etchings & theatrical design, etc. Most of his work is religious but he also produced genre L&L
Characteristics: His figures are extremely elongated, have complex poses. Viewpoints are unusual & there is special ambiguity. His religious works stress elegance & beauty as against ugliness & deformity in his genre L&L.
Aim: Religious & mystical emotion through what at first sight appears to be empty. Aristocratic elegance Blunt1954 p125.
Circle/Grouping: He was active with Jacques Callot & Claude Deruet at the court of the Duke of Lorraine at Nancy. Their work was the last stage of European Mannerism L&L, Blunt1954 p125.
.. BELLANY, John, 1942-2013, Scotland:
Background: Port Seton: a fishing village, near Edinburgh. His father & grandfather were fishermen OxDicMod, Wikip
Training: From 1960 at the Edinburgh College of Art where he met Sandy Moffat, & at the Royal College of Art, Macmillan1994 p127, Wikip
Influences: He rebelled against the aestheticism of his teachers, though he encouraged by Robin Philipson who was head of painting at Edinburgh Macmillan1994 pp 120, 124
Career: From 1968 he had a number of teaching posts & in 1973 joined the London Group. He separated from his wife in 1974, had a nervous breakdown, liver disease due to alcoholism was diagnosed in 1984, & his second wife committed suicide in 1985. In 1986 he re-married his first wife & in 1988 had a liver transplant Wikip.
Characteristics/Phases: He had a vigorous Expressionist style, sometimes rather tormented. In 1964 he painted his impressive triptych Allegory in which the huge bodies of gutted fish take the place of the Crucifixion. This was followed by a series of paintings in which he used the Christian symbolism of fish & fishermen, adding grim figures after a visit to Buchenwald in 1967. After near death he turned in the 1980s to lighter, more lyrical themes in luminous paints & watercolours OxDicArt, L&L, Macmillan1994 p127
Aim: Renaissance in the Scottish arts Wikip
Grouping: Along with Moffat, Gillon, Crozier & McLeod , he was included in an exhibition of Scottish Realists in 1971 Macmillan1994 p127
..Joseph-Louis-Hippolyte BELLANGE, 1800-66, France: National Romanticism
Background: He was born in Paris Norman1977
Training: In Gros’ studio, 1816, where Charlet, Bonnington & Delaroche were pupils & Charlet became a close friend Grove3 p634, Norman1977
Career: He worked as a commercial illustrator using the new lithograph process. In 1822 he first exhibited at the Salon & in 1834 Napoleon’s Return from the Isle of Elba established his fame. Between 1823 & 1835 he published 15 albums of lithographs showing patriotic military subjects, & increasingly painted them in oils. He worked extensively for the Galerie des Bastilles, Versailles. In1836, he became curator of Rouen Museum Grove3 p634, Norman1977
Oeuvre: Paintings & prints of military subjects from the Napoleonic wars & the Crimea Grove3 p634
Characteristics: His paintings are rather dryly detailed but his drawings are freer & more attractive, often in crayon broadly toned with watercolour & pen & ink. Some works are numerous genre Grove3 p634
Innovation: His Napoleonic war paintings avoided the stately banalities of official art Guedalla p23
Repute: It soon faded Grove3 p634
Bijlert. See Van Bijlert
Blanc. See Le Blanc
Bonvincino/Buonvincino. See Moretto
Borch. See Terborch
-BELLECHOSE, Henri, died c1442, Belgium:
Career: Between 1415 & 1419 he was court painter to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, from 1420 to his successor, Philip the Good Grove3 p640
Oeuvre: Religious paintings & decorative work Grove 3 pp 639-40
Characteristics: His only surviving documented work, The Martrydom of St Denis, c1416 (Louvre) is painted in a decorative style with areas of strong, clear colour with soft tonal modulations & set against a tooled gold ground Grove3 p640
-BELLEGAMBE, Jean, c1469-1535, Belgium:
Background: He was born at Douai, the son of a cabinet maker, musician & prominent citizen of Douai: a town subservient to powerful neighbouring abbeys. His archaism was deliberate Grove3 pp 641-2
Career: He seems to have worked entirely for monastic establishments & during 1508 -13 painted a nine panel polyptych known as the Credo which has a complex & masterful composition L&L, Grove3 p641
Characteristics: His works are calm, serene with elongated figures, refined colour contrasts & much gold leaf following Rogier van der Weyden. Despite their restraint his works are not without life containing many mischievous children & lively background scenes. From about 1525 he adopted some elements of the new Italianate manner & his work displays mannerist tendencies L&L, Grove3 pp 641-2
Status: He was the leading artist of his time in Douais L&L
*Gentile BELLINI, 1429-1507, Jacopo’s son & Giovanni’s brother, Italy=Venice:
Career: He continued to head the family firm & during 1479-81 he worked for Mehmet II in Istanbul L&L
Speciality: Official portraiture & large commissions from the state & scuole L&L
Characteristics: He was a solid, meticulous & prosaic draftsman L&L
**Giovanni BELLINI, c1431-1516, Jacopo’ son & Gentile’s brother, Italy=Venice:
Background: He was born in Venice Grove3 p657
Influences: Initially his father & Mantegna, who was his brother-in-law, but then Netherlandish painting, the sculptures of Donatello & Pietro Lombardo. Piero della Francesca, Antonello de Masina, & later on Giorgione L&L, Grove3 p661
Career: He gained fame through portraits of Giorgio & Catherine Cornaro Vasari2 p45. Only once does Bellini appear to have travelled outside Venice when he made a journey to the Marches in the 1470s. From 1479 he worked regularly on scenes from Venetian history at the Doge’s palace Grove3 pp 658-9.
Oeuvre: The overwhelming majority of his works are religious but latterly he painted a handful of pictures based on classical literature & his portraits mostly date from the 1480s & 90s Grove3 pp 660, 664
Technique: Around 1474 he first first mastered the technique of oil painting in glazes as in Coronation of the Virgin. This was a watershed in Venetian painting L&L, Hale p58. However, Bellini often continued to use tempera for lower paint layers or to bind particular pigments. He used little or no impasto & there are few pentimenti. It appears that especially in the 1470s & 80s Bellini made elaborate underdrawings but later they became simple, sketchy or absent, as in the Feast of the Gods Grove3 p666
Phases: His earliest paintings were chiefly small panels for private devotion Grove3 p658. He painted sunrise or sunset in his early pictures, but full daylight in his later work Clark1949 p53. Initially he had a linear style but this gave way from 1490s to a characteristic Venetian manner where colour & light are the primary means of expression OxDicArt, RAVenice p41. By 1501 his late style was fully formed Steer p73. Static & archaizing portraits were replaced by more expressive & forward-looking works after his Jorg Fugger of 1474 Pope-H p63. However, the averted gaze & dignified bearing, although they may reflect Venetian decorum, limit their expressive range: they are not masterpieces on the level of his religious works. The exception is Doge Leonardo Loredan, where the very impersonality enhances his symbolic stature Grove3 p664
Characteristics: Bellini was responsive to a succession of influences & his style probably underwent greater changes than that of any other major 15th century painter Grove3 p661. He had a love of whatever phenomena & objects he painted Clark1949 pp 49, 53. He was, for instance, interested in clouds & the hang & ruffling of clothing. Bellini never quite managed to move from apprehending the world as the sum of parts to picturing it as a synthesis by using a cursive shape to bind & unify, although he did in his later pictures soften contours. Though his apprehension of form remained traditionally bound, he used light poetically to convey mood & atmosphere. However, his light remained a separable element & he did not, like Giorgione, create an optical unity. Light works on & around what it reveals & does not fuse with it Freedberg pp109-10. One of the most moving characteristics of his art was his ability to convey the otherworldly, the sensuous & spiritual, by convincingly natural means Grove3 p663. However, his late works are less naturalistic with, for instance, less emphasis on perspective & more on broader colour effects that spread across the picture to provide an atmospheric & decorative unity, as in the Baptism, or the use of soft but deeply saturated colour to produce a magical & elusive super-reality, as in the S. Zaccaria Altarpiece Grove3 p665
Firsts: The depiction of perspective through alternating & receding wedges of light & dark colour, thus preserving colouristic unity L&L. He also painted the first known evocation of dawn in Italian art & made the first known sketches from the nude, & he probably painted the first Venetian nude without any Biblical, mythological or moral motivations in his Lady with a Mirror, 1515 Grove3 p661, NG Art2006 p219, Persall p24.
He established the model for Venetian altarpieces: the combination of a pyramidal figure group in a tall arched structure Grove3 p663. He was also associated with the Venetian practice that any notable man should have his portrait painted Vasari2 p51.
Bellini was one of the first true painters of landscape, though not pure landscape. His landscape, like that of Mantegna, was not just a means of making paintings credible but a way of playing on viewers’ heart strings & conveying the principal message of his works. In The Resurrection of Christ, the dawning sky symbolises Christ’s resurrection from the tomb & in the Agony in the Garden, c1465 (NG), where the rosy dawn light catches the underside of the clouds, & its promise [& beauty] softens Christ’s grief. There was a ready market for small, private devotional paintings featuring landscape & light in Venice & these were Bellini’s mainstay. This led him to continually re-invent the landscapes in, for instance, works featuring a more or less unchanging St Jerome. In contrast Mantegna who worked in the Mantuan court was never induced to experiment in this way CKRV pp 218, 221, 223-4, 228-9. Bellini did not merely paint fluffy white clouds but also evening skies, sombre clouds, & tender light effects CKRV pp 120, 137, 138-9, 184, Grove18 p705
Patronage: His clientele was mostly Venetian, frequently of the highest social & political rank. He also worked extensively for the scole who commissioned narrative cycles for their meeting houses & altarpieces for their chapels. With abundant local work, Bellini seems to have undertaken little painting for distant customers Grove3 pp 660-1
Status: By the early 1470s he must have been the leading Venetian painter of altarpieces & smaller devotional works Grove3 p658
Friends/Circle: Bembo. He moved among humanists Hale p59, CKRV p229
Workshop: His increased dominance of Venetian art led to an enormous expansion after about 1490 & it became one of the largest & best organised in 15th century Italy. It appears that Bellini used a single principal assistant on each large-scale work & did not, like Raphael, employ numerous specialists for particular sections. For smaller, popular devotional works he may, with an assistant, have produced a matrix work from which the assistant produced copies & variants, although these were usually inscribed with Bellini’s name Grove3 pp 657, 667
Pupils: Titian, Palma Vechio, Piombo L&L; Jacopo da Montagna, Rondinello da Ravenna & “it is said” Giorgione Vasari2 p52
Personal: He appears to have been generous in his dealings with colleagues: Durer reported he was the only Venetian painter to treat him with courtesy & friendship. Vasari said that he was known for his kindness to his pupils Grove3 p658
Verdict: No other school was so much the creation of one man. He was the “supreme instance of facts transfigured through love” Clark1949 pp 48-9. He was the greatest 15th century official portraitist with his lack of interest in idiosyncrasy & idealisation becoming a strength Pope-H p52. However, he was criticised by Vasari as having a hard, dry & laboured style Vasari4 p199
Repute: From the late 16th century onwards Bellini was generally regarded as the first great painter of the Venetian school but as inferior to Titian. However, his religious sincerity & attention to detail appealed to 19th century critics, particularly Ruskin Grove3 p668
-Jacopo BELLINI, before1400-c1470, Gentile & Giovanni’s father, Italy=Venice:
Training: da Fabriano L&L
Oeuvre: Almost no paintings survive, but there are two volumes of importrant drawings of unknown date L&L
Characteristics: He was interested in narrative & perspective; also landscape & architectural settings, & imaginative motifs L&L
Influence: on Mantegna (son-in-law from 1453) if drawings early L&L
BELLINIANO/DI MATTEO, Vittore, c1507, after 1529,
Oeuvre: There are few known works RAVenice p174
Training: Probably Giovanni Bellini whose name he assumed Grove3 p670
Influences: Bellini, Titian etc Grove3 p670
Oeuvre: Paintings & portraits Grove3 p670, RAVenice p171
Characteristics: He was a close & perceptive follower of Giorgione who used thin pigment to produce almost ethereal textures; autumnal background browns; almost colourless flesh tones; & an overall romantic sensibility RAVenice p171
BELLOTTO, Bernardo, 1721-1780, Canaletto’s nephew; Realism, 18th Century Movement
Career: He was Canaletto’s assistant & he worked works in central & northern Italy. During 1747-56 he was court painter in Dresden, & then in Vienna & Munich. During his final 13 years he was court painter in Warsaw L&L
Phases: Early on his work was Canaletto-like; gradual introducing pinkish skies & cold blues & greens of foliage. His Warsaw pictures were strongly naturalistic, almost Courbet-like, & with a genre element Levey1959 p93
Characteristics: He had an almost Dutch interest in massed clouds, cast shadows, & rich foliage. Much of his work was in a steely grey OxDicArt
Collections: Dresden & Warsaw L&L
-BELLOWS, George, 1882-1925, USA; Ashcan Movement
Background: He was born at Columbus, Ohio OxDicMod
Training: Ohio State University; Henri in New York OxDicMod. After meeting Henri he said “My life begins” Perlman p64
Career; Rejected by a high school fraternity, he resolved to overcome unpopularity through physical prowess & thereupon he joined the Columbus YMCA RAMag Spring 2013 p42. In 1904 he went to New York & in 1909 was elected (the youngest person ever) to the National Academy of Design. He was the organiser for Armoury Show OxDicMod. Bellows belonged to Sharkey’s athletic club where he sketched almost nude & real-life males Bjeljac pp 291-2. He worked for The Masses OxDicMod
Speciality: Boxing scenes OxDicMod
Phases: From 1913 his work was less concerned with movement & more with formal balance. In 1916 he took up lithography & late on painted portraits & landscapes OxDicMod
Characteristics: His scumbled & impasted surface textures were as rough as his subject matter RAMag Spring 2013 pp 42-3.
Verdict: Bellows seems almost to have had two artistic personalities: the pitiless observer of the brutalities & cruelties of the city & the nostalgic but optimistic poet of middle class America Corbett2011 p47
Grouping: The Ascan School OxDicMod
Beliefs: The need to work fast in order to capture the moment RAMag Spring 2013 p42. He had a strong social conscience OxDicMod
-BENBRIDGE, Henry, 1743-1812, USA:
Background: He was born in Philadelphia Grove3 p700
Training: At the Academy of Philadelphia, 1751-8, briefly with John Wollaston, & with Mengs & Batoni in Rome, around 1765 Grove3 p700 , L&L
Career: James Boswell commissioned a portrait of the Corsican patriot General Pascal Paoli which was widely acclaimed in London, 1769. In 1770 he returned to Philadelphia where he married the miniaturist Letitia Sage L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits & minatures L&L
Characteristics: Virtuosity with glazes & colour Grove3 p701
Status: He was the most respected portraitist in Carolina & Virginia during the War of Independence L&L
*BENCOVICH, Federico, 1677-1753, Italy=Venice:
Training: in Bologna with Cignani, then Crespi (with Piazzetta) L&L
Influences: Lombard Realist tradition Levey1986 p7; Piazzetta L&L
Career: c1710 to Venice with Piazzetta; 1716-20 & from 1733 Vienna L&L
Characteristics: dramatic chiaroscuro L&L; almost uncouth force; expressive originality Levey1986 p7
Friends: Carriera L&L
Influenced: Tiepolo, Maulbertch L&L
BENCZUR, Gyula, 1844-1920, Hungary; National Romanticism:
Background: Born Nyiregyhaza Grove3 p702
Training: At the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich, where during 1864-9 he was under Karl Piloty Grove3 p702
Career: His early Laszlo Hunyadi’s Farewell’s is one of Hungary’s greatest history paintings, & during 1870-5 he painted the Baptism of Vajk, Hungary’s first king. In 1875 he worked for Ludwig II at the Linderhof & Chiemsee palaces on scenes from the life of LouisXIV which, after a trip to France in 1871, had become a speciality. He taught at the Academy in Munich, 1876-83, & was then the first Hungarian Director of Art Education. During 1885-96 he painted Recapture of Buda Castle from the Turks Grove3 p702
Oeuvre: Portraits & history paintings Grove3 p702
Phases: His earlier works are highly patriotic Grove3 p702
Characteristics: His earlier history paintings are crowded & luminous but the last, 1915 & 1919, are in arigid neo-Renaissance style Grove3 p702, Pogany Pl 14
Status: He was the most official academic painter of his time Grove3 p702
BENDEMANN, Eduard, 1811-89, Germany:
Background: He was born in Berlin Norman1977
Training: With Schadow in Berlin Norman1977
Career: He became famous after The Jews in Exile, 1832, & followed Schadow to Düsseldorf. Between 1839 & 1855 he was director of the Academy in Düsseldorf, & then professor at Academy in Dresden, 1839-55. He succeeded Schadow as Director of the Düsseldorf Academy (1859-67). Bendemann decorated the throne room of the castle in Dresden with kings and lawgivers and with a frieze on the evolution of culture. In the ballroom and concert hall he painted scenes from Greek history. He also painted portraits and book illustrations Norman1977
Beliefs: He shared with his generation the vision of a rebirth of German art through monumental painting Norman1977
BENDIXEN, Siegfried, 1786-1864, Germany:
Background: He was born at Kiel Norman1977
Influences: The 17th century Dutch masters Norman1977
Career: During 1808-13 he travelled to Italy, Paris & Dresden. In 1813 he settled in Hamburg where, in 1815, he established an art school. In 1832 he moved to London & exhibited at the RA until 1864 Norman1977
Technique: he sketched extensively in the countryside Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscapes Norman1977
Pupils: Morgensturn, Gurlitt & other nasturalistic landscapists Norman1977
Alexander/Sanders BENING/BENNINCK, -1519, father of Simon & Levina Teerlinc, Belgium=Ghent:
Career: In 1469 he was master miniaturist in the guild at Ghent. No documented works are known & he is sometimes identified with the Master of Mary of Burgundy L&L, OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Manuscript illuminations L&L
..BENDZ, Wilhelm, 1804-32, Denmark:
Background: Born Odense, the son of its mayor Norman1977, Kent p50
Training: Under Eckersberg at the Copenhagen Academy Norman1977
Influences: German Romanticism in which art reveals the eternal in the transient Grove3 p705
Career: He went to Italy via Dresden where he stayed with Dahl & Munich. In Italy he went to Venice, Padua & died in Vicenza, 1832
Oeuvre: Simple interiors from everyday life together with artists’ studios as in Artist Examining a Sketch in a Mirror, 1826 (Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen Norman1977, Grove3 p 705
Characteristics/Phases: A delicate use of light, shadow & colour, especially the effects of artificial light, including dramatic chiaroscuro as in Smoking Party/Club, 1827 (Ny Carlsbert, Glyptotek). Initially he painted portraits to make money. In his work the setting & atmosphere are as important as what is happening as in the Raffenberg Family, 1823 (Kstforen) with its internal & highly disturbing picture of the dead husband Grove3 p705, Norman1977, NG1984 p165
Innovation: He introduced the middle-class conversation piece into Danish art & several of his paintings conceal a symbolism that was atypical of the Golden Age NG1984 p165
Influenced: Christen Kobke, Constantin Hansen & Wilhelm Marstrand NG1984 p165
Reception: He became something of a legend within a narrow circle but was soon forgotten NG p165
Alexander/Sanders BENING/BENNINCK, -1519, father of Simon & Levina Teerlinc, Belgium=Ghent:
Career: In 1469 he was master miniaturist in the guild at Ghent. No documented works are known & he is sometimes identified with the Master of Mary of Burgundy L&L, OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Manuscript illuminations L&L
Levina BENING/TEERLINC, -1376, Alexander’s daughter & Simon’s sister, Belgium:
Background: She was born in Bruges Grove30 p411
Career; She came to England with her husband George Teerlinc around 1545 & in 1546 became court miniaturist to Henry VIII possibly to replace Holbein & Lucas Horenbout who had died. She gave works to Mary & Elizabeth L&L
Oeuvre: Miniatures OxDicArt
Simon BENING/BENNINCK/BENIG, c1483-1561, Alexander’s son & Levina Teerlinc’s father, Belgium=Bruges:
Career: He illuminated the Grimani Breviary & the Hennessy Hours L&L
Oeuvre: Manuscript illumination L&L
Characteristics: The naturalistic, atmospheric style developed by the Master of Mary of Burgundy L&L
Firsts & Lasts: One of the final manuscript illustrators before the printed book took over OxDicArt
Verdict: His work was outstanding L&L
-BENOIS/BENUA, Alexandre, 1870-1960, Russia:
Background: He was born at St Petersburg into of German, French & Italian descent OxDicMod. His family belonged to the cultured foreign colony which had existed ever since Peter the Great had begun importing artists & architects, & his father, Nikolai was an academician in the field of architecture Gray p38, 50Rus p195
Training: Briefly at the Academy of Arts, St Petersburg, 1887-8, & various Parisian studios including Whistler’s, after arriving in Paris for the first time in 1896. However, he was largely self-taught Grove3 p734, 50 Rus p196, OxDicMod
Influences: German & French painting; & Louis XIV’s court at Versailles. Grove3 p734
Career: As curator of Princes Tenisheva’s collection of modern paintings,1895-99. He played a crucial part in Russian culture during the early 20th century; helped found the World of Art Group/Mir Iskusstv, 1898; involved Diaghilev in ballet; & became artistic director of Ballets Russes, 1909-11, etc; was director of the Hermitage picture gallery, 1918-26; & then settled in Paris Grove 3 pp 734-35
Oeuvre: Paintings, illustration, theatrical design, 1900-1957; & art criticisms. His paintings include landscapes & townscapes, genre scenes, & history paintings involving Peter & also Catherine the Great Grove3 pp 734-35, Wikip
Characteristics: His contemporary paintings are pleasing naturalistic studies in muted colours, often painted in somewhat overcast weather, as in Lake in the Park at Versailles which belongs to his first Versailles series of around 1897, or to & his second 1906 series 50Rus pp196, webimages
Feature: In his art criticism he was often severely critical of the avant-garde who attacked the traditions he valued, though he tried to understand their aims. However, he regarded the 1915 Suprematist Exhibition as a blasphemous replacement of human art by a machine mentality that was arrogant, haughty & trampled over all that was dear & tender. Moreover Suprematism & his Black Square would have dire consequences. To this Malevich replied that he was happy in not being like you as it gave him strength to proceed into the empty but transforming wilderness. From the standpoint of art history Malevich won this exchange hands down, Benois’ work being dated. However, when viewed form a historical perspective he was right because the trajectory on which Malevich had embarked led to Communist slaughter & the repudiation of his own art under Socialist Realism L&L, Aronson pp 74 -5, etc
Nadia Benois, 1896-1975, was another member of the family who was a painter. She studied at the St Petersburg Academy, settled in Britain & produced still-life & impressionist landscapes, while also engaging on stage design Wikip
.. BENOIST, Marie-Guillemine, 1768-1826, France; Neo-Classicism
Background: She was born in Paris, the daughter of a civil servant Grove3 p735, Wikip
Training: She was a pupil of Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun, 1781, & in David’s studio, 1786 Hessel p 65, Grove3 p735
Career: She exhibited in the Salon 1791, married the lawyer Pierre-Vincent Benoist, 1793, made her name with her as in semi-nude Portrait of a Negress/Madeleine, 1800 (Louvre), obtained commissions from Napoleon & his family, received a government allowance, & opened an atelier to train women. After the Restoration in 1815 her husband became a member of the Council of State & she was obliged to cease painting because of the growing wave of conservatism in European society Grove3 p735, Wikip. Oeuvre: Portraits, genre, & mythological scenes as in her dramatic Innocence between Vice & Virtue in which Vice is represented by a man & Virtue by a Woman (Private) [but Wikimedia Commons] Grove3 p735, Wikip
Characteristics: Her works are manifestly accomplished with a telling use of colour, incident & chiaroscuro
webimages
Feature: Madeleine is idealised, not only extremely beautiful & graceful but with an unrealistically long swan-neck as in Portrait of Madeleine 1798 (NG Washington DC). She was a servant who had been brought to Paris from the Antilles by the artist’s brother-in-law Hessel pp65-66
Grouping: Neo-Classicism Wikip
Reception: She earned acclaim in post-Revolution Paris Hessel pp 65-66
Repute: Madeleine was acquired by Louis XVIII for the nation. She is not itemised in the Oxford Companion Wikip
Sister: Marrie-Elisabeth Laville-Leroux, 1770-1842, who also entered David’s studio in 1786 & sometimes exhibited with her sister Wikip
Boullogne. See de Boullogne/Boullongne/Boulogne
-Ambrosius BENSON, -1551, Belgium (Italy)=Bruges:
Background: He was born in Lombardy. During the 1st half of the 16th century Bruges had a close trading relationship with Spain, where most of his works ended up Grove3 p738
Influences Gerard David in whose studio he briefly worked, Italian Renaissance models, & the established Bruges tradition dating back to Vsn Eyck Grov3 p738
Career: In1519 he was admitted to the Bruges guild of painters of which he became an office holder. He was also a city councilor. Like other local artists he worked more for the open market & export than on commission Grove3 p738
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, devotional works, mythological pieces, history paintings with nudes or scantily clad women, & a few high quality portraits Grove3 pp 738-9
Characteristics: Light & chiaroscuro effects which define form, together with warm colouring, including dull red, dark green & dominant brown Grove3 p739
Pupils: His sons Joachim Spaers & Jacob Vinson/Fynson Grove3 p738
..BENSON, Frank Weston, 1862-1951:
Background: Born Salem Gerdts1980 p93
Training: School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Academie Julian, 1883 NGArtinP p226. At both Tarbell was a fellow student Gerdts1980 p93
Career: In 1884 he spent the summer at Concarneau & in 1885 returned to the USA. From 1889 he taught at the Boston Museum School NGArtinP p226. In 1898 he became a member of Ten American Painters OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: Early interiors with subtle light effects & muted colours; then Impressionist painting with which he began experimenting in the 1890s NGArtinP p226. These works often display very attractive young women, golden haired, in flowing white dresses, in brilliant sunlight set against verdant, landscapes & bright blue skies with fleecy clouds. By about 1915 his modelling had again become more solid & his imagery more monumental & concerned with wealth Gerdts1980 p94
Grouping: American Impressionism Gerdts1984 p281
*BENTON, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975, USA:
Background: Neosho (population 2725 in 1900), Missouri. His father was a Congressman & his grandfather a Senator Hughes1997 p44
Training: 1907-8 at the Chicago Art Institute; 1908-11 at the Academie Julian OxDicMod
Influences: Initially Cezanne & then Macdonald-Wright (a Paris friend); later Michelangelo & Mannerism’s twisting lines OxDicMod, Hughes1979 pp 443-4
Career: In 1912 he settled in New York OxDicMod. He gained fame through Time’s Xmas 1934 issue with its self-portrait cover & lauditory article. In 1935 he made a blistering farewell attack on the gay dominated New York art world. He became the director of the City Art Institute & School of Design, Kansas City (where he lived until his death) & began the Social History of Missouri murals in the state capitol, Jefferson City Hughes1997 pp 438-9, 445, OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Murals, landscapes & portraits OxDicMod
Phases: Initially he was a Synchromist but around 1920 he abandoned Modernism OxDicMod
Characteristics: In his Regionalist work nothing is at rest, the figures are overdeveloped & cartoon-like, & the colour rich but crude Hughes1997 pp 444-5, OxDicMod
Status: He was the leading Regionalist Hughes1997 p443
Personal: He was a “cantankerous loudmouth brimful of vitality” with an eye for publicity Hughes1997 p443
Politics: He came under the influence of Marxism & met such radicals as Max Eastman & John Sloan but his populist & Marxist sympathies were misunderstood by Popular Front artists in the 1930s Grove3 pp 747-8. He strongly supported New Deal policies & saw Regionalist art as a way of promoting democratic progress Doss pp 111-2
Verdict: His pictures are mostly dreadful but popular, their vulgarity & exaggeration being life-enhancing Hughes1979 p443
Pupil: Pollock who was influenced by the surge & flow in Benton’s pictures Hughes1979 p444
Benvenuto. See di Giovanni
-Christian BERARD, 1902-49, confusable with Berman, France
Background : He was born in Paris OxDicMod
Training: At the Academie Ranson under Vuillard & Denis from 1922, & at the Academie Julain OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Mainly design paricularly for the theatre, fashion drawings for Vogue, but he also painted OxDicMod
Characteristics: His art, like that of Berman & Tchelitchew, was eclectic & self-consciously traditional, & an important alternative to Modernism. His portraits were dark-toned & moody & his masterpiece On the Beach, 1933 (MoMA) is a disturbing double portrait with morbid or perverse overtones against a hallucinary backdrop with Grove3 p753.
Personal: He was a short dischevalled man with an untidy beard OxDicMod
Circle: Cocteau OxDicArt
Status: He was admired for his elegant fantasy OxDicMod
Verdict: His art sometimes seemed narcisstic & camp but there was a formidable vein of genuine poetry Grove3 p754
Grouping: French Neo-Romaticism OxDicArt
Legacy: He was the precursor of Balthus Grove4 p754
-Jean BERARD, Jean, 1640-1711, France:
Influences: Lebrun L&L
Career: From 1862 until his death he was the designer for Louis XIV’s private apartments L&L
Oeuvre: Arabesques & other motifs for wall & ceiling panels, tapestries etc L&L
Characteristics: Lebrun-like decorations but lighter & more fantastical L&L
Style: He anticipated the Rococo L&L
Influence: His design were popularised through his & others’ engravings L&L
..BERAUD, Jean, 1849-1936, France; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: He was well-born Norman1977 p37
Training: Bonnat; 1890 Norman1977 p37
Influences: The Impressionists (flowing brushwork) Norman1977 p37
Career: He attended the elite Lycee Condorcet Chasse pp 9–10, Wikip. In 1873 he first exhibited at the Salon & in 1890 was a founder member Societe Nationale des Beaux-Artes. His Christ in modern dress pictures, around 1890, were a suces de scandale Norman1977 p37
Oeuvre: Scenes of Parisian life Norman p37
Personal: Beruad frequented aristocratic circles Norman1977 p37
Collections: Carnavalet
*BERCHEM, Nicolaes/Claes, 1620-83, Pieter Claesz’s son, Netherlands=Haarlem; Baroque Classicism Movement
Training: His father TurnerRtoV p17
Career: In 1652 he was probably in Italy & possibly also went in 1642 TurnerRtoV p17
Oeuvre: Pastoral, mythological, biblical, winter & harbour landscapes & scenes. He also painted figures for his friend Van Ruisdael & for Hobbema, etc L&L
Status: He pularised Italianate pastoral & arcadian scenes & with Jan Both was their most celebrated practitioner L&L, OxDicArt, Fuchs pp 136-7
Status: proto-Rococo L&L; Dutch Italianate landscape Fuchs pp 136, 137
Grouping: Although he was a Dutch Classicist he can be regarded as proto-Rococo MB, L&L
Influenced: Watteau & Gainsborough OxDicArt
-Gerrit BERCKHEYDE, 1638-98, Job’s brother, Netherlands, Haarlem:
Career: He travelled to Germany but returned Haarlem L&L
Oeuvre: Small city scenes, & a few church & shop interiors, & landscapes L&L
Characteristics: His work was never dry. It had a poetic harmony through subtle light & shade OxDicArt
Innovations: Dutch townscape L&L
-Job BERCKHEYDE, 1630-93, Gerrit’ brother, Netherlands:
Career: He travelled to Germany but returned to Haarlem L&L
Oeuvre: Some genre & biblical scenes OxDicArt
Innovations: Dutch townscape L&L
-BERCZY, William von Moll, 1749-1813, Germany/Canada:
Background: He was born in Saxony & his father was a German ambassador later stationed in Vienna L&L
Training: At Lepsig University L&L
Influences: Oil & pastel portraits L&L
Career: During 1785-90 he was in Italy studying art with his painter wife & then then exhibited at the RA. In 1792 he emigrated to the USA, settled in Montreal around 1795 & turned to painting because of financial difficulties L&L, Reid p31
Oeuvre: Oil, watercolour & pastel portraits, L&L, Reid p32
Feature: He painted Joseph Brant, the chief of the Mohawks, around 1805 (NG Canada)
Characteristics: He painted in a classical style & The Woolsey Family, 1809 (NG Canada) displays complex interrelationships, & sophisticated & pleasurable detailing etc Reid pp 31, 38
Status/Verdict: He was the best & most fashionable Canadian painter of his time Reid p31
Patronage: The English merchants & garrison officers in Montreal Reid pp30-1
Progeny: His son & daughter were watercolour & minature painters L&L
..Edvard BERGH, Richard’s father, Sweden: National Romantic Movement:
Background: Born Stockholm Grove 3p776.
Training: At the Konstakademi, 1852 after abandoning the law; then at Dusseldorf under the Norwegian Hans Gude Grove 3p776
Influences: Alexandre Calme Grove3 p776.
Career: He made a three year study trip after receiving a travel scholarship in 1854. From 1861 he taught at the Konstakademi. In 1874 he became paralysed & his work deteriorated Grove3 p776.
Oeuvre: Landscapes Grove3 p776
Characteristics/Phases: Initially he painted in the sombre brown tones of the Dusseldorf School but from the late 1860s he adopted realistic light effects & clear colouring , especially in his summer landscapes with their birch forests, lakes & grazing cattle Grove3 p776.
Status: He was one of Sweden’s most successful & distinguished landscapists RA1900 p369
Career: He was professor at the Academy RA1900 p369
Status: He was one of Sweden’s most successful & distinguished landscapists RA1900 p369
..(Sven) Richard BERGH, 1858-1919, Johan Edvard’ son, Sweden; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: Born in Stockholm Norman1977
Training: At the Stockholm Academy, 1877-81; & then in Paris with Laurens Norman1877
Influences: Bastien-Lepage & a strong interest in Impressionism RA1900 p369
Career: Bergh moved to Paris & in the 80s he regularly exhibited at the Salon. In 1866 he helped found the Secessionist Konstnarsforbunder (Artists’ Association). In 1915 he became head of the National Museum in Stockholm & transformed it into a dynamic institution RA1900 p369, Norman1977
Oeuvre: Portraits & also some landscape & genre Norman1977
Characteristics: His portraits were psychologically sensitive (& highly regarded) Norman1977. His (Varberg) landscapes were Romantic & melancholic inspired by Nordic folklore & Symbolism RA1900 p369
Innovations: With Kreuger & Nordstrom he developed a national Romantic art Kent p220
Grouping: In 1893 Bergh joined the Varberg colony of plein air painters Norman1977, Jacobs1985
BERMEJO, Bartolome, active 1474-98, Spain:
Background: He was born in Cordoba BrownJ p8
Training: Probably in the Netherlands L&L
Influences: Flemish & Northern Italian L&L
Innovations: Oil painting in Spain, 1490 OxDicArt
Verdict: He has been called the best artist in Spain before 1500 L&L
-BERGMULLER, Johann, 1688-1762, Germany=Augusburg:
Training: Wolff in Munich & Maratta in Rome L&L
Career: In 1712 he settled Augusburg becoming Catholic Principal of the Art Academy, 1730. From 1739 he was Court Painter to the Prince Bishop L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits, altarpieces, church decorations, etchings L&L
Pupils: The following generation of Augusburg painters, notably Holzer & Goz L&L
–BERGOGNONE/BORGOGNONE/DA FOSSANO, active1481-1523, Italy:
Influences: Foppa but not Leonardo L&L. OxDicArt
Career: He was active in Milan & for several years at the Charterhouse in Pavia, where his brother Bernadino assisted him L&L
Characteristics: His style is static & undramatic in a typical late 15th century mood of devotional calm, often enhanced by pale & delicate landscape backgrounds OxDicArt
Status: He is one of the best examples of the continuance of a native Milanese painting tradition into the 16th century OxDicArt
-BERLEWI, Henryk, 1893-1967, Poland:
Training: In Warsaw, Antwerp & Paris L&L
Career: He was part of a Futurist group in Warsaw, met Lissitzky & followed him to Berlin where he made contact with Moholy-Nagy & Van Doesburg. In 1928 he settled in Paris L&L
Phases: Abstract works with precise elements, sometimes suggesting technology, which he termed Mecano-facture. He 1926 he returned to figurative painting but during his last years returned to Mecano-facture L&L
– Berlinghiero BERLINGHIERI/BERLINGHIERO of LUCA, c1175- to 1236-42, Bonaventura’s father; Italy=
Influences: Byzantine painting Grove3 p808
Oeuvre: Only one signed work is known but numerous paintings have been attributed Grove3 p808
Characteristics: To judge from the [as in] Madonna & Child, c1230 (The Met) his work has many typical Byzantine features including Mary’s excessively long fingers, staring & soulful eyes, but both faces are red tinted & have non-uniform differential shading producing a depth & naturalism Byzantine figures often lack. Other attributed paintings have similar but in some cases dissimilar characteristics Wikip, webimages
Status: He was a leading Tuscan painter Wikip
Sons: The painters Barone & Marco Berlinghieri
– Bonaventura BERLINGHIERI, Berlinghiero’s son, active 1235, Italy=Lucca:
Background: His father Berlinghiero was also a painter L&L
Career: He was certainly lived at Lucca, 1232-74 Grove3 p808
Oeuvre/Characteristics: His only signed work is a St Francis altarpiece, 1235 (S Francesco, Pescia) which features a broad range of Byzantine styles but influenced by the contemporary manner of Giunta Pisano. It has vigorous chiaroscuro & striking colouring. There are numerous attributed works Grove3 p808, Brigstocke
Innovations: He painted the earliest surviving dated rateable L&L
Legacy: The coherence of his work had enormous success in Lucca, Florence & Pisa. The family was among the first to sign their works Grove3 p808, L&L
– BERMAN, Eugene, 1899-1972, Russia/France:
Background: He was born in St Petersburg, the son of a prosperous banker OxDicMod
Training: In Western Europe prior to 1914, under Pavel Naumov in St Petersburg in 1914-18, & at the Academie Ranson from 1919 under Edouard Vuillard & Maurice Denis Grove3 p809
Influences: Surrealism & Dali during the 1930s Grove3 p809.
Training: At the Academie Ranson OxDicMod
Career: His family moved to Western Europe in 1908. He fled with his family during the Revolution & in 1918 settled in Paris. From the late 1930s he worked increasingly in America where he mainly worked as designer for ballet & opera. Latterly he spent much of his time in Italy Grove3 p809, OxDicMod, L&L
Characteristics: His early scenes are dreamlike, imaginary Mediterranean landscapes with mournful drooping figures & a brooding sadness OxDicMod, L&L, Spalding1986 p131. After the thirties his styloe approached that of Pittura Metafisica Grove3 p809
Grouping: During the inter-war period he was a leading Neo-Romantic OxDicMod
Influence: Minton & Ayrton who sought him out Yorke p170
Brother: Leonide, 1896-1976, was a marine, landscape & figure painter Yorke p170, Grove3 p809
-BERMEJO, Bartolome, active 1474-98, Spain:
Background: He was born in Cordoba BrownJ p8
Training: Probably in the Netherlands L&L
Influences: Flemish & northern Italian L&L
Innovations: Oil painting in Spain, 1490 OxDicArt
Verdict: He has been called the best artist in Spain before 1500 L&L
BERNARD, Emile, 1868-1941, France:
Background: He was born at Lille, the son of a cloth merchant Grov3 p812
Training: In 1884 he enrolled at the Atelier Cormon in Paris but was expelled, 1886 Grov3 p812
Influences: Cezanne, Japanese woodcuts , & later the Venetian Old Masters Grov3 p813
Career: In 1886 he made a walking tour in Normandy & Brittany. He met Gasuguin at Pont-Aven & van Gogh back in Paris. In 1888 he again met Gaugin at Pont-Avent He exhibited Symbolist & religious works at the first Rose + Croix exhibition in 1890, & when 24 became an enthusiastic Catholic. In 1893 he went to Italy & then Egypt where he lived until 1903. He then visited Venice but returned to France in 1904. Grove 3 pp 812-3, Denvir p118
Oeuvre: Paintings, prints & decorative art Brigstocke
Phases/Verdict: His work was vital & versatile until his conversion. Thereafter it was somewhat shallow & decorative. In Egypt he mainly painted street life in Cairo. He progressively abandoned the primative flatness of Cloisonnism for more realistic volumes. After the Great War he produced numerous female portraits & nudes in a slick, highly finished manner, & monumental figures paintings that were consciously retrogressive Denvir pp 118-9, Grov3 p813
Characteristics: Up to his conversion he produced interesting light effects & bold & unrealistic colours Denvir pp 118, 178-9
Friends: Louis Anquetin & Toulouse-Lautrec at Cormon’s Grov3 p812
Enemies: He quareled bitterly with Gauguin in 1891 over who initiated Synthetism Grove3 p 813
Firsts: Together with Antequin he developed Cloisonnism Denvir p78
Grouping: Symbolism, being hailed as it a leader in by Georges-Albert Aurier in 1891 Grove3 p813
Influence: His works exhibited at the Cafe Volpini were a catalyst for the Nabi Grove3 p 813
BERNDTSON, Gunnar, 1854-95, Finland:
Background: Born in Helsinki Grove3 p821
Training: At the drawing school of the Finnish Art Association under Adolf von Becker, 1869, & at the drawing class of Helsinki University, 1872-5. Berndtson then studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Gerome Grove3 p821
Influences: Meissonier’s detailed genre & costume paintings Grove3 p821
Career: Berndtson exhibited at the Salon in 1879; went to Egypt as an illustrator for a Parisian magazine, 1882-3; & returned terminally ill. During 1890-2 he taught at the drawing school of the Finnish Art Association Grove3 p822
Oeuvre: Genre including both genteel & peasant scenes; portraits Grove3 p822, Ateneum pp78-9
Characteristics: His forte was the skilful depiction of beautiful fabrics, luxurious objects, & interiors. In the late 1880s his brushwork became broader & his colours lighter Grove3 p822
Status: Berndtson was the only thoroughbred salon painter in Finnish art Athenaeum p78
Collections: Athenaeum, Helsinki
Berrettini. See da Cortona
Berto di Giovanni. See Giovanni
* BERNSTEIN, Morris Louis, 1912-1962, USA:
Background: He was born in Baltimore, originally being called Morris Lewis Bernstein, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants L&L p418, OxDicCon, OxDicMod p415
Training: The Maryland Institute of Fine & Applied Arts, Baltimore, 1927?-32 Grove19 p724
Influences: Frankenthaler, like her using unprimed canvases MOMAH p246
Career/Development: He worked on the Federal Art Project in New York 1934-40, then in Baltimore, & from 1947 in Washington, isolating himself from the New York art world, concentrating on his own experiments & supporting himself by teaching. In 1953 he & Kenneth Noland visited Helen Frankenthaler’s New York studio & were immensely impressed by her work & he began experimenting with her technique of applying liquid paint to unprimed canvases OxDicMod
Characteristics/Technique: After visiting Frankenthaler’s studio he created suave, radiant & totally abstract flushes of colour by allowing liquid paint to flow over & stain an unprimed canvas with no indication of brushwork OxDicMod
Innovations: He pioneered the movement from Abstract Expressionism to Colour Stain Painting in which he applied liquid paint without brushes by pouring it down a tilted canvas OxDicCon, MOMAH p246
Status/Verdict: He has been seen as one of the very few artists
Reception: It was not until 1959 that his reputation blossomed OxDicMod
Repute: His work is celebrated OxDicMod
Loutherbourg. See de Loutherbourg
*Alonso BERRUGUETE, c1488-1561, Pedro’s son, Spain:
Background: Born Parades de Nava, near Palencia Grove3 p845
Influences: Michelangelo, Leonardo Grove3 p845
Career: He was in Florence & Rome, between about 1508 & 1516, returned to Spain by 1518, worked for Charles I of Spain & then the Emperor Charles V & embarked on a series of altarpieces incorporating paintings; by 1523 he was established in Valladolid with a workshop; & from 1539 worked in Toledo cathedral, etc Brigstocke, Grove3 p846
Oeuvre: Paintings, sculpture on which he concentrated from 1520, & artisan work Brigstocke, Wikip, Grove3 pp 846-7
Characteristics : His paintings in Italy reflects the anguished Mannerism of Rosso & Pontormo & his [as in] Salome 1512-6 (Uffizi) is highly dramatic in rich colour with marked chiaroscuro as in his later Flight into Egypt, c1533n (Museo Nacional de Escutura de Valladolid) Brigstocke, webimages, Grove3 pp 846
Innovation: The introduction of Renaissance styles & Mannerist ideas in Spain, & the integration of expressive Gothic art & Renaissance beauty Brigstocke, Grove3 p845
Status: He was the most distinguished Spanish artist of the 16th century & his workshop became a meeting place Grove3 p845
Influence: His style dominated central Iberia Grove3 p843
-Pedro BERRUGUETE, Pedro c1453-1503 , Alonso’s father, Spain:
Background: He was born at Paredes de Nava, near Palencia. Berruguete may have been the Pietro Spagnuolo pittore who was possibly in Urbino, 1475-8. Painting in Castille where he trained was dominated by the Flemish naturalism of Van Eyck’s disciples Grove 3 p844
Influences: The perspectival & light effects of Van Eyck & Pierro della Francesco Grove3 p844, L&L.
Career: He painted the altarpiece of St Helen, 1570-5 (S. Juan, Paredes de Nava) Around 1477 he may have assisted Joos Van Ghent in Urbino. In 1483 he settled in Toledo. He appears to have been a court painter to Ferdinand & Isabella BrownJ pp 20-21, L&L, Grove3 p844
Oeuvre: Religious paintings & possibly allegorical works in oils & fresco Grove 3 pp 844-5
Characteristics/Innovation: As the St Helen shows, his oil painting was masterly & elegant. He pioneered Renaissance styles in Spain, painted in a Hispano-Flemish style, was an excellent colourist, depicted jewels in luxurious clothing & often used gold in backgrounds. Italian influence is evident [as] in his Beheading of St John the Baptist (St Maria del Campo, Burgos) Brigstocke, Grove3 p844
..Francois BERTIN, 1797-1871, France:
Background: Born in Paris Norman77
Training: Studied with Girodet-Trioson and Ingres Norman77
Career: In 1854 he succeeded his brother Armand as editor of the Journal des Débats, founded by their father Norman77
Characteristics: Having worked extensively from nature, he developed a naturalistic handling of light, mass and distance Norman77
..Jean BERTIN,1775-1842, France:
Background: born in Paris in 1775 Norman77
Influences: A faithgul pupil and follower of Valenciennes. Norman77
Oeuvre: Landscapist Norman77
Characteristics: In the classical tradition he depicted heroic scenes from history and mythology in landscape settings. Norman77
Career: He achieved a considerable reputation in the early decades of the 19th century. The early instructor of Corot. Norman77
BERTOIA/ZANGUIDI, Jacopo/Giacomo, 1544-74, Italy:
Background: Born Parma Grove3 p858
Training: In Bologna L&L
Influences: Parmigianino, Raphael & Mannerism Grove3 p858
Career: His earliest known work is from 1566. From 1569 until his death he worked for Cardinal Allessandro Farnese decorating his villa at Caprarolo Grove3 p858
Oeuvre: He was primarily a fresco painter Grove3 p859
Characteristics: He was an innovative decorator who combined Parmese elegance & illusionism with conservative Roman classicism Grove3 p859
-BERTRAM OF MINDEN, Master, documented 1367-c1415, Germany:
Background: Born near Minden, Westphalia L&L
Influences: Master Theodoric & the Bohemian School OxDicArt
Career/Oeuvre: He ran a workshop producing painted & sculpted altarpieces L&L
Status: He was the leading painter of his day in Hamburg L&L
-BESCHEY, Balthasar, 1708-76, Belgium:
Background: He was born in Antwerp Grove3 p873
Training: Peter Strick Grove3 p873
Career: He joined the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp in 1753, was dean in in 1755-6, & director of the Antwerp Academy from 1754. Beschey was an art dealer & art-lovers & artists met in his house to study the work of earlier Low Country painters Grove3 p873
Oeuvre: History & religious paintings, together with excellent portraits Grove3 p873
Characteristics: His style is uneven, flowery & suave with elements of 16th century Antwerp Mannerism exemplifying the difficulty of trying to maintain the Baroque tradition into the 18th century. Much of his work consisted of pastiches & copies on copper of works by David Teniers II, Jan Breughel I, Frederik de Moucheron & Rubens Grove3 p873
Aim: He used his influential position in the Academy of which five members of his family belonged to revive traditional practices through the study of Rubens Grove3 p873
Pupils: Pierre Joseph Verhagen, Guillaume-Jacques Herreyns & Andries Cornelis Lens Grove3 p873
..BESNARD, Paul, 1849-1934, France:
Background: Born in Paris Norman1977
Training: Studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and with Cabanel Norman1977
Influences: In London, 1881-83 came under the influence of Legros and Zorn and came into contact with the Pre-Raphaelites. On returning to Paris became friendly with the Impressionists. Norman1977
Career: Founder member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 189 and achieved almost every honour available to an artist, including the Legion of Honour Norman1977
Oeuvre: Many major murals; historical, allegorical and Symbolist decorations, society portraits, landscapes, Renoiresque nudes and scenes of daily life Norman1977
Characteristics: Trained in the Ingresque tradition, he added to this inheritance influences of most of the major movements of his time. A brilliant colourist, with a penchant for subtle effects and reflections of light Norman1977
Bartolomeo BETTERA, c1639-after1687, Bonaventura’s father, Italy
Training: Evaristo Baschenis L&L p52
Career: He worked under or with Baschenis Wikip
Oeuvre/Speciality: Still-life with musical instruments L&L, Wikip
Characteristics: His work closely imitates that of Baschenis, & his work features randomly piled objects of a highly diverse nature which are carefully & clearly delineated, employing strong chiaroscuro with white highlights & a preference for brown colouring as in Musical instruments, books, music scores, a globe & a rooster on a table draped with a carpet (Wikimedia Commons) L&L, web images
Repute: He is not mentioned by Wittkower or itemised in the Oxford Companion
Son: Bonaventura, c1663-after 1687, was also a painter who closely imitated the work of Baschenis & his own father L&L
-John BETTES, the Elder, active 1531-70, John the Younger’s father, England:
Training: Probably Holbein L&L
Career: Bettes carried out decorative work at Whitehall Palace, 1531-3 L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits & miniatures L&L
Characteristics: His only known painting Unknown Man in a Black Cap (Tate) is Holbein-like in style & technique L&L
-John BETTES, the Younger, -1616, John the elder’s son, England:
Training: Hilliard L&L
Career: He was a freeman of the Painter-Stainers’ Company & employed during 1678-9 by the Office of Revels which was responsible for scenery etc Grove3 p886
Oeuvre: Paintings etc Grove3 p886
BEUCKELAER, JOACHIM, c1535-75, Pieter Aertsen’s nephew-in-law:
Training: Aertsen L&L
Characteristics: women often handling fowls (with Dutch word for bird & bird catching – vogelen or veugelen- also meaning copulation) Haak pp 76, 121, Fucks p45
Innovations: market scenes with Beuckkelaer being one of Antwerp’s two main exponents JonesS p140
Influenced: Dutch & northern Italy painting, including Annibale Carracci JonesS p140
-BEVAN, Robert, 1865-1925, England:
Background: He was born at Hove, Sussex OxDicMod
Training: He studied briefly at Westminster School of Art under Fred Brown, 1888; & then at the Academie Julian in Paris OxDicMod
Influences: Gauguin’s strong colouring & patterning OxDicMod
Career: During the 1890s he travelled widely visiting Spain, Tangier & Pont-Aven where he had two lengthy stays & met Gauguin in 1894. In 1900 he settled in London OxDicMod. In 1908 Bevan joined Sickert’s Fitzroy Street Group. Bevan was then a founder member of the Camden Town, London & Camden Market Groups (1911, 1913 & 1914) Harrison p30, OxDicArt, TurnerEtoPM p131.
Oeuvre: Scenes of town & country life L&L
Speciality: Pictures featuring horses OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: Initially he worked in the modified divisionist style of Lucian Pissaro, but then firmed & flattened his work in a manner inspired by the Nabis & Gauguin L&L, OxDicArt. Bevan also adopted the latter’s cloisonnism Harrison p38. Latterly his work became increasingly simplified & schematic OxDicMod
BEZZUOLI, Giuseppe, 1784-1855, Italy: National Romanticism:
Background: He was born in Florence. There was a new Romantic ferment in the arts after Napoleon’s departure & a return to the to the more painterly Italian tradition after the dominance of foreign neo-classical taste Grove3 p903, Broude p22
Training: His friend Luigi Sabatelli & from 1786 at the Accademia delle Belle Arti. Florence under Giuseppe Piatrolli, Jean-Baptiste Desmarais & Pietro Benvenuti Grove3 p903
Influences: Ingres, Gerard & Thomas Lawrence Grove3 p904
Career: In 1816 he became professor at the school of painting at the Florentine Academy His most famous work the Entry of Charles VIII into Florence, 1829, celebrates national pride in the Florentine Republic & set the way for Risorgimento paintings Grove 3p904, Broude p904
Oeuvre: It was large & included historical, mythological, religious, & literary works; & landscape & his fine portraits Grove3 p904
Characteristics: His work displays a taste for colourism & effect that occasionally was somewhat excessive [& far more classical & less painterly in than might be expected] Broude p22, web images
Grouping/Status: Academic Romanticism in Italy of which he was a leading exponent Grove3 p903
Influence: Giovanni Fattori & the Macchiaioli artists whom he taught at the Academy Grove3 p904, Broude pp 37, 199-200
-Antonio BIBIENA/GALLI, 1700-74, Ferdinando’s son & Giuseppe’s brother, Italy:
Background: Born Parma Grove12 p25
Training: Giuseppe dal Sole & Marcantonio Franceschini Grove12 p25
Career: In 1718 he began assisting his father on theatre decoration & scene painting in Bologna etc. Bibiena/Galli also spent time in Rome with his uncle Francesco. From 1721 to 1732 he was in Vienna & then worked in Hungary, Vienna & widely throughout Italy
Oeuvre: Paintings, frescos, theatre decoration & scene painting Grove12 p25
Status: His family was the greatest dynasty of quadratura painters Wittkower p474
-Ferdinando BIBIENA/GALLI, 1657-1743, Francesco’s brother, Italy:
Background: Born at Bologna Grove12 p24
Training: Carlo Cignani & specialized architectural teachers Grove12 p23
Career: After theatrical work in Boulogne, Bibiena/Galli became chief painter & architect at the ducal courts of Parma & Piacenza in the early 1680s. In 1710 he began working for Archduke Charles of Austria but returned to Bologna in 1716. He wrote L’architettura civile, 1711, which described the Bolognese innovation of theatrical settings with diagonal perspectives Grove12 pp 23-4. See PERSPECTIVE in Section 5
Oeuvre: Decorative work & design, festive decorations Grove12 pp 23-4
Status: His family was the greatest dynasty of quadratura painters Wittkower p474
-Francesco BIBIENA/GALLI, 1659-1739, Ferdinando’s brother, Italy:
Background: Born at Bologna Grove12 p24
Training: Carlo Cignani who encouraged his interest in architecture Grove12 p24
Career: Bibiena/Galli worked in many places including Rome, Vienna & London Grove12 p24
Oeuvre: Painted decorations, theatre design, etc Grove12 p24
Status: His family was the greatest dynasty of quadratura painters & he gave Europe its finest theatres Wittkower pp 474-5
-Giuseppe BIBIENA, 1696-1757, Ferdinando’s son & Antonio’s brother, Italy:
Background: Born in Parma Grove12 p24
Training: His father Grove12 p24
Career: After assisting his father in Vienna, & in 1718 was given a position at court becoming chief theatrical designer on 1727. Bibiena’s most lasting work was his book Architettura e prospective which consists of engravings of fantastic architectural scenes, combined perspectives, expertly controlled groupings of space & structure, & endless vistas. In 1747 Bibiena went to Dresden & worked for Augustus II of Saxony. He worked for Frederick II of Prussia & in 1754 settled in Berlin Grove12 p24
Oeuvre: Theatrical & festive designs Grove12 p24
Status: Bibiena’s family was the greatest dynasty of quadratura painters Wittkower p474
BIDAULT, Jean-Joseph-Xavier, 1758-1846, France:
Training: C. Vernet Norman1977 p39
Career: 1846 left Provence for Paris; 1785-91 worked Rome; President of Salon hanging committee late 1830s, consistently rejecting Barbizon School’s work Norman1977 p39
Oeuvre: Classical landscape Norman1977 p39
First: landscapist in Institute, 1823 Norman1977 p39
BIEFVE, Edouard de, 1808-82, Belgium:
Background: He was born in Brussels Normanq1977
Training: 1928-30 at the Brussels Academy under the Neo-classical Paelinck & in Paris with David d’Angers, 1834-41 Norman1977
Career: This peaked during the 1840s & after 1853 he virtually ceased painting Norman1977
Status: He was second only to Gallait in Belgian school of history painting of the 1840s.
Influence: The exhibition of works by Biefve & Gallait at Munich in 1843 helped establish the influence of the Piloty school of German colourists Norman1977
OK Bonvincino/Buonvincino. See MorettO
BIERSTADT, Albert, 1830-1902, USA (Germany):
Background: Born Solingen near Dusseldorf Norman1977
Training: 1853 Dusseldorf Academy under Lessing, Achenbach & Leutz Norman1977
Career: His family migrated to America in 1831. In 1856-7 he visited Rome before returning to to America & joining the Shoshone Mountain expedition of 1858. In 1863 he was again in the West Norman1977. However Bierstadt was mainly active in New York where in 1859 he had a studio in the same 10th Street building as Church L&L, Hughes1997 p195
Oeuvre: Landscapes, often huge L&L, OxDicArt
Phases: European subjects & then grandiose Western scenes L&L
Characteristics: The attention to detail of the Dusseldorf School together with the panoramic sweep of the Hudson School. However, this was on a Wagnerian scale, including beetling crags, waterfalls, lakes etc. There is often an Indian encampment in the foreground & theatrical light effects Norman1977
Patrons: Businessmen involved in the development of the West (Legrand Lockwood & Colis Huntington) commissioned paintings Hughes1997 p197
First American artist to paint panoramas of Western landscapes Norman1977
Grouping: Hudson River & Rocky Mountain Schools OxDicArt. Luminism L&L
BIGG, William Redmore, 1755-1828:
Background: Born in Essex, England Wikip
Training: Enrolled at Royal Academy Schools in 1778
Influences: Studied under Edward Penny Ram whose forte was acts of depicting charity Wikip
Career: Elected an RA in 1814. Placed with Wheatly and George Morland and exhibited at Royal Academy and British Institude until his death in London Wikip
Oeuvre: Small Oil and pastel paintings, portraits and rustic genre paintings Wikip
Characteristics: Found delight in painting Children. A lady and her Children relieving a Distressed Cottager in 1779 Wikip In his works the lower orders behave in a seemly manner Solkin2008 p237.
-Trophine BIGOT the Elder, 1579-active 1605, France:
Background: Born in Arles L&L
Influences: Spent time in Rome until returning to France where he executed alterpieces L&L
Career: Between 1620-1634 he was in Italy L&L Between 1638 – 1642 he lived in Aix-en-Provence and painted Assumption of the Virgin Wiki. In 1605 he was a master painter in Provence Grove4 p48
Characteristics: Alterpieces
Progeny: His son Trophine BIGOT the Younger was also an artist, known as ‘Candlelight Master’ L&L
–Trophine BIGOT the Younger, active 1620-34, the Younger, France:
Training: Studied the work of Honthorst in Rome until 1634
Characteristics: Candlelit nocturnal pictures
Innovations: ‘Candlelight Master’ L&L
BIHARI, Sandor, 1856-1906, Hungary; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: Born in Rezbanya to a Jewish family Wikip
Training: Attended drawing school operated by Bertalan Szekely Wikip Travelled to Paris in 1883 where he studied at Academie Julian with Jean-Paul Wikip, Pogany p8
Influences: Bastien-Lepage Pogany p8. Old Masters at the Louvre Wikip
Career: Worked as decorative painter with father. In 1874 moved to Budapest and worked at photography studio as retoucher. In 1896 he was awarded the Order of Franz Joseph Wikip
Oeuvre: Exclusively genre Pogany p8 Plein air painting Wikip
Phases: Portrait painter and then became acquainted with plein air painting and impressionism Wikip
Characteristics: Portrait and Rural Naturalism
Innovations: A Founder of an art colony in Szolnok, Hungary Wikip
Grouping: Naturalism Weisberg1992 p184
..BILDERS, Albertus Geraldus, 1838-1865, Netherlands:
Background: Born Utrecht Grove4 p59
Training: His father; 1858 with Charles Humbert, a landscape & animal painter in Geneva Grove4 p59
Influences: Dutch 17th cattle pieces & Rosa Bonheur via Humbert, & the Barbizon painters whose work he saw in Brussels in 1860. In their work he saw harmony, peace, gravity & an intimate bond with nature Grove4 p59
Career: At 17 he accepted the patronage of Johannes Kneppelhout, a Dutch writer, who sent him to The Hague where he took drawing classes etc. In 1857 he went to paint at Oosterbeek which was known as the Dutch Barbizon. After Geneva Bilders lived at Leiden & in 1859 he settled in Amsterdam. He was a melancholy man & died of tuberculosis Grove4 p59
Phases: After seeing the Barbizon paintings his works were mostly wider & more cheerful Grove4 p59
Characteristics: Colours mixed to produce a grey tonality which gave his paintings a distinctive effect of light Grove4 p59.
Grouping: He was a foreruuner of The Hague School’s second generation Grove4 p59
Verdict: He saw landscape as a specific fragment of nature, not as a grand creation by God Fuchs p156
Influenced Paul Joseph, Anton Gabriel, Mauve, Willem Maris Grove4 p59
-BILIBIN, Ivan, 1876-1942, Russia:
Training: Repin L&L
Career: In 1920 Bilibin emigrated to Egypt & in 1925 he went to Paris. In 1936 he returned to Russia & became a professor at the Leningrad Academy. Bilibin died during the siege L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings, illustrations & theatre design L&L
Characteristics: His illustrations & theatre design were steeped in folk art but they exhibited the art nouveau stylistic priorities of decorative flatness & colour L&L
BILIVERT/BILIVERTI, Giovanni, 1576-1644, Italy=Florence:
Background: His father was a Dutch goldsmith from Maastricht L&L
Training: Cigoli L&L
Influences: Initially Cigoli. From around 1620 Venetian painting, especially Veronese & from 1624 Francesco Furini’s sfumato L&L, Grove4 p53
Career: During 1604-8 he was in Rome etc & in 1609 joined the Accademia de Disegno in Florence. Between 1611 & 1621 he was employed by Cosimo de’Medici on design work. After a serious illness in 1636 his works were almost exclusively religious Grove4 pp 53-4
Oeuvre: Altarpieces & other religious works, historical works & portraits etc Grove4 pp 52-3
Characteristics: Various works feature brilliant, rich & exotic colour, meticulous detail, sumptuous fabrics, warm & strong effects of light & shade, & highly sophisticated & elegant figures Grove4 p53
Patrons: Cardinal Carlo & Lorenzo de’Medici Grove4 pp 53-4
Pupil: Agostino Melissi Grove4 p54
-BINGHAM, George, 1811-79, USA:
Background: He was born in Augusta County, Verginia Norman1977
Training: Briefly in 1838 at the Pensylvania Academy of Fine Art, but with previous study of sign-painting L&L
Career: Portrait painting in Washington; to Missouri, 1845-55 pictures of life on or around river; 1856 studies at Dusseldorf mastering academic style L&L; 1001 p411
Oeuvre: Genre, landscapes & portraits Norman1977
Speciality: Scenes of Missouri boatmen Norman1977
Phases: Initially simple realist works but more artificial & conventional post-Dusseldorf Norman1977
Characteristics: Almost hypnotic stillness & clarity of his Missouri pictures; later work ctiticised for dry formalism L&L, 1001
..BIRCH, Lamorna (Samuel), 1869-1955, England; Impressionism GB Movement
Background: He was born in Egremont, Cheshire, the son of a painter & decorator Fox1985 p55
Training: Until 1895. when he went to the Atelier Colarossi in Paris, he was self-taught Fox1985 p55
Career: His father died when he was young leaving nine children & Birch had to leave school at 12, & become an office boy in Manchester & then a designer in a lino factory. He started exhibiting at the RA in 1893. In 1889 he first visited Lamorna, though he did not settle in Cornwall until about 1896. Around 1903 he & his new wife moved to Lamorna Cove. In 1934 he became an RA. He travelled widely in the UK & abroad Fox1955 pp 55-8.
Oeuvre: Landscape paintings & watercolours Fox1985 pp 55-7
Characteristics: Light-effects on the sea & streams & in the sky. His work reveals a deep love of nature Fox1985 p56.
Friends: Stanhope Forbes, the Knights, Tuke Fox1985 p58
Personal: He was extremely likeable Fox p58
..BIRD, Edward, 1772-1819, England:
Background: Born Wolverhampton. His father was a carpenter Wikip
Training: As a japanning artist painting tea trays Wikip
Career: In 1794 he settled in Bristol where he was a drawing master, & in 1809 he first exhibited at the RA. His painting was a spectacular success because of his abilities as a story teller, & he became a member in 1815. He became History Painter to Princess Charlotte in 1813 Wikip, Tate, Solkin2008 p40
Oeuvre: Genre & History Painting Tate
Characteristics: Naturalism & fresh colours Wikip
Circle: Edward Rippingille & Nathan Braithwaite Wikip
Grouping: The Bristol School of Painting of which he was the central figure Wikip
Progeny: His daughter Martha became a Bristol watercolourist Wikip
BISSIER, Julius, 1893-1965, Germany:
Background: He was born in Freiburg OxDicMod
Training: In 1914 he registered at Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts for a few months, preferred to work alone L&L
Influences: In 1927 he met sinologist Ernst Grose and found Chinese calligraphy and Eastern mysticism. In 1930 he met Constantin Brancusi in Paris, teaching him art was a meditation and began to practise abstract ink paintings L&L.
Career: He lived in quiet isolation on Lake Constance and did not exhibit under Nazi regime. In 1957 he left Germany to live in Ascona in Switzerland. In 1958 he was found when a representative toured Europe from the Kestner Society in Hanover. His main works can be found in Nordrein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf L&L
Oeuvre: Works in ‘Neue Sachlichkeit’ realist manner, Chinese calligraphy, Eastern mysticism and Watercolour on paper L&L
Phases: Wash drawing in black Indian Ink on paper and then Watercolour on paper. L&L
Characteristics: Abstract and simplified still-life images. Far East L&L
-BISSIERE, Roger, 1888-1964, France:
Background: Born Villereal, he was the son of a lawyer OxDicMod
Training: In 1904 he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Algiers before enrolling in Bordeaux. He moved to Paris in 1910 working for Gabriel Ferrier and then became a journalist in 1912. In 1919 onwards he exhibited at Paris salons, becoming an accepted figure among Salon Cubists Grove4 pp98-99
Influences: Braque and Andre L’hote Grove4 pp98-99
Career: In 1921 he was offered a contract and one man show and had published articles on Seurat, Ingres and Corot 1920-1921. In 1923 he accepted a five year contract with Galerie Druet and succeeded Maurice Denis as professor of painting at the Academie Ranson. He won an honourable mention when representing France at the Venice Biennale in 1964 Grove4 pp98-99
Oeuvre: Abstract landscapes and portraits Grove4 pp98-99
Phases: Abstract landscapes, portraits, tentures (wall hangings which were stitched together by his wife). Rustic sculptures of iron and wood such as Crucified Christ 1972. Designed stained-glass windows for the trancepts of Metz Cathedral Grove4 pp98-99
Characteristics: Free but gentle abstract compositions which are humorous & ironical Grove4 pp98-99
Grouping: Became known as part of the ‘Art informal movement’ in 1950s Grove4 pp98-99
-BLACKBURN, Joseph, recorded 1730-1778, USA:
Background: He was born in England L&L
Career: He lived in Bermuda, 1752-3; Newport, Rhode Island, 1754; Boston, 1755-8 & Portsmouth, 1758-62; & then returned to London Wikip
Oeuvre: Portraits Grove4 p107
Characteristics: He used a light pastel palette & excelled at representing the shimmer, texture & folds of silks & fabrics, was not concerned with the character of his sitters, & generally made his women look attractive Grove 4 pp 107-8, Wikip
Innovation: He was one of the first to paint group portraits in America Wikip
Status: From 1735 he succeeded John Greenwood as Boston’s most fashionable portraitist L&L
Pupil: Copley Wikip
Grouping: Rococo of an English type L&L
..BLACKADDER, Elizabeth, 1931-2021, Scotland:
Background: Born in Falkirk Wikip
Training: Studied at Edinburgh University and College of Art gaining a Fine Art Degree. Moved to Italy in 1955 on a travelling scholarship Macmillan1994 p108
Influences: Some affinity with John Busby’s semi abstract landscapes and brilliant studies of birds and wildlife Macmillan1994 p108
Career: In the 1960’s she worked as landscape painter and had a botanical accuracy with flowers. Won the RSA’S Guthrie Award in 1962 with White Still-Life, Easter Macmillan1994 p108. In 1962 she taught at Edinburgh College until retirement in 1986 Wikip
Oeuvre: Worked in a variety of mediums including oil paints, watercolour, drawings. Still life painter and printmaker, created portraits and abstract landscapes Wikip
Phases: Japanese Art compared to a song enhanced with abstract qualities of key, harmony, rhythm by colour and time and rhythm by space Macmillan1994 p108 In later life her work mainly cats and flowers in extreme detail. Wikip
Characteristics: Still life. Vigorous and direct pen drawings eventually becoming much freer and broader over time. Often leaves large areas without articulation leaving viewer to see flatness and an air of space of canvas Macmillan1994 p108
Innovations: First woman to be elected to both Royal Scottish Academy and Royal Academy Wikip
-Sir Peter BLAKE, 1932-, England:
Background: He was born in Dartford, Kent OxDicMod
Training: Dartford School of Art, 1949-51, & the Royal College of Art, 1953-6 OxDicMod
Influences: Teenage visits to fairgrounds OxDicMod
Career: During 1956-7 he travelled widely stydying Continental folk & popular art. In 1969 he moved to Wellow near Bath & in 1975 helped found the Brotherhood of Ruralists painters. He returned to London in 1979, became an RA in 1981,but resigned in 2005, & had a major retrospective at the Tate in 1983 OxDicMod
Phases: His early work was meticulous often featuring magazine covers . After 1959 he became a Pop artist with paintings of pop celebrities in a much broader manner, often with collage elements. He painted a series of winsome fairy paintings during his ruralist phase & tended towards Pre-Raphaelitism. From 1979 he has continued painting contemporary & fantasy subjects but his work gradually returned to pure painting OxDicMod, L&L, Osterwold p20
Characteristics: His works often combine sophistication & naivety OxDicMod
Status/Grouping: He was a leading British Pop Art painter but his workd does not always fit readily into that mould OxDicMod, ShearerW1996
**William BLAKE, 1757-1827, England:
Background: He was the son of a London hosier L&L
Training: He attended a drawing school when aged ten & studied at the RA Schools from 1779 L&L
Influences: Flaxman & perhaps Fuseli Fry1934 p85. Also Michelangelo & the mystical writings of Swedenborg, Bohme, etc L&L
Career: He worked as an engraver from 1772 mainly drawing Gothic tombs in Westminster Abbey. He published Songs of Innocence in 1789 & Songs of Experience in 1794 with hand coloured illustrations. In 1800 he moved to Felpham, near Bognor where he lived in the circle of the poet Hayley which included Flaxman & Romney. After three years he returned to London. From 1800 he produced numerous watercolours illustrating the Bible, Milton & Dante, though after an unsuccessful one-man exhibition in 1809 there was a unproductive period. This ended in 1818 when the sympathetic patronage of Linnell ensured him a livelihood for the rest of his life L&L, Murrays1959, OxDicArt.
Oeuvre: Around 1780 he began exhibiting watercolours on historical & Biblical subjects at the RA L&L
Technique: He made prints from tempera on board & then added line & colour with ink & watercolour L&L
Phases/Characteristics: His early work was within the Neoclassical style, but as his verse & philosophy became more visionary, he turned to medieval & Mannerist forms. He abandoned logical spatial arrangements, & developed a purely subjective & imaginative use of colour, light & form Murrays1959. Like Runge & Friedrich, he imposed a fixed, immutable order on his scenes transcending the irregularities & flux of the commonplace world. This was the counterpart to a search for themes of elemental truth Rosenblum1975 p45. His work is intensely linear: he translated Michelangelo into mere line Fry1934 p87
Verdict: He was a visionary: somebody who is not interested in looking. He said that what he saw with his mind’s eye was far more precise & distinct than what he actually saw. The first shock & wonder at his dream world fades the more one looks at his work Fry1934 pp 83-6. He set himself the impossible task of creating a visual symbolism that would owe nothing to ordinary visual experience & refused the easy path of misty suggestion in the pursuit of clarity & precision OxDicArt
Political Circle: Tom Paine, William Godwin & Mary Wollstonecraft L&L
Friends/Circle: Flaxman & Fuseli. In 1818 Blake was introduced to John Linnell who introduced him to Samuel Palmer, George Richmond & Edward Calvert, who later became Ancients, & also to Varley L&L, Norman1977, OxDicArt, Grove4 p121, See also Ancients in Section 8
Beliefs: He protested against painting being confined to the “sordid drudgery” of representation & not, like poetry or music, elevated to its “proper sphere of invention & visionary conception”. Natural objects “weaken, deaden & obliterate imagination in me” Yorke pp 73, 111. He developed his own religious & philosophical system – a compound of mysticism, Christianity & revolutionary ideals – which he expounded in the The Book if Thel, 1789, etc L&L
Personal: He was eccentric, even mad, & claimed to be guided by supernatural forces in his life & work L&L
Influence: In 1821 Blake made 17 tiny wood engravings of pastoral life for an edition of Robert Thornton’s The Pastorals ov Virgil. These smudgy, little images gave Palmer the courage to produce his own visionary works Grove4 p121, Clark1949 pp 139, 143
Repute: Rossetti was one of the few 19th century artists to appreciate Blake. His re-evaluation was slow until the 1920s when Geoffrey Keynes & Lawrence Binyon published important studies Yorke p72
..Gabriel BLANCHARD, 1630-1704, Jacques’ son, France; Baroque Movement
Background: He was born in Paris Wikip
Training: His uncle Jean Baptiste Blanchard Wikip
Influences: Le Brun Grove4 p127
Career: He joined the Academy in 1668, gave a pro-colourist lecture at the Academy in the the Quareelle, became Keeper of the Royal Collection & professor & then in 1699 Treasurer at the Academy Wikip, Grove4 p126, Allen p159; See also Disegno & Colorito in Section 7
Oeuvre: Around 1672 he painted in the Salon at Versailles Allen p162
Characteristics: Although his work has been described as colourist, it appears to have been cool Allen p165, web images.
Progeny: His sons Nicolas & Philippe were also painters Wikip
-Jacques BLANCHARD, 1600-38, Gabriel’s father, France; Baroque Classicism Movement
Training: Presumably by his Mannerist uncle Nicholas Bollery Blunt1954 p171; LeBlanc Allen p97
Influences: Veronese’s cool colours & silvery lights, Tintoretto, Rubens. He was unaffected by Poussin’s new Classicism Blunt1954 pp 170-1
Career: In 1624 he went to Rome, & during 1626-8 lived in Venice. In 1628 he returned to Paris via Turin where he worked for the Duke of Savoy L&L.
Characteristics: warm Venitien colour Allen p98
Oeuvre: Small religious & mythological works which are sensitive but sentimental, decorative projects, & sensitive portraits OxDicArt, L&L, Blunt1954 p171
Speciality: Subjects involving women & children Allen p98
Status: He was a leading painter in Louis XIII’s reign L&L
Verdict: Not of great calibre Blunt1954 p170
-Maria BLANCHARD, 1881-1932, Spain/France:
Background: She was born in Santander with a Spanish father & Franco-Polish mother. Crippled from childhood OxDicMod
Training: Under Emilio Sala, Fernando de Sotomayor & Manuel Benedito in Madrid; & in Paris at the Academie Vitti under Hermengildo Camarasa, & Kees van Dongen Grove4 p127
Career: She moved to Paris in 1906, joined the Cubist circle, during 1913-6 lived in Spain but then settled in Paris. Her last years were impoverished & in great sadness OxDicMod, Grove4 p127
Speciality: Scenes of everyday life & sad or solitary children OxDicMod
Phases: Until 1916 he work was academic in spirit with firm draughtsmanship & sombre tonalities, then it was Gris-like with decorative interlocking flat shapes, & from 1920 her approach became poetic & personal rather than cerebral Grove4 p127, OxDicMod, L&L
Grouping: Second wave Cubism A&L p19
-BLECHEN, Karl, 1798-1840, Germany:
Background: Born at Cottbus, the son of a poor civil servant Vaughan1980 p152
Training: At the Berlin Academy from 1822 to 1824 MET1981 p266
Influences: Schinkel’s theatrical Romanticism, Friedrich & then, after his visit to Italy, Corot Norman1987 p66, L&L
Career: Blechen worked in a Berlin banking house for eight years before deciding to become a painter. In 1823 travelled to Dresden where he got to know Dahl & possibly Friedrich & Carus. During 1828-9, after a period as a set designer at the Koningstadtisisches theatre, Blechen visited Florence, Rome & Naples. From 1831 to 1835 he was professor of landscape painting at the Berlin Academy. In 1835 Blechen first showed symptoms of mental illness & ultimately died insane Vaughan1980 p152,MET1981 p266
Phases/Characteristics: Initially, influenced by Friedrich’s melancholy scenes, he painted deeply Romantic works frequently of ruined cloisters & abbeys. During his Italian trip, inspired by the light, he painted sketches in an unadorned naturalistic style of scorched plains, desolate hills, motionless seas & sun-drenched walls under opaque skies using unusually broad, free brushwork without drawing or black. On his return he continued his realistic explorations painting unusual subjects sometimes with heightened effects MET1981. pp 22-3, 266. Such works included views from windows, factories & pleasure pavilions. By Berlin standards his technique & pictorial approach was very painterly. Blechen achieved a wide range of pictorial emphasis through the relative looseness or tightness of brushwork long with changes in the density of oil pigment C&C p50.
Feature: Blechen’s works are often humorous FKSW p94
Verdict: He was the finest Berlin landscapist Norman1987 p63
Innovations: The German naturalistic landscape. Hitherto naturalism in Berlin had lacked any forthright pictorial justification for its existence & Blechen started to provide one Norman1987 p66, C&C p59
Grouping: Berlin naturalistic Biedermeier painting Norman1987 p63, C&C 49-50
Influence & Repute: Blechen certainly influenced Menzel & although his work was well-known it was quickly forgotten until the Berlin Centennial Exhibition of 1906 K&R p79, Novotny pp 224-5
..BLES, David, 1821-99, Netherlands
Background: Born The Hague Norman1977
Training: From 1834 at The Hague Drawing Academy under Krueseman & in Paris with Robert-Fleury, 1841-3 Norman1977
Career: His work was most popular in the 1850s & 60s but thereafter less so Norman1977
Oeuvre: Small-scale genre works generally of pretty, roguish girls, often in 18th century dress Norman1977
Characteristics: His works are generally humourously anecdotal, painted in warm colours & with careful attention to detail Norman1977
Bles. See de Bles
-BLOCKLANDT/MONTFORT, Anthoine von, 1534-83, Netherlands:
Training: Frans Floris L&L
Career: He went to Rome in 1572 but had returned to Utrecht by 1577 L&L
Oeuvre: Altarpieces etc L&l
Innovations/Grouping: Blocklandt/Montfort founded Utrecht Mannerism L&L
Pupils: Bloemaert, Cornelius Ketel, Wtewael L&L
Influenced: Through engravings: El Greco, Morales & even Velazquez L&L
Abraham BLOEMAERT, 1566-1651, father of Adriaen/Cornelis II/Frederick & Hendrick, Netherlands=Utrecht; Mannerism, etc.
Background: He was born at Gorinchem but the family soon moved to Hertogenbosch. His father, Cornelis I, was an architect & sculptor NGUtrecht
Teachers: His father; de Beer; &Franck NGUtrecht p21
Influences: The School of Fontainebleau in France; Spranger through engravings & via Van Haarlem, & later Honthorst’s Caravaggesque work & Rubens, Brigstocke; NGUtrecht pp 21, 23, L&L
Career: He was in France, 1580-3; in Amsterdam, 1591-3; but mostly lived in Utrecht L&L, OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Landscapes, history paintings, & engravings OxDicArt
Characteristics/Phases: A Sprangerian Mannerist style, 1590-1600 as in the Death of Niobe’s Children, 1591 (Staten’s Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen) with its twisted, elongated figures; then more sober & Classicist work as in Adoration of the Kings, 1624 (Central museum, Utrecht) which is bold, light filled with large realistic foreground figures; & from 1620 pastoral Caravaggesque painting as in Shepherd & Shepherdess, 1627 (Niedersachsiche Landgal) NG Utrecht p23, Brigstocke, L&L
Beliefs: He was a devout Catholic NGUtrecht p60
Status: He was one of Utrecht’s principal painters in the first half of the 17th century Grove4 p150. Late Mannerist Pevsner1968 p15
Patrons: He worked for Jesuits & other Catholics in Belgium NGUtrecht p60
Status/Verdict: His naturalistic landscape drawings are his most original works. He was Utrecht’s leading painter of his period & the most gifted member of the family OxDicArt, Grove4 p149.
Grouping: He has been classed as a late Mannerist Pevsner1968 p60
Pupils: Van Bijlert; Jan & Andries Both; Jacob Cuyp; de Geest; Knupfer; Van Honthorst; Van Poelenburgh; ter Brugghen; Weenix NGUtrecht p21
..Adriaen BLOEMAERT, 1609-66, Abraham’s son & brother of Cornelis II/Frederick/Hendrick, Netherlands:
Training: His father OxDicArt
Career: Bloemaert travelled to Italy & worked for a time in Salzburg Grove4 p150
Oeuvre: Paintings etc Grove4 p150
Collections: Aula Academica, University of Salzburg
..Cornelis BLOEMAERT II, c1603-84, Abraham’s son & brother of Adriaen, Frederick & Hendrick, Netherlands=Utrecht:
Training: His father, Van Honthorst & Crispijn de Passe I Grove4 p150
Career: In 1630 Bloemaert went Paris & then to Rome where he made prints after paintings & sculptures Grove4 p150
Oeuvre: He was primarily a printmaker Grove4 p150
-Frederick BLOEMAERT, Abraham’s son & brother of Adriaen, Cornelis II & Hendrick, c1610-69, Netherlands=Utrecht:
Background: Born in Utrecht Grove4 p150
Training: His father OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Engravings, almost all after his father’s works Grove4 p150
-Hendrick BLOEMAERT, 1601-72, Abraham’s son & brother of Adriaen, Cornelis II & Frederick, Netherlands=Utrecht:
Background: Born Utrecht Grove4 p 149.
Training: His father OxDicArt
Career: Bloemaert went to Italy but returned to Utrecht in about 1630
Oeuvre: Religious works, mythological & genre scenes, portraits Grove4 p149
Characteristics: In Bloemaert’s best works he combined the style of the Utrecht Caravaggisti with his father’s decorative manner Grove4 p 149
Bloemen. See van Bloemen, Jan & Pieter
-BLONDEEL, Lancelot, 1498-1561, Belgium=Bruges; Troubadour Movement
Career: In 1519 joined the painters’ guild in Bruges & in 1520 helped to paint 12 scenes for the triumphal entry of Charles V into Bruges L&L, Grove4 p161
Oeuvre: Paintings, engravings, design, architecture. He produced ephemeral decorations for public festivals, & religious subjects on canvas banners for processions Grove4 p361
Characteristics: He used a restrained tonal palette for his figures with dramatic highlights & as a committed Renaissance artists fully mastered the antique grotesque. His profuse Italianate architectural enhancements almost swamp his paintings L&L, OxDicArt
Feature: With his friend Jan Van Scorel he repainted portions of van Eyck’s damaged Ghent Altarpiece, 1550 L&L, Grove4 p161
Status: He was highly regarded & mentioned by Vasari Grove4 p161
-BLUME, Peter, 1906-92, USA:
Background: He was born in Russia but moved with his family to New York’s lower East Side in 1911 but grew up in Brooklyn His Socialist father had participated in the 1905 Revolution & continued to be politically active Whiting p55, Barter p232
Training: The Arts Students League & other New York colleges OxDicMod
Career: He gained prominence in 1931 when South of Scranton with its bizarre imagery won first prize at the Carnegie International Exhibition. In 1932-3 he visited & caused controversy in in 1939 when his Eternal City was rejected by the Corcoran Gallery for lampooning Mussolini. He received federal financial support during the 1930s OxDicMod Barterp93
Oeuvre: Paintings & from 1970 sculpture, His output was small because he was a slow worker OxDicMod
Characteristics: He had a Precisionist technique in combination with Surrealist imagery OxDicMod
Beliefs: He was not ashamed of telling stories because he regarded the communication of ideas as a primary function of plastic arts OxDicMod
Politics: He did not feel compelled to join a political party or organisation & although he found the American Artists’ Congress in 1936 his involvement was not great Whiting p55
Grouping: Magic Realism &/or Surrealism, though the appeal of the latter was intellectual & he was not interested in the unconscious Barter p108, OxDicMod.
BOCCACCINO, before 1465-1525, Camillo’s father, Italy:
Background: Born Ferrara Grove4 p194
Influences: Lorenzo Costa & Ercole Roberti while in Ferrara. Then Giovanni Bellini in Venice & after 1500 Giorgione. Also German & Netherlandish prints L&L, Grove4 p195
Career: Between about 1497 & 1500 he worked for the Duke of Ferrara. After killing his common law wife he left Ferrara & in 1505 was living in Venice. From 1506 he principally lived in Cremona, his father’s native city but visited Rome possibly in 1513-5. His major works are the frescos in Cremona cathedral, 1506 & 1514-8, the latter being continued by Antobello Melone, Gian Francesco Bembo, Girolamo Romanino & Pordenone L&L, Grove4 pp 195-6.
Oeuvre: Frescos & altarpieces Grove4 pp 194-5
Phases/Characteristics: His style was eclectic with his early works amalgamating various elements into an expressive personal style. The Venetian sty led to the adoption of a harmonious but daringly variegated palette & a fluidly impressionistic & magically delicate landscape. His frescos in Cremona cathedral combine panoramic Venetian landscapes, vivid portraits, restless patterns of drapery & motion, etc. His later altarpieces are quieter & atmospheric L&L, Grove4 p195.
Influenced He was probably responsible a whole generation of Ferrarese artists (his pupil Garofalo, Mazzolino, Ortolano, Dosso Dossi) adopting a Venetian style. In Venice & Cremona his synthesis of Venetian & Lombard elements influenced Andrea Previtali etc L&L, Freedberg pp249-50, Grove4 p195
-Camillo BOCCACCINO, c1501-1546, Boccaccio’s son, Italy=Cremona:
Background: He was born in Cremona Grove4 p193
Training: His father & in Palma, 1522-4 Freedburg pp 254-5, L&L
Influences: Correggio, Parmiginino, Titian, Pordenone, & later Giulio Romanino Freedburg p254
Career: Around 1525 he visited Venice. His exceedingly accomplished Madonna Enthroned with Saints, 1525, is his earliest preserved work. In 1530 he painted in Piacena. He was commissioned to decorate the Cremonese abbey church of S. Sigismondo in 1535 & his work & that of successors made it a prime ensemble of Mannerism in North Italy L&L, Freedburg p254.
Oeuvre: Freasos, altarpieces & panel paintings Freedburg pp 254-6.
Characteristics: His earliest work in not yet post-classical but by 1530 he had fused what he had learned in Venice & from Correggio, Parmigianino & Porenone into a style that was both North Italian & Mannerist. Its features were vigour of spatial action, cursive drawing. His later work in S. Sigismondo is exaggeratedly Mannerist & sometimes almost bizarre. the colouring is bold Freedburg pp 254-5, Grove4 p195
Grouping: He had a highly personal & eclectic Mannerist style, his commitment to Mannerism becoming complet by the mid-1630s L&L, Freedburg p255.
**BOCCIONI, Umberto, 1882-1916, Italy:
Background: He was born in Reggio Calabria OxDicMod
Career: In 1899 he moved to Rome & worked as a commercial artist. After visiting Paris & Russia in 1907 he settled in Milan. In 1909 he joined the Futurists, signed their manifestos in 1910 & 1912 & became the most energetic group member. In his book Pittura Scultura Dinamismo, 1914, he argued that Futurist painting should in contrast to Impressionism reflect all possible moments & as opposed to Cubism should express “states of the soul”. He believed that physical objects have emotional life revealed by lines of force OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & sculpture OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: After he experimenting, he began important work in 1909 aiming at the depiction of time, movement & emotion. Initially he was interested in big city life but, after seeing Cubism in Paris in 1912, this disappeared & his work became almost abstract OxDicMod
Circle: Rome’s artistic & literary avant-garde met in his studio. Severeni was a close friend OxDicMod
Grouping: Futurism OxDicMod
Bock. See Pock
*BOCKLIN, Arnold, 1827-1921, Switzerland:
Background: He was born in Basle L&L
Training: During 1845-7 with Schirmer in Dusseldorf, & in 1847 with Calme in Geneva Norman1977
Influences: Couture’s Romans of the Decadence & the frescos from Pompeii L&L, Norman1977
Career: During 1848 he was in Paris, & between 1848 & 1850 in Basle painting Alpine landscapes. From 1850 to 1857 he was mainly in Rome. In 1859 Pan Among the Reeds established his reputation; 1860-2. He worked at the new Weimar Art School, 1860-2, with Lenbach & Begass), & during 1862-6 was back in Rome. He painted frescos in Basle, 1868-70; spent 1871-4 in Munich painting sea pictures; & was in Florence from 1874 to 1885, in Zurich during 1885-92 in Zurich; & was then again based in Florence Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscapes
Phases: Initially he painted naturalistic, Corot-like landscapes in which he showed himself to be a notable colourist. He then included figures in keeping with the landscape mood, & these became mythological. This led him away from naturalism; & the dramatic content of his later works was heightened by strident colour contrasts using a simplified palette & bright colour Norman1977
Friends: Feuerbach in Rome, & Marees & Hildebrand in Florence Norman1977
Grouping: Symbolism L&L; technique firmly within academic tradition Lucie-S1972 p153
Politics: He admired the Prussian state Met1981 p24
Pupils: Klinger Lucie-S1972 p153
Followers: The Symbolists including Thoma, Stuck, Klinger Norman 1977
BOGDANOV-BELSKY, Nikolai, 1868-1945, Russia:
Background: He was born at Shitiki, Smolensk province into a peasant family. He attended the village school Petrova pp 113, 267, Lebedev Pl6
Training: He studied icon painting at the St Sergius Trinity Monastery, the Moscow School of Painting under Polenov, Makovsky, Privateanishnikov, 1884-9, the Higher School of Art, Imperial Academy, 1894-5, & Fernand Cormon’s studio & The Academie de Filippo Calorosi in Paris, late 1890s Lebedev Pl6, Petrova p267
Career: From 1890 exhibition Wanderers. In 1914 he became a full member of the Imperial Academy of the Arts &in 1921 emigrated to Latvia Lebedev Pl6
Speciality: Peasant subjects, especially children, & portraits of the eminent Lebedev Pl6, Petrova p267
Characteristics: He painted in a realist cum Impressionist style & his colouring ranges brownish hues to the distinctively bright & colourful webimages
Beliefs: That education was capable of overcoming the backwardness of the peasantry, as shown in his Sunday Reading at a Village School Petrova p112
*BOILLY, Louis-Leopold, 1761-1845, France:
Background: He was born at La Bassere. His father was a wood carver Norman1977
Training: Only his father Norman1977
Career: He was moderately popular from the 1790s
Oeuvre: A prolific painter of small genre scenes & portraits of the Revolution, Empire & Restoration periods. They are cheerful & Biedermeir-like bourgeois scenes Norman1977
Characteristics: He paid a close attention to detail & had a high finish Norman1977
Innovations: He was one of the first Frenchmen to experiment with lithography Norman1977
Boisbaudran. See Lecoq de Boisbaudran
..Cornelis/Corelius BOL, c1589-c1666, Netherlands/England:
Career: Bol & his wife were members of the Dutch church in London in 1636 Grove4 p249
Oeuvre: He was a painter, etcher & draftsman Grove4 p249
Characteristics/Verdict: Though only moderately accomplished he was able to reproduce the light & character of the Thames, with its lowering skies, strong breeze & full sunlight, together with topographical detail Grove4 p249, W&M p263
Patrons: He probably painted London views for John Evelyn W&M pp 262-3
-Ferdinand BOL, 1616-80, Netherlands:
Background: He was probably born in Antwerp. His father was a surgeon Grove4 p249
Training: Initially with Jacob Gerritsz & then with Rembrandt Cuyp Grove4 p249
Influences: For his later work Van Dyke’s portraits Grove4 p251
Career: He went to Amsterdam in 1637 & received his first major commission in 1649, after which his reputation quickly increased. During 1656 & 1664 he painted important history paintings in the Stadhuis Grove4 pp 249-50. In 1669 after his second marriage to a wealthy widow he ceased painting L&L
Oeuvre: He was a fashionable portraitist & also painted allegories & history paintings L&L
Phases/Characteristics: In his earlier history paintings he initially imitated Rembrandt extremely closely but they are rather static & the figures sometimes stand around like clumsy actors Grove4 p250, Haak p288. After 1650 he moved to a more classic & elaborate style, & his palette now included much more red. His early portraits are Rembrandt-like but do not covey the sitter’s individuality but his work became more independent from 1649 with his first major commission for a group portrait. Both his histories & portraits became repetitious Grove4 pp 250-1.
Pupils: Probably Kneller L&L
-Hans BOL, 1534-93, Flanders=Antwerp/Netherlands=Amsterdam :
Background: He was born in Mechelen Grove4 p251
Training: From his uncles Jacob Bol I & Jan Bol Grove4 p 251
Influences: The imaginary panoramas of Patinir & Massys Grove4 p251
Career: After two years in Heidelberg, he became a master in the Mechelen, but after its annexation by Spain he settled in Antwerp around 1572. In about 1584 he settled in Amsterdam Grove 4 p251
Oeuvre: Paintings & a gifted draftsman Grove4 p251
Phases/Characteristics: To begin with he was primarily a watercolour painter. In Antwerp he executed numerous fine minature landscapes in gouache on parchment, richly populated with figures. Many of his drawings were made into prints by Hieronymous Cock & Phillip Galle, etc Grove4 p251
-BOLDINI, Giovanni, 1842-1931, Italy:
Background: He was born in Ferrara, the son of the painter Antonio Boldini, 1799-1872 Grove4 p252
Training: With his father & after 1862 sporadically at the Scuola del Nudo at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence Grove4 p252
Influences: Impressionist freshness & light hearted Rococco delicacy L&L. He assiduously copied Old Masters Grove4 p252
Career: In 1862 he went to Florence where he frequented the Caffe Michelangeolo Grove4 p252. He belonged to the Macchiaioli but in 1869 went to London. In 1872 he moved to Paris but during 1880 travelled to England, American, Austria & Germany L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits but also (excellent) Parisian street scenes as in The Dispatch Bearer 1879 (Met) L&L OxDicArt
Style: Dashing brushwork with sitters who look poised & graceful OxDicArt. He was a modernist who drew attention, through his distinctive use of paint, to their handmade nature & to the way in which facture is part of a picture’s meaning. This was a feature shared by Sargent, Zorn & other society portraitists Retell pp 89-90
Verdict: He was the renowned society portraitist of his day OxDicMod. Boldini was admired by Sargent but despised by the avant-garde as glossy & superficial Balsan p146, L&L, OxDicMod
Collections: Boldini Museum, Ferrara OxDicMod
IL BOLOGNESE / GRIMALDI, Giovanni Francesco, 1606-80=Rome:
Background: Born Bologna Grove 13 p655
Training: In Bologna in the Carracci circle Grove13 p655
Career: He went to Rome around 1626 & by 1635 belonged to the Academy of St Luke was cfhiefly active in Rome & worked in Paris during 1649-51 L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings, frescoes, engravings & architecture L&L
Characteristics: His relatively rare cabinet pictures of classical landscapes for which he is best remembered are in the style of Annibale Carracci L&L, Grove13 p656
Verdict: His frescoes were accomplished Grove13 p655
Circle: The artists who worked with Pietro da Cortona Grove13 p655
Patronage: The leading Roman families including the Santacroce, Pamphili & Borghese. He also worked for Cardinal Mazarin & at the Louvre Grove13 pp 655-6
Legacy: His masny etchings & drawings spread the influence of Bolognese landscape througout Europe Grove 13 p655
-BOLOTOWSKY, Ilya, 1907-81, USA (Russia)
Background: Russia L&L
Training: 1923 moved to USA L&L
Influences: Mondrian, Miro, Picasso etc L&L
Career: during the 1930s he workd for the Public Works of Art scheme; 1936 helped found the American Abstract Artists; 1946-8 taught at Black Mountain College & then had other teaching posts L&L
Oeuvre: also a playwright & filmmaker L&L
Phases: after 1944 he modelled himself more directly on Mondrian using vereticals, horizontals & diamond-shaped canvases L&L
-BOLTRAFFIO/BELTRAFFIO, 1467-1516:
Background: His origin was aristocratic Brigstocke
Influences: Perugino & Francesco Francia Brigstocke
Teacher: He was Leonardo’s principal Milananese pupil L&L
Career: He was working independently by 1498 L&L
Oeuvre: Portraits & religious paintings OxDicArt
Characteristics: Polished surfaces, subtle shadows, heightened luminosity & serenity in landscape backgrounds, clearly drawn contours against a dark background in his portraits with their psychologically suggestive use of light for Brigstocke
Verdict/Repute: He was the best of Leonado’s Milananese followers & a highly regarded portraitist in the 1490s Murrays1959, Brigstocke
BOMBELLI, Sebastiano, 1635-c1716, Italy=Venice:
Training: Bologna, Florence L&L
Career: In 1663 he settled in Venice L&L
Speciality: Full-length life-sized portraits L&L
Innovation: A new intimacy treatement in the treatment of the head in formal Baroque portraiture Waterhouse1962 p133
Grouping: Baroque L&L
Pupil: Fra Galgario L&L
**BOMBERG, David, 1890-1957, GB:
Background: He had Polish-Jewish parents & a Whitechapel upbringing OxDicMod
Training: 1908-10 under Sickert at the Westminster School of Art; 1911-13 at the Slade OxDicMod. He was encouraged by Sargent who noticed him drawing in the V&A OxDicMod
Influences: Bomberg & other younger artists had a distaste for the Renaissance prior to 1914 Harrison p83
Career: In 1913 he visited Paris where he met Picasso, Derain & Modigliani Harrison p92. He had an early understanding of Cubism & Futurism. Bomberg was a founder member the London Group in 1914 & gained recognition at its Exhibition & at a one-man show at the Chenil gallery. In 1915 he joined the Royal Engineers etc & in 1917 became a war artist in a Canadian regiment but he had discouraging difficulties owing to his advanced style. After further post-war problems he attempted poultry faming during 1920-21. Between 1923 & 1927 he was in Palestine working for a Zionist Organisation (newspaper illustrations & pamphlets); from 1927 much of his time was devoted to teaching, especially during 1945-53 at the Borough Polytechnic; In 1954 he settled in Spain after becoming embittered due to lack of recognition TurnerEtoPM p235, OxDicMod, Harrison pp 121, 130, 147
Phases: During 1913-4 he produced highly disciplined works based on successive & increasingly formal, abstract drawings. His colouring was dramatic & flat with a flickering effect in the semi-academic works Ju-Jitsu & In the Hold with their strange bloodless formality (“I reject [1914] everything in painting that is not Pure Form”). He painted no significant & successful War pictures & the best of his early post-war works were comparatively modest. During the inter-war period he adopted greater naturalism, fluid paintwork, complexity of surface & strong colour Harrison pp 92-4, 129,148. During the 1950s he created some of the most distinguished landscapes of the time using emphatic brush marks & thick pigment. Here the paint is both a vehicle of description & a reality in itself Shone1977 p38
Oeuvre: Mainly portraits & landscapes OxDicMod
Teaching: Students should aim at expressing the dense cosmic forces encapsulated within objects &, once this spirit is grasped, make “throws” at its parts, with lines equating with the movements of the ranging & involved eye. Under his influence they produced Bomberg-like pictures which were an existentialist expression of being in the world rather than a window onto it Spalding1986 pp 162-3.
Pupils: Kosoff & Auerbach at the Borough Polytechnic Spalding1986 p162. His students form a distinct group in post-war painting Shone1977 p38
BOMBOIS, Camille, 1883-1970, France:
Background: Born Venarey-les-Laumes, the son of a boatman OxDicMod
Career: He spent his childhood on canal barges, became a farmhand at twelve, & then a road labourer, circus wrestler, a porter on the Paris metro from 1907, a navvy, a docker, & night at a printing establishment so he could paint during the day. In the early 1920s he was encouraged by Wilhelm Uhde & other critics to paint fulltime OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Landscapes, townscapes, portraits, nudes & circus scenes naive paintings L&L
Characteristics: His paintings have vigour & strength. The are hefty, inspired by his wife OxDicMod, L&L
Grouping: Naive painting OxDicMod
Bonaiuti. See Firenze
-BONDOL/BANDOL/BOUDOLF/DE BRUGES, Jean, active 1368-81, Belgium:
Career: He was active in Paris & painter to Charles V L&L
Oeuvre: Miniatures & tapestry design L&L
Characteristics: He mastered perspective in his realistic miniatures L&L
Workshop: It was large L&L
..Sir Muirhead BONE, 1876-1953, Scotland:
Background: He was born in Glasgow, the son of an architect OxDicMod
Training: During 1890-4 he trained as an architect & took evening classes at Glasgow School of Art OxDicMod
Career: He moved to London in 1901, joined NEAC in 1902, established a considerable pre-war reputation for his prints, & lived abroad for several years. In 1916 he became the first Official War Artist, served again in the Second World War, helped found the Imperial War Museum, & lent his name & paintings to the Artists International Association OxDicMod, Thornton p15, Chamot p91, M&R p15.
Oeuvre: Draughtsman, printmaker & occasional painter OxDicMod
Characteristics/Verdict: He was not at least to begin with interested in traditional picturesque views but in anything with character including building works, factories, shipping & sweeping countryside. His works have a beautifully ordered design with a wealth of detail & an overall sense of structure, as painted in a traditional style OxDicMod, Chamot p91.
..Stephen BONE, 1904-58, England:
Background: He was born in London at Chiswick Wikip ,
Training: At the Slade, 1922-4, but he left disillusioned Wikip
Career: After Bedales school he travelled widely in Europe with his father & in 1929 married the artist Mary Adshead with whom he travelled extensively in Britain & Europe . He exhibited with NEAC from 1920 & joined in 1932. During 1936-9 he served on the committee of the Artists International International Association. After war work on camoflage, he became an official war artist in 1943, specialising in naval subjects. He produced numerous works showing showing coastal installations, naval craft, scenes on submarines, the Normady landings, & Wreck of the Tirpitz in Norway. Prior to the war he had exhibited widely but subsequently had difficulty getting shown & became a dritic for the Manchester Guardian, worked for the BBC, & wrote & illustrated childrens’ books with his wife, etc. He became director of the Hornsey College of Art in 1957 Wikip, Tate Gallery on web.
Characteristics: His paintings were mostly careful & crisp landscapes painted in all weathers of realist type Wikip, McConkey1946 pp 146,148
-BONFIGLI, active 1445-96, Italy=Perugia:
Background: He was born in Perugia where a late Gothic style was still dominant Grove4 p316
Influences: Fra Angelico, Domenico Veneziano, Gentile da Fabriano, Pierro della Francesco, Fra Fillipo Lippi & Gozzoli Grove4 p316
Career: First documented, 1445. He worked in the Vatican from 1450; was back in Perugia in 1454; painted his greatest work, the frescos in the Prior’s chapel in the town hall Grove4 p316, L&L
Oeuvre: Frescos, artisan work L&L, Grove4 p316
Characteristics/Verdict: His handling of space was confident in some works but in others his composition was poor. His work included animated, anecdotal scenes of Rome & Perugia as in Totila Laying Siege in Perugia, c1454-61 (Galleria Nazionale, Perugia). Some of his work was beautiful as in the Christ Hurling Thunderbolts on Perugia with The Virgin & Saints Interceding, 1472 (S, Maria Nuova, Perugia), & Virgin & Saints Interceding for Perugia,1476 (S.Fiorenzo.Perugia)
BONFIGLI, active 1445-96, Italy=Perugia:
-BONHEUR, Rosa, 1822-99, France; Academy Movement
Background: Her father was an ardent Saint-Simonian who encouraged Bonheur’s artistic career & independence, Her father & brothers were artists Grove4 p318, Freeman Times1/2/20
Training: Her father Grove4 p318,
Career: In 1841 she first exhibited at the Salon & then regularly thereafter until 1855. In 1848 she had a lucrative state commission for Ploughing in the Nivernais. It was a huge success. Her pictures sold well especially in Britain & the USA. She was assisted by the dealer Ernest Gambart, with whom she had a long friendship. By about 1860 Bonheur was financially secure. She left Paris & moved to a chateau bordering Fontainebleau Forest, Grove4 p318 & 12 p30, R&J p222.
Oeuvre: Animal paintings & some sculptures Grove4 p318.
Phases: Her style changed little, though it became more detailed after her English tour of 1856 Grove4 p318
Technique: She kept a small menagerie, frequented slaughterhouses, dissected animals Grove4 p318. Her paining The Horse Fair was based on sketching trips (dressed as man) to the horse market in Paris twice weekly for 18 months 1001 p427
Characteristics: Her works display a deep affinity for animals, especially horses. They are together with the landscape meticulously observed & painted, but none of the harsh facts of country life obtrude. Her depictions are remove & noble Grove 4 p318, R&J p222.
Status: She was the most internationally renowned woman painter of the mid 19th century R&J p222
Beliefs: Art is a tyrant. It “demands heart, brain, soul, body…I wed art. It is my husband –my world – my life-dream – the air I breathe” Freeman Times1/2/20
Grouping: Realism Grove4 p318
First woman artist to get the Legion d’Honeur L&L
Purchasers: Cornelius Vanderbilt bought The Horse Fair & donated it to the newly founded Metropolitan Museum Grove4 p318
Personal: She was a militant feminist with short hair, who smoked, & lived with a companion (Nathalis Micas) TurnerDtoI p30. She regularly applied for permits to wear men’s clothing in public R&J p222
Repute: This declined after her death but has been revived by feminist art historians Grove4 p318.
BONHOMME, Francois, 2809-1881, France:
Background: Born Paris. His father painted scenes on carriages TurnerMtoC p30
Training: After rudimentary training by his father, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Guillaume Lethiere. He also received training with Horace Vernet & Paul Delaroche TurnerMtoC p30
Career: He first exhibited at the Salon in 1833 & in 1835 began working as an industrial artist . From 1851 he was commissioned to produce pictures for the Ecole des Mines & until 1873 sent mining & factory scenes intermittently to the Salon. He was saved from poverty by appointment as professor at the Sevres Manufactory but ultimately ended in an asylum TurnerMtoC pp30-2.
Oeuvre: Paintings including a few portraits, pen & ink drawings, prints TurnerMtoC pp30-1.
Characteristics: Although accuracy often took pride of place, the best have the descriptive poetry of Zola’s Germinal, & his Fireworks set off at Versailles in Honour of Queen Victoria , 25 August 1855 has John Martin’s cosmic chiaroscuro TurnerMtoC p31
*BONINGTON, Richard Parkes, 1802-28, England
Training: Louis Francia (Girtin’s friend); 1820-2 under Gros at EcoleB
Influences: Constable after London visit OxDicAr
Career: In 1817 to Calais with parents; to Paris; 1822 two watercolours at Salon; travels extensively in France & the Low Countries; 1825 visits London & meets Delacroix; on their return share studio; 1826 to Italy, visiting Venice; 1827 at RA DIA p246; death TB L&L
Oeuvre: Early work almost all watercolour L&L; landscapes; picturesque Cont cities; literary subjects DIA p246
Innovations: intimate glimpses into private lives of history figures Treuh erz1993 p24
Characteristics: fresh & spontaneous fluid style OxDicArt; contrast between landscapes (gentle colours & freely painted, especially clouds) & History paintings (often darkish & confined interiors in glowing reds, browns & bottle greens
Pupils: Gleyre TurnerDtoI p209
Influence: brought watercolour to France’s attention L&L
Collections: Wallace Collection, Nottingham OxDicArt
**BONNARD, Pierre, 1867-1947, France:
Background: Born Fontenasx-sur-Roses, near Paris. His father served in the War Ministry OxDicMod
Training: From 1888 he atended classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts & the Academie Julian OxDicMod
Influences: Japanese prints & Denis Murrays1959, Gibson p53
Career: He attended the elite Lycee Condorcet Chasse pp 9–10, Wikip. His father insisted that he study law. At Julian’s he formed the Nabis with Vuillard (his lifelong friend) & other students. After military service, 1888-9, he became a full-time artist, initially sharing a studio with Denis & Vuillard. Bonnard was excluded from Fry’s first Post-Impressionism exhibition, 1910, & from the Armoury Show 1913. In 1912 he bought a house at Vernonnet in the Seine valley & in 1925 another near Cannes & until the War divided his time between them HymanT p68. From 1893 he lived with Martha Boursin a bad-tempered & sicky former seamstress, but from 1918 he had a mistress, Renee Monchaty. In 1925 Bonnard proposed to her, Matha protestred & he reluctantly married Martha. Weeks later Renee committed suicide WullschlagerFT 26/1/19
Technique: He did not usually paint on the spot & at most used a tiny & indistinct snapshot. His paintings were completed slowly & he sometimes worried away at a canvas for years L&L, Gayford Spectator26/1/19
Oeuvre: Landscapes, flower subjects, numerous self-portraits & initially posters, coloured lithographs & work on stage design, including Ubu-Roi OxDicMod
Speciality: Nudes of his wife especially in the bath (she was obsessively cleanly & spent hours in the bathroom) OxDicMod. She is not shown as ageing L&L
Characteristics: Until 1900 his palette was subdued, even dark, but it then became richer & more impasted Murrays1959. He used broken-brushwork, strong, flat colours, which nevertheless create an illusion of depth & have marked elements of caricature & exaggeration. Over time his driving force became less the expression of feeling than the imposition of a pleasing pattern. Until the death of his wife in 1940, his work radiates warmth & well-being. His paint seemed almost edible (& he often painted meals) OxDicMod, Denvir p182, GibsonM p53. His pictures seem detached from the immediate moment & they create the impression of time suspended in a continuous vibrant present Hamilton1967 p66. There are no straight lines even where they might be expected: Bonnard’s world is fuzzy. In his self-portraits his face is usually in shadow & indistinct. His hazy indecission was the result of painting from memories that are less powerful than visual experience Gayford Spectator26/1/19. In many of his paintings an interior opens out into a garden or the interior is a confined space Hyman pp 55-6, 78, 82, 90-1, 93-4, 116, 128, 134-6, 140, 144-5, 147-9, 160-1, 165-9, 180, 187, 194, 198, 202, 206. These works often have a claustraphobic feel especially where his wife is confined in a bath or the interior is cluttered with objects. In some cases this sensation does not arise because the colouring is bright & cheerful but in other paintings it is reinforced because they are pale or dismal. In a few cases the figure is corpse-like or the legs are disconcerting pp 169, 194, 197-8.
Beliefs: “The presence of the object, the motif, is very disturbing to the painter at the time he is painting. Since the starting-point of a picture is an idea, if the object is there at the moment he is working, the artist is always in danger of allowing himself to be distracted by the effects of direct & immediate vision & to lose the primary idea on the way”, 1943 Hamilton1967 p66
Status : He was one of the most distinguished upholders of the Impressionist tradition OxDicMod
Grouping: The Nabis & Intimisme, although he is sometimes seen as a late Impressionist Murrays1959, L&L. With hindsight he is to be seen as a pioneer of mid-century all-over surfaces & his fluttering images anticipate postmodern ambivalence & disintegratrion WullschlagerFT 26/1/1
Verdict: His work is extremely uneven but his best paintings are splendid Gayford Spectator26/1/19
Repute: By his death his work was out of favour L&L
..BONNAT, Leon, 1833-1922, France; Academy Movement
Background: Born Bayonne, TurnerMtoC p32
Training: After training in Madrid he entered Leon Cagniet’s atelier at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, 1854TurnerMtoC p32
Influences: Ribera, Titian, Velasquez & van Dyke whom he saw when young, & later Rembrandt, Courbet & Manet TurnerMtoC p33
Career: During 1846-52 he lived in Madrid where his father owned a bookshop. His portraits became internationally renowned & by the 1880s he had three or four sittings a day. Bonnat ran an active studio for over 30 years & taught an evening class at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1883 to 1888, then became chef d’atelier, & in 1905 Director TurnerMtoC pp 32-4.
Oeuvre: Portraits of the European & American establishment etc TurnerMtoC pp 32-3.
Phases: Historical & religious subjects, then from the late 1860s genre scenes of Italian & near Eastern life, & finally from around 1875 portraits TurnerMtoC pp 32-3.
Characteristics: His portraits were highly realistic reflecting his frequent use of photos. They range from lively portrayals of close friends to the dull & vapid, partly due to over-production. Almost all are flattering, he diminished their personality, & emphasised their importance. Many of the figures are stiff reflecting the cold, inexpressive image that most of his patrons cultivated. His later works were influenced by the Impressionism & Neo-Impressionism he had long opposed TurnerMtoC pp 33-4.
Pupils: Eakins, Caillebotte, Defy, & Toulouse-Lautrec. They did not stay long & soon rejected his guidance, although he was a liberal teacher TurnerMtoC p34.
BONONI, Carlo, 1569-1632, Italy=Ferrara:
Background: He was born in Ferrara Grove4 p334
Training: Mazzuoli Grove4 p334
Influences: later: Lodovico Carracci, Dosso Dossi, Corregio & Caravaggio Grove4 p 334
Career: Around 1610 he spent two years in Rome & in 1613 was in Cento working with Gurecino. In 1615 he moved to Ferrara, but worked elsewhere for the Este family Grove4 p334
Oeuvre: Canvases, oil on plaster, & frescos Grove4 p 334
Characteristics/Phases: Around 1614 he developed a new treatment of space & deeper awareness of architectural perspective, & from 1617 until after 1622 worked in the Ferrarese church of St Maria in Valo. These foreshadow Baroque with their dramatic chiaroscuro & figures in complex poses. During his last years his work was increasingly melodramatic Grove4 pp 334-5
Status: He was among the last great painters of the Ferrarese School, & the most progressive proto-Baroque artist, Gurecino apart. After the death of Ippolito Scarsellino he was the leading Ferrarese painter Grove4 p334, NGArt1986 p379
-BONSIGNORI/MONSIGNORI, Francesco, c1460-1519, Italy:
Background: He was born at Verona Grove4 p335
Influences: Mantegna, the Gonzaga’s favourite painter, Giovanni Bellini, Alvise Vivarini, Antonello da Messina, & latterly Lorenzo Costa the Elder L&L.Grove4 pp 335-6.
Career: From about 1490 until 1507 he worked at the Gonzaga court, Mantua L&L, Grove4 p336
Oeuvre: Altarpieces & portraits L&L
Characteristics: He had an individual style & his best works were devotional where he focused on human figures Grove4 p335
Personal: He was profoundly religious & had no interest in antiquity like the Mantuan court Grove4 p336
Brothers: His brothers Bernardino, c1476-c1520, & Girolamo (c1479-), etc were also painters Grove4 p335
..BONVIN, Francois, 1817-87, France:
Background: He was born at Vaugirard Norman 1977
Training: Academie Suisse &, around 1843, evening classes at Lecoq de Boisbaudrans’ drawing school, & about 1845 with Granet Norman 1977
Influences: Chardin & 17th century Dutch genre painters Norman 1977
Career: His early painting of an urchin The Young Savoyard, 1845, has only the slightest suggestion of Romanticism Weisberg1981 p42. He was encouraged & admired by Courbet. In 1847 he began exhibiting at the Salon Norman 1977. In 1852 Bonvin, who had opposed the coup d’etat, met Napoleon who commissioned him to paint a picture for the Palace of St Cloud. After this he received official commissions fairly regularly Weisberg1982 p100.
Oeuvre: Genre & still-life depicting the simplest subjects Norman 1977
Characteristics: His work featured quiet observation & strong dark-toned brushwork Norman 1977. From 1852 the stocicism of his best work declined & he turned increasingly to still-life & scenes of religious piety Weisberg1982 p100Patron: Laurent Laperlier, who was a government bureaucrat, admired Chardin & in consequence Bonvin. They were friends: Bonvin advised Larperlier & his appreciation for Chardin influenced Bonvin. Without Laperlier’s support it is likely that the impoverished Bonvin would have been able to continue painting Weisberg1982 pp 22-3
Pupils: Cross Norman1977
BOR, Paulus, c1660-69, Netherlands=Amersfoort; Baroque Classicism
Background: He was born in Amersfoort near Utrecht into a prominent & wealthy Catholic family. His father was a textile merchant Grove4 p 377
Influences: Orazio Gentileschi L&L
Career: He lived in Rome, 1623 until about 1626, & was a founder member of the Schildersbent; after returning to Amersfoort, he joined its Brotherhood of St Luke. He worked on royal commissions & in 1656 became a regent for the Amersfoort foundation for the poor Grove4 pp 377-8, L&L
Oeuvre: Religious & mythological subjects, still-life, & portraits L&L, Grove4 p377
Characteristics/Phases: His work shares elements with the Utrecht Caravaggisti & the Haarlem classicists. Some of his paintings are striking & rather strange as in Mary Magdalene, c1635 (Walker) & Jesus among the Doctors, 1635-6 (Central Museum, Utrecht) with its naive, slightly awkward charm & eccentric proportions. These & later works have dramatic chiaroscuro Grove4 p377, Haak p318
Borch. See Terborch
BORDONE, Paris, 1500-71, Italy:
Background: He was born at Treviso RAVenice P154
Teacher: Titian from c1518 whom he found disagreeable but was greatly influenced by L&L, OxDicArt. He left because of Titian’s hostility due to his ability to imitate Titian’s style Getty
Influences: Giorgione OxDicArt; Mannerism RAVenice p154; Italy painters at Fointenbleau from whom absorbed rythmic grace & sensuality; Lotto (met in 1640s) with Bordone’s portraits gaining a new intimacy GettY
Career: By 1518 he was in Venice; 1538 to Fontainbleau; c 1640 in Augusburg working for Fuggers; then to Milan? RAVenice p154
Subject Matter: Sacra Conversazione OxCompArt; 1540s & 50s overtly erotic cabinet paintings of mythological & allegorical subjects; portraits RAVenice p154; Giorgionesque pastoral scenes & mythologies but hard & conventional OxDicArt
Characteristics: delight in texture & detail of fabrics, gems, skin etc. He repeatedly used figures from his model book Getty; chiraroscuro & rich colouring OxCompArt
Clientele: The Fuggers etc RAVenice p154
Verdict: His contemporary reputation rivalled Titian but he was too conventional & unoriginal for lasting fame ??!! OxCompArt
Influenced: Amberger
-BORDUAS, Paul-Emile, 1905-60, Canada=Montreal:
Background: Born in Quebec, Canada wikip
Training: Under Oxias Leduc as a church decorator, & the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal OxDicMod
Career: In 1928 he went to Paris but in 1930 returned to Montreal He opened a studio for mural decoration but supported himself by teaching art. In the early 1940s he started to use automatism. He was the driving force behind Les Automatistes & its anarchistic manifesto of 1948 led to his dismissal from teaching. In 1953 he moved to New York, but he spoke little English & in 1955 he settled in Paris OxDicMod, L&L
Characteristics: His mature work has an all-over surface work recalling Pollock OxDicMod
Status: With Riopelle he was one of the most important Canadian post-war abstractionists OxDicMod
Borgona, Juan de. See De Borgona, Juan
-BORISOV-MUSATOV, Viktor, 1870-1905, Russia:
Background: He was born in Saratov, the son of a railway official 50Rus p190
Training: 1891 at the St Petersburg Academy under Chistakov & during 1895-8 under Moreau in Paris Gray p61
Influences: The simplified compositions of Puvis & Gauguin L&L
Career: In 1895 he returned to Saratov where a local landowner let him work in an abandoned park & classical style house Gray p62
Phases: Early Academic work using hard lines & cold colours Gray p61
Oeuvre & Characteristics: Landscapes & garden scenes with elegant figures, nostalgic visions, usually in pale colours L&L. His soft blues & grey-greens are typical Symbolist colours. His work shows a fascination with the past but not as an historical period but as a mysterious & remote time which has sadly departed Gray p61
Grouping; He was a Symbolist dreamer Gray p61-2
Repute: He was almost entirely unknown outside a small circle of artists until the 1907 restrospective in Moscow organised by Diaghilev Gray p71
Collections: The Tretyakov & Russian Museum
Borgognone. See Bergognone or CouRtoIs
..BOROVIKOVSKY, Vladimir, 1757-1825, Russia:
Background: He born in Mirgorod, the son of a Cossack icon painter who retired from the army to paint Norman1977, 50Rus p47
Training From 1792 by I. Lamni & possibly his friend Levitsky at St Petersburg 50Rus p48
Career: In about 1787 he was befriended by Catherine II & then Johann Lampi. He became a member of the Academy in 1895 Norman1977
Speciality State portraits of the imperial family & nobility in which rigid conventional poses were abandoned Norman1977
Phases: Initially icon painting to which he finally returned after infection with religious mysticism Norman1977
Characteristics: Typically large-eyed, languidly posed young women Norman1977. Pose & positioning were subordinated to his ideal of a pure, poetic personality with a poetic soul. Soft mother of pearl shades & a surface like porcelain are combined with precise & classical drawing 50Rus p48. His full-dress portraits glorify the man’s social status but also lay emphasis on his inner world 50Rus p51
Circle: For his first 10 years as an artist Borovitovsky lived with N. Lvov who was a well-known architect interested in poetry, music & archaeology. His house was a meeting place for those involved in the sentimental literary wave which included Dimitriev for poetry & Karamzin for prose 50Rus p47
Personal: He had a charming & gentle character & his pupils lived in his house on a family basis 50Rus p51
Status: With Levitsky he was the leader of the early Russian portrait school Norman1977. He was its shining example Grove27 pp 388-9
Grouping: Sentimental classicism Norman1977
Pupils: Venetsianov Norman1977
-BORRANI, Odoardo, 1833-1905, Italy:
Background: He was born in Pisa. His father was a painter Norman 1977
Training: Under the picture restorer Gaetano Bianchi who encouraged him to copy from Uccello etc Norman 1977
Career: During 1865-73 he lived a withdrawn life in the countryside but later ran an art school in Florence Norman 1977
Oeuvre: Landscape & genre Norman 1977
Characteristics: A combination of strong formal composition & plein air realism that catches the luminous effect of sunlight in the Tuscan countryside as in The Pazzi Chapel, 1885-87 (Cloister of Santa Croce in Florence) Norman1977
Circle: He took part in the Macchiaioli discussions at the Caffe Michelangelo & was a friend of Signorini Norman 1977
-BORRASSA, Lluis/Louis, active 1388-c1425, Spain=Catalonia:
Background: He was from Girona Brigstocke
Influences: Sienese L&L. He was a disciple of Pedro Serra OxDicArt
Career: From 1385 he worked in Girona, Barcelona & other Catalan centres. He was the most prolific Catalan painter of his time Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Altarpieces Brigstocke
Characteristics: Rich detailing, bright colour & active, gesturing figures Brigstocke
Innovations: His work was an influential shift from the prevailing softer, more static style Brigstocke
Grouping: International Gothic L&L
-BORTOLONI, Mattia, 1695-1750, Italy:
Training: In Venice with Balestra L&L
Influences: The classicising style of Dorigny L&L
Career: Bortoloni was mainly active in Lombardy & the Piedmont L&L
Oeuvre: Frescos L&L
Verdict: He was second rate but skillful Wittkower1973 p476
Feature: His dome frescos in the Sanctuary at Vicoforte di Mondovi , 1745-50, are reputedly the largest in the world L&L
-BOSBOOM, Johannes, 1817-91, Netherlands:
Background: Born The Hague Norman1977
Training: From 1831 with Bartholomeus Hove Norman1977
Influences: Rembrandt Norman1977
Career: He travelled extensively in Germany & France Norman1977
Speciality: Church interiors usually in brown-gold tones Norman1977
Phases: His work gradually became looser & more summary, & he turned increasingly to watercolour Norman1977
Characteristics: Rembrandt-like use of light Norman1977
Grouping: The Hague School, of which he was its most conservative member Norman1977
**BOSCH, Hieronymus/Van Aken, Jeroen/Jerome, c1450-1516, Netherlands; Renaissance, Early Italian Movement
Background: Bosch was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (sic) L&L. His father & three uncles were painters; so also was his brother. Religious life flourished in s’-Hertogenbosch & there were two houses of the Brothers & Sisters of the Common Life. This was a religious order without vows which attempted to return to a simpler & more personal form of religious life termed the Devotia Moderna WGibson1973 pp 13-5
Influences: Manuscript illuminations for his early work WGibson1973 p20-
Career: In about 1480 he married. His wife came from a good family & had considerable wealth. By 1486-7 Bosch was a member of the Brotherhood of Our Lady to which most of his family belonged & from which they & Bosch received commissions WGibson1973 pp 16-
Oeuvre: Over 30 pictures can be attributed to him with reasonable certainty WGibson1973 p18. Well over half of his known works are traditional Christian subjects L&
Phases: His apparent early work has relatively simple compositions of a traditional type WGibson1973 p20-
Characteristics: A meticulous technique in transluscent layers or glazes L&L. It was, however, much more fluid & painterly than that of most of his contemporaries. Bosch painted in glowing colours & his paintings have a haunting beauty OxDicArt. His landscape backgrounds, painted from an elevated viewpoint, are pervaded by an alienated, anxious feeling Grove24 p261
Contrasts: Bosch’s evil diabolical figures are far remote from Durer’s weird early sea creatures, which are secularising & humerous in tone O&V p159
Innovations: Bosch was probably the first atist to use devil images from manuscript illuminatios in large-scale panel painting, but he also introduced more frightening types, often fusing animal & human elements WGibson pp 57-6
Repute: It was for a long time widely assumed that Bosch’s diabolic pictures were merely intended to amuse, & in the earliest account of his art, in about 1560, Felipe de Guevara complained that most people simply regarded him as the inventor of monsters & chimeras WGibson1973 p9. During the 20th century he was seen as a pre-Surrealist visionary &; according to Wilhelm Fraenger (1947), Bosch was a member of the Bretheren of Free Spirits for whom he painted the Garden of Earthly Delights. They were an heretical group which engaged in promiscous sex in an attempt to attain the innocence possessed by Adam prior to the Fall Alexandrian p10, WGibson1973 p10.
..BOSHIER, Derek, 1937-, England:
Background: He was born in Portsmouth OxDicMod
Training: Yeovil School of Art. 1953-7; Guildford college of Art, 1957-9; & the Career: During 1962 he was in India. In the 1980s he worked at the University of Houston but then returned to Britain OxDicMod, L&L.
Oeuvre: Paintings, sculpture & design OxDicMod
Phases: During the early 1960s he was much concerned with manipulative advertising, treating figures like mass-produced goods; & also the space race & the relationship between Britain & America. Soon after returning from India, he turned to Hard-Edge geometrical abstracts using shaped canvasses & to perspectival devices suggesting the neon & billboards of the modern city. Between 1966 & 1979 he ceased painting turning to sculpture etc OxDicMod.
Feature: Pop art paintings with a political twist, viz one painting’s title quotes the title of Vance Packard’ s book on advertising The Hidden Persuaders; another England’s Glory shows the eponymous matchbox invaded by the stars & stripes OxDicMod
Circle: His future Pop art contemporaries at the RCA Hockney, Allen Jones, Kitaj & Peter Phillips) OxDicMod
Grouping: Pop art of which he is considered a leading exponent OxDicMod
-Abraham BOSSCHAERT, c1610-43, Ambrosius the Elder’s son, Netherlands:
Background: Born Middelburg Grove4 p466
Oeuvre: Bosschaert painted flowers & fruit Haak p206
Characteristics: Bosschaert apparently favored an oval format & was not particularly skilful Grove4 p466. He painted flowers & fruit like father & his work is capable but conventional L&L
-Ambrosius BOSSCHAERT, 1573-1621, the Elder, van der Ast’s brother-in-law, Netherlands:
Background: His parents were Protestants from Antwerp Haak p204
Career: He left Middleburg in 1613 & worked in Bergen op Zoom, Utrecht & Breda. Bosschaert was also an art dealer Haak pp 422-3
Oeuvre: Flowers & fruit paintings Haak p422
Characteristics: He painted bright, evenly lit & symmetrical bouquets in arched windows opening on distant landscapes & flanked by shells, insects etc L&L
Status: He was an early semi-Realist flower painter Fuchs p109
Pupils: van der Ast (his brother-in-law) L&L
Influence: He did much to establish the pattern for Dutch flower painting Haak p2
-Ambrosius BOSSCHAERT, 1609-49, the Younger, Netherlands=Utrecht:
Background: Born Middelburg Grove4 p467
Oeuvre: Paintings of fruit & flowers Haak p206.
Characteristics/Phases: Between 1626 & 1635 his flower pieces are viewed from above, have a low vanishing point, & often contain exotic accessories & shells. In later paintings the high viewpoint & stiff composition, especially of the still-lifes combining fruit & flowers, become less symmetrical & more spacious, with a preference for blue & yellow with darker backgrounds. His works carry a strong religious message & he painted vanitas still-lifes GroveRtoV pp 45-6
-Johannes BOSSCHAERT, c1610-1628, Ambrosius the Elder’s son,
Influences: Balthasar Van der Ast Grove4 p466.
Oeuvre: Paintings of fruit & flowers Haak p206.
Verdict: He appears to have been a talented painter Grove4 p466
..Thomas Willeboirts BOSSCHAERT, 1614-54, Belgium:
Training: Seghers Vlieghe p90
Influences: Rubens, & Van Dyke’s figures Vlieghe pp 90-1
Career: 1637 master in Antwerp; close contact with Rubens Vlieghe p90
Oeuvre: Mythological, allegorical & religious subjects often in landscape setting Vlieghe p90
Characteristics: Soft, languorous & rather attenuated figures adopted from Van Dyke but rendered in a virtuoso manner Vlieghe pp 90-91
Patrons: During 1641-54 the Stadholder Vlieghe pp 90-1
Influences: Ferdinand Bol & other Dutch history painters Vlieghe p90
..BOSSE, Abraham, 1602-76, France:
Background: He was born in Tours Grove 4 p467
Influences: His friend Callot from whom he learnt the Italian manner of etching on a hard ground of linseed oil & resin, which made for clarity & fineness of the etched line Grove4 p468
Career: He settled in Paris in 1632. His theories on etching were published in 1645 in the very first manual for the printmaker. In 1661 his unorthodox teachings led to his expulsion from the Academy, of which he had been made an honorary member. He became increasingly bitter, an attempt to set up a private school was condemned, & latterly he almost gave up creative work Grove4 pp 468-9
Oeuvre: Prints Blunt1954 p181
Phases: He initially illustrated novels & religious works & copied the late Mannerists, but in the late 1830s he developed an independent, naturalist style Blunt1954 p181
Characteristics: He depicted the life of the dignified & well-to-do bourgeoisie or employed them as his figures in his biblical subjects without any personal or romantic aspect. When aristocratic figure appear they are usually slightly caricatured or symbolise the morally less respectable part of society. His qualities of solid technical ability & clear composition contrast with Callot’s wit & brilliant touch Blunt1954 p181, Grove4 p468.
Friend: Le Sueur Allen p115
..BOSWELL, James, 1906-71:
Career: In 1933 he helped found the Artists International Association & became its Chairman Harrison p251, Turner EtoPM p57
Career: He served with the Royal Medical Corps during the war M&R p
Phases: During the early 1930s he gave up painting & tool up illustration & graphic design M&R p9
Politics: He was a member of the Communist Party Harrison p251
Circle: When the AIA was being founded it included Misha Black, Cliff Rowe, James Fitton, Pearl Binder, James Holland, Edward Ardizzone, Hans Feibusch, Margaret Angus, William Ohly, James Lucas, Ewan Phillips, Klingender, Betty Rea, A. L. Lloyd, & Alex Koolman. Lucas was probably a member of the Communist Party M&R pp 9-10
-BOTERO, Fernando, 1932-, Colombia:
Background: He was born in Medellin OxDicMod
Training: The Madrid Academy & Florence L&L, OxDicMod
Influences: Initially Abstract Expressionism OxDicMod
Career: From 1960 he worked in Paris & New York L&L. In 2004 he began painting pictures dealing with torture in Iraqi prisons OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & sculpture OxDicMod
Characteristics: Domestic & social scenes in gentle colours L&L. During the late1950s he developed a distinctive style with figures that look like grossly inflated dolls. Sometimes his paintings comment sardonically on modern life or parody the work of the Old Masters OxDicMod
Status: He has an international reputation OxDicMod
Collections: Museo Arte Moderno, Bogota
-Andries BOTH, c1612-41, Jan’s brother, Netherlands; Baroque Classicism Movement Training: Bloemaert L&L
Career: From about 1632 to 1641 he was in Rome L&L, OxDicArt
Speciality: Street & market Scenes in the manner of Pieter van Laer Haak p320
*Jan BOTH, c1618-52, Andries’ brother, Netherlands; Baroque Classicism Movement
Background: His father was a glass painter Wilenski p106
Training: Bloemaert’s L&L
Influences: Claude & Venetian painting Wilenski p106
Career: Between about 1637 & 1641 he was in Rome; & then went back to Utrecht L&L, OxDicArt
Characteristics: Refined composition & realistic detail with Claude-like enveloping golden sunlight. He portrayed peasants driving cattle & travellers viewing Rome in contemporary scenes, unlike Claude’s biblical & mythological figures OxDicArt
Innovations: The early Dutch picturesque L&L, Wilenski p106
Status: With Berchem he was the most celebrated Italianate landscapist OxDicArt
Circle: Claude Wilenski p106
Influenced: Cuyp, Berchem, Pynacher L&L,Wilenski p106
BOTTICELLI, 1444/5-1510, Italy=Florence; International Gothic, Fantasy and Mannerism (later) Movements
Teacher: Probably Filippo Lippi L&L
Career: His first known work dates from 1470 ; 1481-2 Sistine murals L&L
Phases: early vigorous realist Murrays1959; by 1490 harsh angularity reminiscent of north East art L&L; languorous anti-naturalistic ecstasy of Mystic Nativity (1500) & probably other late work Murrays1959
Style: deliberately archaic & by c1500 out of favour Murrays1959; preferred sinuous International Gothic female beauty; no interest in perspective, anatomy, classical antiquity or tonal painting; focused on decorative and expressive art L&L; sensitive & subtle feeling for contour Murrays1959
Oeuvre: not just mythological paintings with nudes but very wide both in feeling & subject matter See Pls in G&L; Madonna & Child paintings; altarpieces; church frescos; portraits L&L; splendid drawings, probably 1490s, illustrating Dante Murray1959
Patrons: the Medici, their banking clients, Vespuccis, other leading Florentine families Grove4 pp 493,502
Circle: Angelo Poliziano (tutor to Lorezo Medici’s son; humanist; love poetry pur & refined but reflecting contemporary experience & not Latinat & remote) who almost certainly devised Primavera Grove4 pp 498-9, 503
Status: one of most esteemed painters in Italy but by death reputation waning overtaken by new maniera devota style of Perugino, Francia, young Raphael = atmospheric effects, sweet colourism & emotional content Grove4 p493
Firsts: post-antique life-size mythological pictures L&L; Birth of Venus (1485) one of first non-Biblical Italian nudes G&L p66; first modern version of the Calumny of Apelles with secular Truth depicted nude Panofsky1939 pp 158-9; HallDic p56
Personal: neurotic: troubled by the religious crisis of the late 15th century with Savonarolist brother = deep fervour of late works Murrays 1959; L&L
Workshop: during c1480-1500 it was large & produced gently devout Madonnas Murray1959
Taught: Filippino Lippi L&L
Legacy: from now on allegory flourished HallJ1983 p266
Repute: from early1500s neglected until late 19th century Grove4 pp 493-503
-BOTTICINI, Francesco, c1446-97, Italy=Florence:
Background: His father painted playing cards Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Only one work is documented L&L
Characteristics/Verdict: His work was eclectic & humdrum but sometimes distinctive L&L, Brigstocke
Innovation: In St Jerome in Penitence with Saints & Donors, 1484-91, a picture of the saint is being adored Brigstocke
**BOUCHER, Francois, 1703-70, France; Rococo Movement
Background: He was born in Paris Brigstocke
Training: Lemoyne L&L Ashton pp 33-5, 37
Influences: Lemoyne’s warmly painted nudes Ternois p3
Career: In 1734 he became a full member Academy, cartoons for Beauvais tapestry factory, first court commission Ternois pp 2-3. He was savaged by Diderot in 1765 (degraded taste &technique following declining morals; passes time with low prostitutes) Lucie-S1971 p135
Subject matter: young, smiling & healthy nudes either slender & elegant which were based on his wife, or rounder, dimpled, coarser & based on the blonde O’Murphy & another model Ternois p5. His drawings & occasionally paintings show sharp awareness of ordinary existence Levey1966 p9
Technique: only used models for preliminary drawings Ternois p6; told Reynolds he never painted from the life because “nature put him out” Leslie p312; tapestry design, modernised with lighter & pastel colours, curves & counter-curves, chinoiseries, etc Ternois pp 3-
Oeuvre: mythological & erotic pictures, landscapes, & religious works (a failure) Lucie-S1971 p135; also scenery & costume design Ternois p4
Characteristics: He depicted was a happy never-never land where the sun always shines & gods, men & nature are irrepressibly playful in a highly ornamental style heavily dependent on glamorous pastel colours, brilliant brushwork & frequent eroticism H&P pp 310-1
Verdict: His mythological pictures were energetic but lacked Rubens’ weight & density. He was at his best when he painted real, not dream, women Lucie-S1971 pp 135-6. He was not merely pretty & superficial but had truly poetic vision H&P p316
Firsts: He perhaps invented the pin-up Lucie-S1971 p136. [But what about Cranach?
Verdict: He was the unrivalled master of the erotic genre Hauser3 p32
Circle: He attended the salon of Madame Geoffrin which regularly included Encylopedists & played an important role in the enlightement project. Geoffrin’s cicle included the marquis de Marigny (Pompadour’s brother) who was director-general des batiments, 1751-74, & Charles-Nicolas Cochin, secretary to the Academy, Boucher’s steadfast defender, & the designer of the front piece of the Encylopedia Hyde pp6-7.
..BOUDIN, Eugene, 1824-98, France:
Background: Born in Honfleur, the son of a seaman Norman1977
Oeuvre: Painter of seascapes and beach scenes Norman1977
Influences: E. Isabey in his early years, Jongkind later Norman1977
Career: Exhibited at the Salon from 1859, participated in the first Impressionist Group Show in 1874 and was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1892 Norman1977
Characteristics: His seascapes are dominated by luminous skies full of fleeting movement Norman1977
Circle: Seen as a direct precursor of Impressionism; Boudin persuaded the 18-year old Monet to paint out of doors. Was in constant contact with other artists who came to the coast to paint Norman1977
Legacy: A prolific artist, there are examples of his work in most museums where Impressionism is represented. Boudin left more than 6000 sketches, pastels and watercolours to the Louvre Norman1977
..BOUGHTON, George Henry, 1833-1905
Background: Born at Norwich, the son of a farmer Wikip
Training: In Paris with Pierre Edouard Frere & Edward Harrison May, 1859-61 WoodDic
Career: The family immigrated to America in 1835 & he grew up in Albany, New York. Boughton opened a studio in 1852, made a sketching tour to the Lake District, Scotland & Ireland, & ultimately in the late 1850s decided to move to Europe. He came to London in 1862 , exhibited at the RA from 1863 & became an RA in 1896. Boughton was an early client of Norman Shaw who built him a house in Camden Hill Wikip, WoodDic
Oeuvre: Genre & figure subjects, sporting & historical paintings, portraits Wikip, WoodDic
Speciality: Paintings of American colonial painted in Britain Wikip
Characteristics: Many of Boughton’s paintings are very decorative & his single figures, who are usually women, are often almost chocolate-box WoodDic
Circle: He was a frequent visitor to Cranbrook Colony & Broadway TurnerDtoI p69, Wikip
Personal: Boughton was hospitable, genial & had a love affair with Violet Hunt, novelist & New Woman Wiki, BCG
-BOUGUEREAU, Adolphe William, 1825-1905, France:
Background: He was born at La Rochelle Brigstocke
Training: During 1838-41 he had drawing lessons from Louis Sage, Ingres’ pupil; & in 1842 at the Ecole Municipal de Dessin et de Peinture, part-time. In 1846 he went to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the classicist Picot who had been David’s pupil. Between 1850 & 1854 he was in Rome working under Victor Schnetz & Jean Alux TurnerMtoC pp 38-9, Norman1977 p46
Career: During 1845-6 he painted portraits of local gentry to raise money. In 1854 he established his reputation with a picture at Salon, & went on to have an enormously successful & prolific career. He began begin teaching at the Academie Julian in 1875. During 1881-9 he painted pictures for S. Vincent-de-Paul Church, Paris. He became professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1888. His teaching was restricted & casual Lavery p48. As President of the Artistes Francais he discouraged Impressionists & innovation TurnerMtoC pp 38-40, Norman1977 p46, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Mythological, religious, & history subjects, portraits, & the occasional contemporary genre work Norman1977 p46
Phases: He painted some sober & melancholic works in the1860s but produced lighter & more playful paintings in the 1870s. There was little stylistic change throughout his career TurnerMtoC pp 39-40
Characteristics: His nudes are lubricious with smoothed out form & waxen surface Clark1956 pp 163-4. There is a a high degree of finish, compositions are studied, restrained colour & tonality are restrained, poses are Classical, & children are idealised & sentimentalised TurnerMtoC pp 39-40; Norman1977 p46
Grouping : Academic Classical Norman1977 p46
Repute: Although he was widely collected in England & especially America his reputation was lowish in France during his latter years. He was scorned by Renoir, Cezanne & by Modernists for his finish, narrative content & sentimentality. However a recent reappraisal of his work has been largely favourble TurnerMtoC p40, Brigstocke
Galleries: Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
.. BOULANGER, Louis, 1806-67, France; Romantic Melodramatic, etc
Background: Born Vercelli, Piedmont Grove1 p529
Training: At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris under Guillaume Lethiere from 1821 Grove1 p529
Influences: Euggene Deveria & Victor Hugo Norman77
Career: In 1860 he became the progressive Director of the Ecole Imperiale des Beaux-arts, Dijon Grove1 p529
Oeuvre: Paintings, illustrations for Victor Hugo, set design & poetry Grove1 p529
Characteristics/Repute: A Romantic painter, he shared Victor Hugo’s fascination with medieval melodrama and black magic. He received accolades for his [as in] Punishment of Mazeppa, 1827 (Musee Beaux-Arts, Rouen) which is a key painting of the Romantic Movement. For a time, his reputation rivalled that of Delacroix but by the mid-1830s he had turned to quieter academicism and it declined. His work became increasingly insipid & unconvincing, although his pastels were of better quality Norman77, Grove1 p529
Boullogne. See de Boullogne/Boullongne/Boulogne
– Madeleine (DE) BOULLOGNE/BOULLONGNE/BOULOGNE, 1646-1710, Louis the Elder’s daughter & sister of Bon, Louis the Younger & Genevive France; Baroque, France
Background: She was born in Paris Wikip
Career/Personal: She worked the royal workshops at the Tuileries, collaborated with Genevieve on the grand apartments at Versailles, & was admitted to the Academie Royale in 1669. She lived an austere & pious life, never married & lived with Bon Wikip
Oeuvre: Still-life, religious paintings including life at Port-Royal, & many portraits Wikip
Characteristics: Her still-life paintings included both clearly designed vanitas works & seemingly randomly assembled objects such as musical instruments, armour & draperies which fill the whole of the canvas. She appears to have particularly favoured Venetian & other reds Wikip
Grouping: Baroque Wikip
Repute: Engravings of her Port-Royal works became extremely popular. She was gradually forgotten during the 18th century Wikip
-BOURDICHON, Jean, c1457-1521, France:
Training: Fouquet’s chief pupil Cuttler p221
Career: From the early 1480s until his death, he was Peintre du Roi under four kings & in succession to Jean Foquet Brigstocke, Grove4 p569
Oeuvre: One surviving panel painting, illuminations & design & artisan work Grove4 p569
Characteristics/Verdict: His work has been described as sumptuous due to its rich colours, delicate highlighting in rich gold. However, in some works his even, soft illumination creates a cold, immaculate perfection that can be somewhat hard & monotonous due to large areas of pure colour, particularly ultramarine Brigstocke, Grove4 p569, Cuttler pp221-2
Innovation: This was the new dramatic close-up in which the figures fill the page Grove4 p570
Last significant French illuminator. In the Book of Hours of Frederick II of Aragon, 1501-4, there is a work which is, in effect, a panel painting on parchment. It has a border that appears to be a heavy Italian frame flanked by classical columns Cuttler p221
*BOURDON, Sebastien, 1616-71, France; Baroque and Baroque Classicism Movements:
Background: Born Montpellier into a Protestant family. His father Marin was a master painter including glass painting & his mother, the daughter of a master goldsmith Grove4 p573
Training: Apprenticeship to a painter Grove4 p573
Influences: Claude, Dughet & van Laer whom he imitated in Rome & latterly Poussin OxDicArt, Grove4 p175
Career: He went to Paris, 1623; to Bordeaux, 1630; to Rome, 1634-37; to Paris via Venice, 1637; was court painter in Sweden, 1652-4; returned to Paris, 1654, & to Montpellier, around 1659; & to Paris, 1663. Here he helped create the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, 1648, of which he later became Rector,1655 L&L,Grove pp 574-75
Oeuvre: Religious & mythological works, genre scenes, tapestry cartoons, landscapes & portraits Grove4 pp 573-75
Phases/Characteristics: Initially he imitated the Bamboccianti & Giovanni Castiglione as in Gypsies & Soldiers c1640 (Musee Fabre, Montpellier), & later painted vigorous Baroque altarpieces & portraits in a Van Dyck style including a memorable Queen Christiana of Sweden, 1652-53 (NG Stockholm). Nevertheless his work had a personal flavour. After his stopover in Venice his work dispalyed a new sense of colour & Baroque theaticality as in The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, c1643 (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Orleans). Towards the end of his career he worked increaingly on landscapes & began using saturated, even, strident though not quite disruptive colours as in his masterly Landscape with a Watermill, c1655 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island). This is a work with a distinctive stratified configuration in which clouds, trees & landscape have equal stress to produce a pattern effect: a pictorial poem hightened with all the arts of fine colourist & at once elegiac, intellectul, & pculiar to Bourdon Blunt1954 p203, Grove4 pp 573-75, Lucie-S1971 pp 106-107, T&C pp 56-57
Status: He was quickly recognised as one of the major artists in Paris & was granted lodgings in the Louvre before 1641, was one of the most successful French painters around 1650, &, like Le Suer, belonged like Le Suer to a group who followed their own inclinations in painting Grove4 pp 573-74, Blunt1954 p203.
Patrons: He attracted several of discernment in Rome including Louis Hesselin Grove4 p57
Reception: He was widely praised by Andre Felibien & criticised for not having his own fixed style Grove4 p573
Repute: [He should be better known & more celebrated].
– Aelbrecht BOUTS, c1453-1549, Dieric the Elder’s son & Dieric the Younger’s brother:
Background: He was born at Leuven Grove4 p596
Career: He assisted in his father’s workshop L&L
Oeuvre/Speciality: He specialised in small devotional works that sold readily in Antwerp, particularly an archaic type of diptych icon with busts of Christ as Man of Sorrows & a praying Virgin Grove4 p596
Characteristics: Compared with his father his draperies are fussy & conceal the body’s form; & his brushwork is thicker & his colours darker & muddier. His designs are often overcrowded & his landscape backgrounds are marred by a confusing repetition of motifs Grove4 p596
Grouping: His work is a transition between his father’s 15th century style & the eclectic Antwerp Mannerism of the early 16th Grove4 p596
* Dieric/Dirk/Thiery BOUTS, c1425-75, father of Aelbrecht & Dieric the Younger; Belgium (Netherlands); Northern Renaissance
Background: He was in born Haarlem L&L
Influences: Van Ouwater, Van Der Weyden & Van Eyck perhaps via Petrus Christus L&L, OxDicArt
Career: He probably established citizenship in Louvain around 1455 & became the official town painter in 1468 Grove4 p590, L&L
Oeuvre: Religious work, landscapes with figures, secular painting & a few known portraits Grove4 pp 590-3
Characteristics/Phases: In his work before about 1460 the mechanical figures are stocky with fleshy hands, large heads, & faces vividly modelled in a strong side light as in the Virgin altarpiece (Prado). The backgrounds are highly detailed landscapes. His mature work, as represented by his masterpiece the Last Supper Altarpiece, including Old Testament scenes, 1464-8 (church of St Pierre, Leuven) has rationally organized space, depicted from a high viewpoint with a single vanishing point. The figures, which are graceful & increasingly elongated, are deployed in stiff & solemn poses. In the Last Supper, the main panel, colours are bright & clear & details are precise. The Old Testament scenes are highly poetic & exquisitely beautiful, especially those at daybreak in the Gathering of Manna & in the early morning in Elijah in the Dessert. In the Virgin Nursing the Child, 1460-5 (NG) she is no longer the plain, peasant-like woman of his earlier works but now has an elegant & refined countenance Grove4 pp590-2, L&L
Workshop: It was large L&L
Innovation/Status: The Justice of Emperor Otto III, 1370-5, is the period’s most important large-scale secular narrative work in northern Europe . His representation of landscape was his principal contribution to northern painting. Jan Van Eyck’s landscape backgrounds were distant scenes viewed through loggias or windows whereas those of Bouts depicted a continuing recession. Along with Albert Ouwater & Gertingen tot Sint Jans he has been credited with founding the Haarlem School of painting, his influence was more pervasive than that of Rogier Van der Weyden & dominant until the end of the century L&L, Grove4 pp 590-92Cuttler pp 138, 140-1.
-Dieric the Younger BOUTS, c1448-90, Dieric the Elder’s son & Aelbrecht’s brother:
Career: He assisted in his father’s workshop & apparently inherited his father’s hop in 1457 L&L, Grove4 p 390
Oeuvre: No paintings can be attributed with certainty Grove4 p590
Characteristics: He continued his father’s style OxDicArt
..BOWER/BOWERS, -c1667, Edward, England:
Background: He was probably from the South West Waterhouse1953 p86
Career: He was an assistant to Van Dyck, his earliest known work was in 1638; & he was active in & then Master of the Painter-Stainers Company, 1661 Waterhouse1953 pp 77, 86, W&M p79
Oeuvre: Portraits & apparently still-life Grove4 p599, webimages
Characteristics: Imitations of Van Dyke of a provincial type. His technique is restricted, his use paint is rather dry, his draughtsmanship somewhat uncertain & his composition mediocre but his characterisation is sympathetic with a fresh, frank & sympathetic attempt at character portrayal. The portraits feature elaborate costume & some have elaborate backgrounds, as in his full-length painting of a member of the Fownes family, Dunster Castle, NT Waterhouse1953 p86, W&M pp 78, 81, Grove4 p599, webimages
Feature: He painted Charles 1 when on trial, though without a background scene W&M p79, webimage
Patrons: He worked for parliamentarian sitters including Pym & Fairfax Waterhouse1953 p86, Piper p110
..BOWKETT, Jane, 1837-1891, England:
Background: She was born in London, the daughter of a doctor who was a Chartist Wikip
Training: At a government-run school of design Wikip
Career: She was married to the still-life painter Charles Stuart, had six children of which three survived childbirth. Despite this she exhibited over 120 paintings at the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street, the RA (1861, 1881, 1882), etc Wikip, WoodC1999 p326, WoodDic.
Oeuvre: Paintings mainly in oils of interiors, & also frequent beech scenes mainly on the south coast. They feature mothers & children in a slightly naïve style & have described as having great period charm WoodC1999 pp 320, 326, WoodDic.
Feature: Preparing Tea shows a mother preparing tea for an approaching father while her children make toast & brings his slippers WoodC1976 p60.. This has been seen as feminism of a critical type!! Wikip
..BOWLER, Henry, 1824-1903:
Background: He was born in Kensington, London Wikip
Training: Leigh’s School & the Government School of Design, Somerset House Wikip
Career: Like Redgrave, etc Bowler spent most of his time teaching. He was head of Stourbridge School of Art, 1851-5, assistant director for art at South Kensington from 1976, & Professor of Perspective at the RA, 1861-99. Bowler exhibited at the RA 1847-71 WoodDic, web
Oeuvre: Landscapes & subject paintings in oils & watercolour Web images etc
Innovation: He was the only Victorian painter whose picture expresses religious doubt in his Pre-Raphaelite influenced work The Doubt: ’Can These Dry Bones Live’ WoodC1999 p123, WoodDic 69
..BOWYER, William, 1925-2015, England: British Impressionism:
Background: He was born at Leek, Staffordshire Wikip
Training: Burslam School of Art, Royal College of Art under Ruskin Spear & Carel Wright Wikip
Influences: Constable & Turner Wikip
Career: He taught at Maidstone College of Art, 1971-82 & became a long-serving honorary secretary of NEAC in 1968 & presided over a revival in its flagging fortunes. In 1981 he was elected RA Wikip, McConkey2006 pp 212, 216, 219-20, 237
Oeuvre: Portraits & landscapes especially Thames & Suffolk coast scenes Wikip,
Characteristics: Modern traditional figurative works Wikip
Progeny: The artists Jason & Francis Wikip
.. BOYD, Arthur, 1920-99, Australia:
Background: He was born at Murrumbeena, near Melbourne & belonged to a dynasty of artists which began with his grandfather Arthur Merric, 1862-1940, & included grandma Emma, & his parents William Merric & Doris. The Angry Penguin group to which he belonged worked in an Expressionist vein & sought to create an Australian art free from European dominance & Australian complacency & insularity. The debate they stimulated degenerated into mudslinging which magnified their sense of isolation & conviction of having a revolutionary role OxDicMod, Hughes1966 pp 126, 139; See Angry Penguins in Section 8.
Training: He was largely self-taught OxDicMod
Influences: Brueghel & Rembrandt Hughes1966 p160
Career: He served in the Australian army, became one of the country’s best-known artists in the 1950s, & produced a big series of pictures Love, Marriage & Death of a Half-Caste, 1957-9 [Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne] portraying an aboriginal stockman & his half-caste bride. In 1959 he moved to London, returned in 1971 but continued to spend time in England & Italy OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings, prints, stage design, & pottery sculpture OxDicMod, Hughes1966 p231
Phases: Initially he painted plein air landscapes but following the Melbourne Herald’s exhibition of 1939, Australia’s Armoury show, featuring Dali’s L’ Homme Fleur, Boyd filled his canvases with figures bursting from chimneys and strange beasts and cripples as in The Cripples 1943 (Heide Museum of Modern Art) Hughes1966 pp 140-42
Characteristics: He developed a figurative idiom drawn from Surrealism, Social Realism and Expressionism and acquired the immediacy and spontaneity in his later work. During 1970’s and 1980’s he painted more identifiable scenery such as Pulpit Rock (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) Grove4 p606
Status: Sidney Nolan was probably the only Australian with greater international fame OxDicMod
*BOYDELL, John, 1719-1804, England:
Career: During the 1740s he made his fortune from publishing engravings of English & Welsh views. Later Boydell published landscapes of Vernet & Wilson by other engravers & made large foreign sales. In 1789 he opened the Shakespeare Gallery in Pall Mall hoping to promote British History painting. Boydell commissioned 162 oils (from 1786) illustrating Shakespeare’s plays from Northcote & Opie in particular but also from Fuseli, Kauffmann, Reynolds & Romney. There were subsequent engravings in an illustrated edition of Shakespeare, 1802. Some were in the Grand Manner but most were theatrical & melodramatic. He was an alderman & Lord Mayor of London 1790 OxDicArt, L&L
Oeuvre: During the 1740s engravings from own drawings OxDicArt
Influence: Robert Bowyer set up Historic Gallery in Pall Mall, mainly selling pictures from Middle Ages & the Tudor-Stuart periods by Hamilton, West, de Loutherbourg & some of Boydell’s painters L&L
-BOYS, Thomas Shotter, 1804-74, England:
Career: Boys worked in Paris with Bonnington but settled in England in 1837. After the 1840s his career suffered due to illness WoodDic
Oeuvre: Watercolours & lithography including landscapes & figure subjects WoodDic
Speciality: Architectural views of London & Paris WoodDic
Innovation: Colour lithographs in England L&L
BRABAZON BRABAZON, Hercules, 1821-1906, England; Impressionism GB Movement
Career: When he was 37 he inherited estates in Sussex & Ireland; watercolourist from 1860s; from 1891 taken up by NEAC painters, MacColl & Moore (seen as in tradition of British Impressionism). He had five solo exhibitions at Goupil Gallery from 1892 McConkey1989 pp 101, 156
Characteristics: rapid, colourful & fluid sketches Wood1999 p377: informal & impromptu Impressionism McConkey1989 p101
Friends: Sargent Wood1999 p377
..BRACQUEMOND, Felix, Marie’s husband 1883-1914, France:
Background: He was born in Paris Norman 1977
Training: As a trade lithographer until Joseph Guichard, a pupil of Ingres, took him into his studio Wikip
Career: He was an artist-engraver & participated in the first Impressionist Exhibition, 1874. He worked for the Sevres pottery concern in 1870 producing works anticipating Art Nouveau Norman 1977, Wikip
Oeuvre: Etchings, prints & also paintings & the design of pottery. He produced some fine portraits but gave up painting in the 1860s Wikip, Norman 1977
Speciality: His best engravings are landscapes as &/or studies of animals as in Perdix, 1872 Wikip
Innovations: He revived engraving as a creative medium as opposed to it being merely a means of multiplying the images of others; & he was the initiator of the of vogue of Japanism which seized the decorative arts in France & elsewhere during the second half of the 19th century, having recognised the beauty of the Hokusai woodcuts used as packing around a shipment of Japanese china L&L, Wikip
Friends: Edmond de Goncourt with whom he shared a love of Japanese Art; also Rodin, Whistler, Fantin-Latour, Theodore de Banville, Jules d’Aurevilly, Gustave Geffroy, Felix Nadar Wikip
Circle: It was literary due to his friendship with Auguste Poulet-Malassis & included all the elites residing in Nouvelle Athens Wikip
Friends: Edmond de Goncourt with whom he shared a love of Japanese Art; also Rodin, Whistler, Fantin-Latour Theodore de Banville, Wikip
Legacy: He encouraged Manet, Degas & Camille Pissarro to engage in printmaking Wikip
.. Marie BRACQUEMOND, 1840-1916, Felix’s wife, France:
Background: She was born at Argenton, near QuimperTurnerMtoC p41
Training: After studying drawing she was advised by Ingres but had no other training TurnerMtoC p41
Career: She was admitted to the Salon in 1857 she was commissioned by the state to copy paintings in the Louvre thereby meeting Felix & marrying in 1869. She designed dishes & tiles to assist his work. She exhibited at the Salon in 1874-5 & with the Impressionists in 1879, 1880 & 1886 TurnerMtoC p41.
Oeuvre: Paintings, prints & design TurnerMtoC p41
Phases: Initially her work was greatly influenced by Ingres & Alfred Stevens but around 1880, following advice from Gauguin & because she admired Renoir & Monet, she converted to an Impressionism comparable to that of Berthe Morisot & Mary Cassatt TurnerMtoC p41
Gossip: Because of her husband’s opposition to any broadening of her career she was confined to Sevres which restricted her output TurnerMtoC p41
Braekeleer, Ferdinand the Elder. See de Braekeleer, Ferdinand the Elder
Braekeleer, Henry. See de Braekeleer, Henry
Braij/Bray. See de Braij/Bray
Ferdinand de BRAEKELEER, the Elder, Henry’s father, 1792-1883, Belgium:
Background: He was born in Antwerp Norman1977
Training: With Van Bree Norman1977
Influences: Teniers & de Steen Norman1977
Career: He was keeper of the Antwerp Museum & an influential teacher Norman1977
Oeuvre: History & genre paintings Norman1977
Status: He had an international reputation Norman1977
Pupils: They included his relation Hendrik Baron Leys Norman1977
Progeny: His son Ferdinand the Younger, 1828-57, was also a painter Norman1977
..Henry de BRAEKELEER, 1840-1888, Netherlands:
Background: He was born in Antwerp, the son of Ferdinand the Elder Norman77
Training: He studied with his father and Leys Norman77
Phases: His early work followed Leys, but he soon abandoned history painting for scenes of contemporary life. A painter of genre, townscape and landscape, an individualistic exponent of Realism. He painted quiet interiors and intimate landscapes Norman77
Technique: He inherited from Leys an attention to decorative detail, but replaced a smooth finish by a flickering crowd of short brushstrokes. Norman77
Career: He first exhibited in Antwerp in 1861; his first critical success was in exhibitions in Brussels and Vienna (1872-73) Norman77
Personal: A profound melancholy turned in his last years to mental illness Norman77
*Felix BRACQUEMOND, 1833-1914, Marie’s husband, France:
Marie BRACQUEMOND, 1840-1916, Felix’s wife, France; True Impressionism Movement
Background: She was born at Argenton, near QuimperTurnerMtoC p41
Training: After studying drawing she was advised by Ingres but had no other training TurnerMtoC p41
Career: She was admitted to the Salon in 1857 she was commissioned by the state to copy paintings in the Louvre thereby meeting Felix & marrying in 1869. She designed dishes & tiles to assist his work. She exhibited at the Salon in 1874-5 & with the Impressionists in 1879, 1880 & 1886 TurnerMtoC p41.
Oeuvre: Paintings, prints & design TurnerMtoC p41
Phases: Initially her work was greatly influenced by Ingres & Alfred Stevens but around 1880, following advice from Gauguin & because she admired Renoir & Monet, she converted to an Impressionism comparable to that of Berthe Morisot & Mary Cassatt TurnerMtoC p41
Gossip: Because of her husband’s opposition to any broadening of her career she was confined to Sevres which restricted her output TurnerMtoC p41
***BRAQUE, Georges, 1882-1963, France:
Background: He was born in Paris but grew up in Le Havre L&L. His father & grand father were skilled painter-decorators & Braque was brought up to follow suit. He revered craftsmanship & ground his own pigments OxDicMod
Training: During 1902-4 he took lessons in painting & drawing, including briefly the Ecole des Beaux-Arts OxDicMod
Milestone: The Cezanne memorial exhibition at Salon d’Automne & meeting Apollinaire & Picasso, 1907. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon which he saw in Picasso’s studio led to experimentation with fragmented form OxDicMod
Career: In 1909 he moved from his family home in Le Havre to Paris. Between 1910 & 1912 he worked closely with Picasso to develop Cubism. He enlisted in 1914, was decorated for bravery, was wounded & in 1916 demobilised in 1916. During the post-war Neoclassical revival he painted a series of monumental nudes OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic art & design OxDicMod
Speciality: Interiors & still-life, especially musical instruments OxDicMod
Technique: He sometimes mixed sand into paint to produce a textured effect OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: During 1905-7 he painted in a Fauvist manner. Although differentiation is sometimes difficult, the Cubist work of Picasso was linear & sculptural whereas Braque’s was more painterly & preoccupied with the quality of light, unlike other Cubists. From 1916 Barques’ work became less angular, including graceful curves, & with subtle muted colours OxDicMod
Innovations: He introduced stencilled letters, fake wood graining & combed surfaces OxDicMod
Beliefs: “the whole Renaissance tradition…the hard & fast rules of perspective …were a ghastly mistake…which makes it impossible for an artist to convey a full experience of space” FT 20/10/18 (Wullschlager). In an early statement about Cubism he said that nobody can paint a woman in all her natural loveliness, “I must therefore create a new form of beauty, the beauty that appears to me in terms of volume, of line, of mass, of weight” OxDicMod
Repute: During the 1930s his reputation became international & he had a state funeral OxDicMod
-BRAMER, Leonard/Leonaert, 1596-1674, Netherlands=Delft:
Influences: Domenico Fetti L&L
Career: In 1614 Bramer went to Rome, Mantua & Venice via Paris etc. By 1928 he had returned to Delft & stayed save for a Roman trip in 1648 Haak p324
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescos Haak p324-5
Characteristics: Spontaneity & imagination using a nervous, fluent manner of drawing. His treatment of light was exciting with figures looming up out of darkness. Later on Bramer worked in the manner of the Utrecht Caravaggists Haak pp 325-6
Feature: He appears to have been the only Dutchman to paint large frescos Haak p325
Patrons: Bramer had many commissions from the municipality, the Stadholder, etc Haak p324
Status: Delft’s most celebrated artist of his time L&L
Circle: He knew Vermeer L&L
BRAMLEY, Frank, 1857-1915, England; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: He was born in Sibsey in Lincolnshire F&G p163
Training: At the Lincoln School of Art under E. R. Taylor, & in 1879 or 1880 to Verlat’s Academy in Antwerp F&G p163
Career: In 1882-3 he went to Venice, & apparently settled in Newlyn in 1884-5. He first exhibited at the RA in 1884. A Hopeless Dawn was shown in 1888, acclaimed, & purchsed by the Chantry Bequest. In 1889 he moved into a new glass-house studio. In 1895, Bramley now married, left for Droitwich, by 1900 he had settled at Grasmere, & spent his last years in London crippled by illness . In 1911 he became an RA F&G pp 163-4
Characteristics/Phases: He used the square brush technique, being its leading Newly practicioner. His brushwork became much looser in the 1890s , the paint oilier, & the colours brighter, denser with greater decorative effect F&G p165
Personal: He was quiet, reserved & dedicated F&G p164
Innovations: In 1886 he painted the first substantial interior scene in oils by a Newlyn artist F&G p165
Circle: Edwin Harris & W. J, Wainwright in Antwerp F&G p163
Grouping: The Newlyn School F&G
Brandel. See Brandl
-BRANDL/BRANDEL/PRANDEL, Johann Peter/Petr, 1668-1735; Czech Republic; Baroque
Background: He was born in Prague into a craftsman’s family Grove4 p668
Training: He was apprenticed to Kristian Schroder, curator of the Prague Castle gallery, c1683-8 Grove4 p668
Influences: Bohemian & Flemish works in the Royal Collection & Italian & Dutch artists at the Castle, & in particular the Austrian Michael Wenzel L&L, Grove4 p668
Career: He was frequently employed by convents & churches, but died broken by poverty & debt L&L, BPH No 69
Oeuvre: Altarpieces; religious, mythological & genre works; & portraits BPH No 69
Phases/Characteristics: Initially he relied on vivid colour, & painted massive sculptural figures with the use of light to create dramatic effects. After about 1720 his work his work with its powerful animated figures had a still greater impact. Finally, from 1730 there was a marked decline in the quality of his work. In his late paintings he used heavy, vivacious impasto & is supposed to have sometimes only used his fingers. Finally, from 1730 there was a marked decline in the quality of his work Grove4 pp 668-9, BHP introductory section on Painting & Nos 69, 79, 80
Status: He was the greatest Bohemian High Baroque painter BHP No 69
-BRANGWYN, Frank, 1867-1956, England:
Background: He was born in Bruges, the son of a Welsh architect OxDicMod
Training: He entered the South Kensington Art Schools & was apprenticed to William Morris, 1875-82, but considered himself self-taught Grove4 p 672, OxDicMod
Influences: Initially Whistler & the Newlyn School; Titian & Veronese after a visit to Venice in 1896, Delacroix, the Pre-Raphaelite, Symbolism, & Dutch & French realists Grove4 p672
Career: The family returned to Britain in 1875. During 1884-8 he painted plein air oils in Cornwall & exhibited at the RA from 1885. His success at the Salon in 1893 initiated an international reputation. In the early 1890s he travelled to the Near East; South Africa & Europe, & then settled in London. Murals were his chief activity from 1902. His first major commission was for the Skinner’s Hall London, 1901-9. He painted panels, subsequently rejected, for the House of Lords, 1924-33, & those for the Rockefeller Centre, 1930-4. He became a war artist, an RA in 1919, settled at Ditchling, Sussex, where he ended as a virtual recluse OxDicMod, WoodDic, Grove4 pp 672-3
Oeuvre: Paintings in oil & watercolour, murals, etchings & lithographs, design for ceramics, etc, etc Grove 4 p672, OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: At first his colours were grey & subdued but his work became richer & more colourful after his travels. His murals were in smouldering colour, have great breadth of design, contain exotic elements, & provide decorative tapestry-like patterns WoodDic, Shone1977 p28, Chamot p82, Grove4 p672
Status: He was the most prolific muralist of his era Shone1977 p28
Repute: This slumped after his death but has revived somewhat OxDicMod
Collections: At Brangwyn museums in Bruges, & at Orange in France
Breughel. See Bruegel/Breughel
-BRANSON, Clive, 1907-44, England; Political Art
Background: In August 1936 Felicia Brown, a fellow student, was killed in action at the start of the Spanish Civil War M&R p31
Training: Slade M&R p28
Career: During 1931-37 he gave up painting to work for the Independent Labour Party & then the Communist Party. He belonged to the Artists International Association, joined the International Brigade & was captured in 1938 & put in an Italian concentration camp where he painted for the commandant. In 1939 he returned to England & began painting again. He died in action in Burma M&R pp 28, 32, 47, Wikip
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Genre paintings in a bold, & mostly colourful realist style. His work is largely of a political nature including events, portraits of workers, the blitz, still life; & also a non-political street scene Art UK, M&R p47
Personal: He was a popular sergeant in his army unit & much missed Wikip
Circle: During the 1930s dined monthly with Coldstream, Rogers & other future Euston Road painters M&R p32
Progeny: His daughter Rosa is an artist Wikip
Collection: Tate Galley & The Marx Memorial Library
-BRATBY, John, 1928-92, England:
Background: He was born in London Grove4 p693
Training: At Kingston College of Art, 1948-50, & the Royal College of Art, 1948-50 Grove4 p693
Career/Phases: He taught at the Carlisle College of Art, 1956, & the Royal College of Art, 1957-8 Grove4 p 694. In the late 1960s began painting celebrities, & in the 1980s foreign cityscapes although he concentrated on self-portraits & portraits of his second wife Grove4 p694
Oeuvre: Genre scenes, murals, & flower pieces. In the late 1960s began painting celebrities, & in the 1980s foreign cityscapes although he concentrated on self-portraits & portraits of his second wife Grove4 p694, OxDicMod
Characteristics: He employed a harsh realist style using vibrant colours & thick impasto. His faces were sometimes ugly & desperate, he portrayed the clutter of urban domestic life, & his work frequently included conspicuous branded packaging anticipating Pop Art. Later his work became lighter & more exuberant Grove4 p693, OxDicMod.
Grouping: Together with Jack Smith, Edward Middleditch & Derrick Greaves he belonged to the Kitchen Sink School Grove4 pp 693-4
Status: He had a talent for self-promotion & became one of the best-known British artists of his generation OxDicMod
BRAUNER, Victor, 1903-66, France (Romania)
Background: He was born at Piatra Neamt, Moldavia Grove4 p699
Training: Briefly at the School of Fine Arts, Bucharest, 1921 OxDicMod, Grove4 p699
Influences: His father dabbled in spiritualism & from an early age Victor was interested in the occult OxDicMod
Career: In 1912 the family moved to Vienna. In 1930 he went to Paris where he joined the Surrealist movement in 1933. During 1935-8 he lived in Rumania. He joined the clandestine Communist Party but left in 1936 when the Soviet show trials began. After returning to France, he lost an eye in a brawl. He fled to the Pyrenes & Hautes Alpes during the war & turned to collage etc due to lack of painting materials, though he also improvised with coffee or walnut stain. After returning to Paris, he was expelled from the Surrealists in 1948. From 1961 he mainly lived at Varengeville, near Dieppe OxDicMod, Grove4 p699
Oeuvre: Paintings & sculpture OxDicMod
Characteristics: After losing his eye he produced magic, twilight scenes full of werewolf, sleepwalking & alchemical imagery. Finally, at Varengville his work became serene Grove4 p699, Alexandrian pp 234-5
.. John BRECK, 1860-99, USA, US Impressionism:
Background: He was born at sea, the son of a US naval officer Wikip
Training: At the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Munich & in Antwerp, from 1878; & after returning to Europe in 1886 he studied for two years Paris at the Academie Julian in Paris under Gustave Boulanger & Jules Joseph Lefebre NGArtinP p228, Wikip
Career: After returning to America in 1882 he painted landscapes & still-life in the Boston area; made his first trip to Giverny with Willard Metcalf, Theodore Robinson & other Americans, 1887; & established a US colony, remaining during the 1888-9 winter. In 1892 he had a romance with Monet’s wife’s daughter, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, to which he was hostile. Breck returned to Boston, 1889, & introduced Impressionism to the USA with a show in Boston, 1890 NGArtinP pp 142, 228, Wikip
Phases: Initially traditional tonalism, & from around 1888 Impressionism NGArtinP pp 142, 228
Characteristics/Verdict: His landscapes in Massachusetts, Giverny &
Venice display great talent & some have vibrant colour but others as in Grey Day on the Charles, 1894 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond) & Misty Day, Venice (Georgia Museum of Art, Athens) are notable for their sophistication & muted, yet glowing, colour Wikip, Gerdts1982 p29, & 1984 p44
Grouping: American Impressionism Gerdts1984 p281
Bree. See van Bree
-BREENBERGH, Bartholomeus, c1599-1655, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Background: Born Daventer Haak p302
Training: In Rome Haak p302
Influences: Elsheimer, & by Brill although less so L&L
Career: Breebbergh got to Rome in 1619 & shortly after 1620 he & Polenburgh established the Bentveughels but was back in Amsterdam by 1633 Haak p144
Oeuvre: Paintings & etchings L&L
Characteristics: He mostly painted Italian landscapes with ruins peopled with small figures from biblical & mythological stories. His Amsterdam paintings were extremely eclectic L&L
Grouping: A Dutch Italianate painter Haak p144
BREITNER, Georg, 1875-1923, Netherlands:
Background: Born Rotterdam Norman1977
Training: From 1876 at The Hague Academy; 1884 in Paris briefly under Cormon (along with Toulouse Lautrec & Bernard) B&B p110, Norman1977; 1886 at the academy in Amsterdam Norman1977
Influences: The Hague School, especially Mesdag & Willem Maris; & then later the Impressionists who encouraged his interest in plein air painting etc Norman1977, OxDicArt
Career: Breitner supported himself by teaching Norman1977. During 1882-3 he painted in the countryside with Van Gogh. He moved to Amsterdam in 1886 & during 1888-91 he had a studio in the same building at Oosterpark as Isaac Israels B&B p110. Due to ill health he practically ceased painting after 1910 OxDicArt
Phases: Early landscapes, still-life, figure studies & especially military scenes. During the 1890s Breitner started to paint with greater care & subtlety & he produced a superb series of girls in Japanese kimonos & then scenes in neighbourhoods earmarked for demolition, but thereafter his work lost spontaneity B&B pp 110, 117
Characteristics: A feeling for movement & light; his views of Amsterdam are painted in broad brushstrokes of sharply contrasting colours, with deep brown usually dominant Norman1977. He, like Isaac Israels, had a predilection for portraying working women B&B p118
Status: Holland’s most admired painter of the generation influenced by Impressionism Norman1977
Influenced Isaac Israels B&B p110
Collections: Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Rijksmuseim
–Breklenkam. See Van Breklenkam
-BRESDIN, Rodolphe, 1882-85, France: Romantic Melodramatic:
Background: He was born at La Fresnel-sur-Loire into a working-class family Wikip
Training: He was apparently self-taught Grove4 p749
Influences: Durer’s prints, 17th century Dutch art & contemporary etchings & wood engravings by Adolphe Hervier. Alexandre Decamps, Auguste Raffet. & Gustave Dore, etc L&L, Grove4 p749
Career: He produced his first etchings, 1839; & as a teenager adopted a bohemian lifestyle. From 1848 he lived in isolation in Tulle; moved to Bordeaux & by 1852 was in Toulouse; returned to Paris, 1861-62; & settled in Bordeaux by 1864; went to Canada & taught in an art school but returned to France, 1877. Due to fitful employment & chronic ill health he became increasingly destitute, worked as a street labourer in Paris, left his family, 1881; & returned to Sevres Grove4 p749, Lucie-S1972 p71
Oeuvre: Prints, lithographs, book illustrations, & finished drawings L&L, Grove4 p749
Characteristics: Macabre, melancholic & quasi-religious themes: the product of a weird, sinister & complicated imagination L&L, Lucie-S1972 p71. His prints were mostly tiny & meticulously detailed & set in fantastic settings of densely packed, allover nature as in the Comedy of Death, 1854 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, & NG Art, Washington) L&L, Norman1977
Phases: Initially his work was crude. He executed his first lithographs in 1854. His mature works are obsessively detailed & are the product of a romantic, pantheistic imagination rather than direct observation Grove4 p749
Feature: Key figures are often surrounded by a dense mass of foliage as in Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1878 (The Met, etc) Grove 4 pp 749, 51 [See if you can find the image for this so that I can look at it]
Innovations: With Moreau he was one of few artists who resisted Naturalism during the 1860s & 70s Lucie-S1972 p71
Circle: Baudelaire, Champfleury & his friends Victor Hugo & Odilon Redon Grove4 p749
Reception/Repute: His work was much admired by Symbolist writers & his [as in] lithograph of the Good Samaritan, 1860-61 (BM). Nevertheless, he never achieved popular or critical success & exhibit only six times in the Salon. His stature was not recognized until interest in printmaking revised in the second half of the 20th century Grove p751, Norman1977
Grouping/Style: He belongs to a group of contemporary artists who produced works of an all-over type in which the figures are set in dense vegetation or woodland See Hornel, Edward Atkinson in Section 1, etc
Pupil: Redon in Bordeaux Norman1977
Barna Da Siena. See Da Siena, Barna
..BRESLAU. Louise, 1856-1927, Switzerland:
Background: She born in Munich Grove4 p751
Training: At the Academie Julian, Paris Grove4 p751
Career: She exhibited at the Salon from 1879 where her work was soon well received. In 1889 she received a gold medal at the Exposition Universally, Paris & was the first foreign woman to do so. She was a founder member of the Société National des Beaux-Arts Grove4 p751
Oeuvre: Genre & portraiture Grove4 p751
Characteristics/Verdict: Her work displays originality & sober realism. She was an able plein air painter, & her portrait are skilful & empathetic Grove4 p751
Friends: Degas, Breton, Forain, & her lifelong friend Sarah Purser Grove4 p751
-BRETON, Jules, 1824-1906, France:
Background: He was born at Couriers, Pas-de-Calais. Through his father who supervised the lands of the Duc de Duras he developed a deep knowledge& affection for his native region Grove4 p754
Training: Felix de Vigne in Ghent, Wappers in Antwerp & in 1847 Drilling in Paris Norman1977
Influences: Millet & the Barbizon School. The 1848 revolution in which he sided with the liberal confirmed his sympathy for the lower classes Norman 1977, L&L.
Career: After the Revolution he went to Belgium where he married de Vigne’s daughter. He returned to France in 1852 & began painting peasant scenes of which the first, the Return of the Reapers, was exhibited at the Salon in 1853. In 1854 he settled at Couriers. His career developed rapidly under the Second Empire & his work was bought by the state due to the fervent support of Count Nieuwerkerke Grove4 p754.
Oeuvre/Characteristics/Phases: He was initially a genre painter but tuned to scenes with peasants & field workers in landscape settings. In these works, realism was modified by an idealised treatment of the figures under the influence of Louis Robert. Sometimes his scenes were symbolic or had biblical solemnity. He was a gifted & sensitive handler of paint but the demand for his paintings led to over-production & repetitive work Norasm1977, Grove4 p755, L&L
Aim: “we associated ourselves with the passions & feelings of the humble, & art was to do them the honour formerly reserved for the gods” Grove 12 p294
Feature: Van Gogh admired him for his humanity L&L
Influence: This was wide outside France, notably in Scandinavia & the USA L&L
Brother/Daughter: Emile, 1831-1902, & Virginie, 1859-1935 were also painters Grove4 p755
-BRETT, John, 1830-1902, England
Background: born Surrey Spaldingetal p67; his father was an army officer Barringer p74
Training:1854- RA Schools Barringer p74
Influences: almost certainly Vol 4 of Ruskin’s Modern Painters (April 1856) subtitled Of Mountain Beauty Spaldingetal p67
Milestone: in 1856 he watched Inchbold painting in Switzerland & was so impressed that he concluded that previously he had only “fooled & slopped” & descided to abandon traditional disciplines & henceforth to paint all he could see Barringer p74
Career: he belonged to the Pre-Raphaelite circle & was taken up by Ruskin L&L, Spaldingetal p67
Oeuvre: landscapes & coastal scenes OxDicArt
Phases: his later work tends to be mechanical with Pre-Raphelite clarity but a wide viewpoint that leads to an antithetical emptiness Spaldingetal p67
*Jorg BREU the Elder, c 1475-1537, Nicolas’ brother, Germany=Augsberg:
Background: Born Augsburg, a weaver’s son Grove4 p758
Training: Ulricht Apt the Elder in Augsburg L&L
Influences: Jan Polack, Martin Schongauer & Durer. Also, Botticelli & frescoes by Filippino Lippi Grove4 p759
Career: In 1502 he settled in Augsburg, & around 1514 visited Italy, he supported the Reformation & the poor OxDicArt, Grove4 p758
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, history paintings, allegorical woks, portraits & stained-glass, & woodcuts Grove4 p758-59, L&L
Phases: He made increasing use of Italian Renaissance motifs, some of which must have been observed on the spot & others taken from Durer & Burgkmair L&L, Grove4 p759
Innovations/Phases: Around 1500-2 during his wanderjahre in Austria he devised altarpieces where the directly observed landscape was a major, expressive element as in the Life of S. Bernard, particularly St Bernard at the Corn Harvest where monks are harvesting a field of undulating corn,1500 (Stiftsskirche, Zwetti). The St Bernard works also have freshness & realism. Other works for the Abbey Church at Melk etc derive their force from powerfully modelled figures with expressive features rather than from the [as in] landscape background, 1502 (altarpiece, Abbey Church Melk, Brigstocke, L&L, Grove4 pp 758-59
Patrons: The Augsburg authorities, the Fugger family, Duke William IV of Bavaria, etc Grove4 pp 759-60
Grouping: Along with Altdorfer, Cranach & Huber he was the most important member of the Danube School which he founded Brigstocke, L&L
Son: Jorg Breu the Younger c1510-1547, taught by & assisted his father. In addition to the type of work produced by his father he painted frescoes & made high quality pen, brush, & ink drawings etc Grove4 p760
Brother: Nicolas, recorded 1524-33. He has been tentatively identified with the Historia Master & Master of Pulkau ; & was an accomplished landscapes of a Danube School type L&L
Breughel. See Bruegel/Breughel
..BRICHER, Alfred, 1837-1908, USA:
Background: He was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire Wikip
Training: Alfred Bierstadt & William Morris Hunt, but he was a self-taught luminist Wikip
Career: Initially he was a Boston businessman but from 1858 he devoted himself to art, opened a studio in Boston, & had some success. In 1868 he moved to New York During the 1870s he painted the Newport shore & adjacent Narragansett Bay area, & in the later 1870s at Grand Manan Island off Canada. In the 1890s he moved to Staten Island where he painted local sore line views Wikip, Wilmerding pp 127, 131
Oeuvre: His speciality was coastal scene to which he devoted almost all his carer Wilmerding p127
Characteristics: Some of his work was asymmetrical & hence have picturesque quality. Although not as original as the major luminists, he produced some memorable & strong images with lovely luminist effects in his lateral beach views, some in hazy sunlight, & others with only a glare of light along the horizon’s edge or with intense golden colours produced by the molten sun Wilmerding pp 53, 127, 130-1
Grouping: He was allied to the Luminist Movement Wilmerding p11
Matthew/Matthijs/Mattheus BRIL/BRILL, the Younger, 1550-83, son of Matthijs Brill the Elder, & Paul’s brother, Belgium/Italy:
Background: He was born in Antwerp & his father, -c1550, was a painter Grove4 p812
Career: He arrived in Rome around 1575. He painted the fresco series of topographical Views of Rome with the Translation of the Remains of Str Gregory Nazianzus, 1580, & then decorated the Torre die Venti, a papal apartment Grove4 p812.
Oeuvre: Frescos Murrays1959
Characteristics/Innovation: In his topographical views he coupled extraordinary detail with an emphasis on the structures’ monumentality achieved through a low viewpoint & dramatic recession. His other landscapes have bravura impressionistic brushwork & are more Mannerist with dramatic chiaroscuro & predominant acid greens & blues Grove4 p812
-Paul BRIL/BRILL, Paul, 1554-1626, Matthew’s brother, Belgium/Italy:
Background: He was born in Antwerp Grove4 p812
Influences: Elsheimer who was his friend & in Rome his brother Murrays1959, Klinsmann p23, Vlieghe p 177
Career: Around 1575he left Antwerp & joined his brother in Rome. He succeeded his brother in the papal service & he was also active Naples L&L
Speciality: Small pictures on copper Murrays1959
Features: The assimilation of Flemish Mannerist landscape with the classicism of Elsheimer & Carracci classicism; also, small landscapes OxDicArt, L&L
Phases: In Rome he started painting great decorative frescoes for churches & palaces. Here & in his new cabinet-sized paintings his studied Mannerism evolved into a simpler & better structured landscape style. His later paintings were very varied including landscapes filled with biblical scenes & also views of mountains & coasts with classical ruins & Italian farm houses which are strikingly enliven with chiaroscuro Vlieghe p177.
Innovations: He played a key role in the evolution of landscape in Italy & with Tassi developed late Mannerist landscape featuring an artificial dark-brown foreground, a lighter-green middle distance & blue hills on the horizon, each stage marked by coulisses & starting from a dark foreground tree L&L, Blunt1954 p196. In his later paintings he was together with Annibale Carracci & Adam Elsheimer the originator of Italian landscape Vlieghe p177. Some northern painters became his pupils & he initiated Italianate painting in the Low Countries Haak p144. It was Bril who introduced enveloping & poetic light, infinite vistas, & dawn & twilight effects Blunt1954 p196 . In his [as in] Landscape with Christ at Emmaus, 1617 (Louvre) he suggests the beauty of the Roman Campagna & its pastoral serenity anticipating Claude Langdon p25
Pupils: Probably Tassi Murrays1959
-BRIULOV/BRULOFF/BRULLOV/BRYULLOV, Karl, 1799-1852, Russia:
Background: He was born in St Petersburg & his father was an ornamental sculptor & academician 50Rus p88.
Training: He entered the Academy of Arts, St Petersburg, aged nine 50Rus p88
Influences: Raphael’s Vatican frescoes, Titian, Rembrandt & the Bolognese School for his genre. It has been suggested that the romantic intensity of Briulov’s Last Days of Pompeii reflected the revolutionary aspirations in Russia after the Napoleonic Wars & the consequent Decembrist uprising of 1825. It has also been argued that there was a reaction against the propagandistic art of the war years which led artists to focus on feelings & their communication, & a pan-European enthusiasm for romantic scenes of apocalyptic destruction 50Rus p88, Grove5 p68, Craske pp 104-5.
Career: With his brother, Alexander, he went to Rome in 1822 via Riga, Berlin, Dresden, Padua & Bologna, the trip being financed by the new Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. After a genre work was criticised as trivial, he subsequently only painted small watercolours & accepted a commission from Prince Anatole Demidov, an enthusiast for romantic painting & critic of Russian feudalism, with whom he visited Pompeii in 1828. The upshot was his gigantic romantic work The Last Days of Pompeii, 1833, which was greeted ecstatically by progressive circles in Russia. After an artistic expedition to Greece, Turkey & Asia Minor, he returned to Russia in 1835 & a professorship at the Academy 50Rus pp 88, 90-2.
Oeuvre: Genre, landscapes, history & religious paintings, & portraits of which he painted about 80 50Rus pp 88-92, Grove5 p69, Wikip.
Characteristics/Verdict: His genre works are full of the joy of living, the subtle colour & psychological depth of his portraits contrasts sharply with the icy colours of his late religious paintings, & the Last Days of Pompeii. This is notable for its intense colour, well-balanced groups, circular movement emphasised by dramatic lighting, figures engaged in noble self-sacrifice, absence of the customary great hero, & massed figures 50Rus pp 89-91, Grove5 p69.
Beliefs: When told by the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts the aim was to portray reality in its most elegant forms, he replied “the artist has the right to deviate from conventional beauty of forms & to seek variety in those simple natural forms which are often more pleasing to the eye than the austere beauty of statues” 50Rus p89. Briulov nevertheless changed tack & painted the great historical work expected of him but [it should be recognised that] the Last Days of Pompeii is too dramatic to comply fully with strict academic rules Grove5 p69.
Firsts: He painted the first Russian picture to create an international sensation Craske pp 104-5
Friends/Circle: Glinka, A. K. Tolstoy, the Turgenev brothers, Zinaida Volkonskaya, Yu. P. Samilov, Vasily Perovsky, Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Krylov 50Rus pp 90, 92
Pupil: Fedotov Norman1977
Follower: Bruni Norman1977
BROCKHURST, Gerald, 1890-1978, England:
Background: Born at Edgbaston, Birmingham E&L p66
Training: Birmingham School of Art from the age of 12; & from 1907 at the RA Schools E&L p66
Career: Around 1913 Brockhurst studied the Renaissance artists in Italy, in 1914 he married, & from 1915 to 1919 he lived in Ireland. Brockhust took up etching seriously in 1920. Between 1923 & 1939 he showed regularly at the RA, & in 1937 he became an RA. He began an affair with a young model at the RA Schools. They moved to New York in 1939, were married in 1947 & finally settled at Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. In America his portraits commanded enormous prices E&L p66
Speciality: Half-length portraits of women set in front of Italian landscapes & reminiscent of Leonardo & Bronzino E&L p66
Verdict: He was technically brilliant (Patrick Elliott) Times1/7/17
Friends: Augustus John E&L p66
BROEDERLAM, Melchoir, 1378-99, Belgium; International Gothic and Fantasy Movements
Background: He was born at Ypres Grove4 p841
Influences: Lorenzetti Grove4 p842
Career/Oeuvre: After an extended visit to Italy, he became an official painter to count Louis de Male in around 1380, & then his heir Philip the Bold, Duke of Normandy, & the latter’s widow. As well as performing artisan tasks he painted scenes in galleries & painted portraits Grove4 p841-2.
Characteristics/Innovation: His one known work, scenes from the Infancy of Christ, combines forceful Flemish realism with courtly Italian traits & is an early example of the International Gothic style. He employed brilliant oil-based & subtly modelled colours, his figures are solidly modelled, occupy coherent rooms, used genre objects as religious symbols L&L, Grove4 p842.
Pupil: Hue de Boulogne Grove4 p842
Legacy: The Master of Flemalle & Jan van Eyck followed in his footsteps Grove4 p842
..BRODSKY/BRODSKI, Isaak, 1884-1939, Russia:
Background: He was born at Sofievka Bown1991 p240
Training: He studied at the Odessa Art College,until 1902 and then at the Academy of Arts until 1908 Bown1991 p240
Career: Between 1909 & 1911 he was in Germany, France & Italy. During the mid-1920s he visited Repin to try to lure him back to Russia; & in the 1933 met Stalin, Voroshilov, Katsman & Alexandr Gerasimov to pave the way for Socialist Realism Bown1991 pp 57, 92-3. During 1923-8 he belonged to AKhRR. He was driven out by radicals; his scrupulous Realism being deemed retrograde. During 1932-39 he taught at the All-Russian Academy of Arts etc. As director from 1934 he reintroduced academic teaching methods. He was the first artist to be awarded the Order of Lenin Bown1991 pp 66-7, 93, 240
Characteristics: He had a fastidious academic technique producing a scrupulous imitation of reality. This was based on meticulous historical research. He used drawings from life & photos; & he loved anecdotal detail Bown1991 pp 47, 67, 188
Innovations: Within AKhRR he led the move to big thematic pictures (cantina) that anticipated Socialist Realism; & genre scenes with Lenin Bown1991 pp 46-7, 240
Feature: He drew Lenin from life Bown1991 p30
Pupils: Laktionov Bown1991 p188
**BRONZINO, Agnolo, 1503-72, Italy=Florence; Mannerism Movement
Background: He was born at Monticelli near Florence Grove4 p855
Teacher: Pontormo who virtually adopted him Murrays1959
Career: He worked with Pontormao, 1523-6, in the cloister at Certosa di Galluzo painting (damaged) lunettes; & then tondi, 1526-8 of St Luke & St Mark opposite a work by Pontormo. After painting in Peaaro during 1530-2 he returned to Florence; & in 1539 became court artist to to Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. However from 1555 Vasari was increasingly favoured . During 1540-5 painted the Capella di Eleonora, his major decorative scheme Grove4 pp 855-6. His 1569 Martyrdom of St. Lawrence was the last major sacred work to be painted in the High Mannerist style Hall1999 p238. Bronzino belonged to q small intellectual elite & many of his portraits are of poets, musicians & literary figures Grove4 p856
Oeuvre: Religious works, mythologies, portraits, tapestry design & poetry Grove 4 pp 855-7
Phases: During 1527-37 he distanced himself from Pontormo’s agitated emotionalism with a cooler, smoother, more opaque & disciplined style Hall1999 pxiii, 216, Grove4 p856. . Between 1539 & 51 he painted portraits for Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Pope-H pp 181-5. From about 1560 in his religious works he seems to reject maniera beauty & artificiality. They have a new descriptiveness which now involves the spectator. His last altarpiece (S. Maria Novella) displays a new Counter-Reformation sobriety, simplicity, piety & realistic colour Grove4 p859, Shearman p169
Characteristics: His religious works lack feeling with cold, polished & unreal colour in Allegory & Christ in Limbo OxDic Art, Shearman p101. In his portraits he concentrate on the depiction of inhuman aristocratic elegance & self-restraint of his sitters Murrays1959, Grove4 p856. The impenetrability of his sitters is often intensified by the disconcerting cast of the left eye which makes it impossible to discern whether they are looking at us or off to one side Hall1999 p216. Pontormo distorts the body to convey emotion Bronzino’s distortion is purely stylistic L&L. He delights in foreshortenings but simultaneously flattens his figures against the plane thus creating a tension between two dimensions & three, between restrictive flatness & poses that require flexibility. His smooth contours further remove his figures from the natural realm Hall1999 p224. The draftsmanship is superb OxDicArt. His linearity contrasts with Velazquez’s painterness Wolfflin1915 pp 45-7;
Appeal: For Cosimo de’ Medici it was the unrevealing dignity of his portraits Pope-H p183. However, even if it is dignified, not all his Medici work is flattering, viz the ailing & prematurely aged Elenora di Toledo (NG Art) Levey1971 p106
Status: High Mannerism Freedberg pp 292, 295
Status: He was one of the most important Mannerist portaitist & dominated Florentine painting from the 1530s to the 1560s Murrays 1959, Grove4 p855
Repute: After about 1580 with the reaction against maniiera his reputation decline & he was largely known as a portraitist only since 1945 has he been recognised as the best maidiera painter & not until 1979 did the rehabilitation of his later religious works begin Grove4 p 859-60
Pupil: Alexandra Allori L&L
Legacy: He influenced court portraiture for a century OxDicArt
–BROOKING, Charles, 1723-59, England:
Influences: William van de Velde the Younger L&L
Career: He is believed to have been apprenticed in the Deptford dockyards L&L
Oeuvre: Marine paintings but only a few survive L&L
Characteristics: His works were poetic & he was equally accomplished in representing rough or calm seas L&L
Collection: Maritime Museum, Greenwich
..BROOKS, James, 1906-92, USA:
Background: Born St Louis, Missouri OxDicMod
Training: At Dallas Art Institute, 1925-6, & the Art Students League, 1927-31 OxDicMod
Career: During the 1930s & early 40s he worked with the Federal Art Project. He served in the US Army, 1942-45 OxDicMod
Oeuvre: This included impressive murals OxDicMod
Phases: Social Realism under the Federal Art Project; Cubism after the War; & Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s OxDicMod
Friends: Jackson Pollock from 1946 OxDicMod
*BROUWER, Adrian, c1605-38, Netherlands; Northern Realism Movement
Background: He was probably born in the village of Oudenarde near the Dutch border with Flanders. Contemporary art theorists distinguished between brushwork that was neat & smooth, & broad & sketchy. The latter which was termed the rough manner was used by Hals & his circle in Haarlem & more importantly by Rubens & Van Dyck, although opinions differed about where the boundary line should be drawn Franits pp 34, 41, 266
Training: His father, & perhaps Fras Hals though he had little influence OxDicArt, Grove4 p870, Franits p35.
Influences: Bruegel the Elder L&L
Career: From about 1624 to 31 he was in the Netherlands, mostly in Haarlem where he was in contact with Frans Hals. He went back to Flanders L&L, Grove4 p870. During 1633 he was imprisoned in Antwerp & owed debts. In 1634 he joined the rhetoricians’ chamber. He is said to have died in poverty Grove4 pp 870-1.
Oeuvre: Low-life subjects & some late idyllic but realistic landscapes L&L. Nearly all his low-lifes depict dens with poor, stunted & bedraggled men sometimes drinking or singing but most often semi or completely stupefied by narcotic tobacco (“tobacco drunk”) Willenski pp 146-7
Technique: In his later paintings he applied paint in a broad & sketchy manner as in The Back Operation, c1635-6 Franits p41.
Specialities: Rowdy peasant tavern scenes. The coarseness of his lower-class figures in his early Tavern Interior, c1625-7, distinguishes his work from predecessors or his near contemporary, Vinckboons L&L, Frantis p35.
Phases: Initially, as in Tavern Interior, he used vivid local colours including reddish- pink tones, & a rigidly planar compositions. Later he adopted a subtler & more atmospheric treatment with predominant translucent greys & brown but focusing on a single colour: red or green, gold or blue L&L, Franits p35.
Personal: Apparently, he frequented port houses, paid with sketches, & was a bohemian who despised respectable society L&L, OxDicArt. However, the accounts of his life by Houbraken & others must be treated with caution because it was then believed that only an ill-bred painter could conceive of the coarse art that he painted, even though Houbraken greatly admired his painting. Significantly a portrait prints of Brouwer, based on an oil sketch by Van Dyke, depicts Brewer as a fashionable gentleman Franits pp 35-6.
Importance/Innovation: He linked the Dutch & Flemish Schools & popularised low-life genre in both countries. His representation of peasants in an interior is one of the earliest examples of such depiction as hitherto they were principally shown outdoors, & he was among the first to create amusing genre images of the working classes in taverns OxDicArt, Franits p35, Hodge2020 p129
Verdict: His landscapes were among the greatest of the age OxDicArt
Grouping: Baroque Pevsner1968 p38
Influenced: Steen; Van Ostade; Teniers the Younger; Rembrandt & Rubens avidly collected his work L&L, OxDicArt
**Ford Madox BROWN, 1821-93, England; Troubadour Movement
Background: Born at Calais, the son of a retired ship’s purser who had settled there Grove4 pp 876-7
Training: Albert Gregorius at Bruges, Pieter van Hanselclare at Ghent, & Wappers at the Antwerp Academy, 1837-9 Grove4 p877
Influences: To begin with Brown admired Delaccoix & Dealroche. During 1845-6 he was impressed by the Nazarenes in Rome with their clear colour & medieval subjects Grove4 p877, Murrays 1959. His historical works of the early 1850s were inspired by a passage in Chaucer Grove4 p877, Barringer p31.
Career: From 1840 Brown was in Paris painting romantic history subjects & portraits L&L. During 1846 he settled in England OxDicArt. In 1848 Brown moved into the Pre-Raphaelite circle L&L. The early 1850s began a period of extraordinary creative energy, although during 1852-4 he was living in living in lodgings in Hampstead miserable, very hard up & “a little mad”. This was when he designed his there finest paintings Work, The Last of England & an English Autumn Afternoon Barringer p67, Grove4 p878. In 1861 he was a founder member of Morris’ company & designed stained glass & furniture OxDicArt. During 1878-92 Brown executed the Manchester Town Hall murals & produced Impressionistic plein air landscapes for pleasure L&L. He had difficulty selling his works & depended on a small private income Grove4 p878.
Phases: His early work in the 1840s included narrative scenes from English history & literature Grove4 p877. During the early 1850s he painted English medieval scenes which have a Pre-Raphaelite clarity & colouring. Brown also turned to landscapes of an innovatory nature (see below) Barringer pp 31-2, 66-7. These continued throughout the decade. From around 1865 he returned to historic & literary works Grove4 p878
Characteristics: Throughout his primary concern was dramatic gesture & facial expression: features which received most criticism. Brown’s early work features strong chiaroscuro with dark tones created with bitumen. After his return from Rome he painted he produced paintings that were brightly coloured, clearly modelled & evenly lit. Later Brown used brilliant atmospheric colour with minute brushwork. His palette increasingly lightened & became more earthy. Brown’s style became more linear, decorative & sensuous Grove4 pp 877-9, Treuhertz1993 p78.
Aim: To depict light & shade as at a moment in time instead of in a generalised manner Barringer p32
Views: Brown associated with the Christian Socialists, & taught art at the Working Men’s College which was headed by F. D. Maurice. His wife Emma, a former model, was from the working class Barringer pp 68, 114, Grove4 p878’
Character: He was a prickly individualist OxDicArt
Reception: Brown was never successful due to being ignored by Ruskin ignoring him & his hostility to the RA from the late 1850s. Gambart did not publish his work as engravings L&L, Grove4 p878
Patrons: George Rae of Birkenhead & James Leathart Grove4 p879
Grouping: Under Pre-Raphaelite naturalistic influence he came close to realism L&L
Innovations: Landscapes which instead of the picturesque, sublime [and pastoral scenes] depict nondescript but beautiful scenes as viewed from north London Barringer pp 66-7. The one man show OxDicArt .
Pupils: Rossetti briefly in 1848 OxDicArt
..Fred/Frederick BROWN, 1851-1951, England:
Background: His father was a painter OxDicMod
Training:At the National Art Training School , which he hated OxDicMod
Career: Between about 1877 & 1892 Brown taught at the Westminster School of Art. During 1892-1917 he was a professor at the Slade. In 1893 Brown appointed Tonks & Steer. He aimed to develop individuality & was an outstanding teacher OxDicArt
Circle: The NEAC of which Brown was a founder member, 1886 OxDicMod. In 1889 he exhibited at the London Impressionists McConkey1989 p88
-Mather BROWN, 1761-1831, USA/England:
Background: Born in Boston & was descended from four generations of religious leaders Grove 4 p882
Training: Gilbert Stuart when he was 12, at Benjamin West’s studio in London & then at the RA Schools from 1782 Grove4 p882, Wikip.
Career: At 16 Brown made money as selling wine & painting min miniature portraits, which financed his training. He exhibited at the RA in 1883 but, after phenomenal success, obsessively painted large, unsaleable religious works. In 1809 Brown left London for Bath, Bristol & Lancashire but returned to London in 1824 & died in poverty Grove4 p882
Oeuvre: Portraits & religious paintings Grove4 p882
Characteristics: Brown’s work is confusable with that of Stuart but his drawing was superior, technique freer with longer sweeping brushstrokes & colouring higher Grove4 p882
Friend: John Trumbull Grove4 p882
..Sir John Arnesby BROWN, 1866-1955, England; Impressionism GB and Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: He was born in Nottingham Wikip
Training: At the Nottingham School of Art & at Herkomer’s Art School McConkey1989 p156
Career: He first exhibited at the RA in 1890 & became an Academician in 1915. He had enormous Edwardian prestige in the Edwardian period & the Chantry Bequest made purchases in 1901 & 1910. He ceased painting in 1942 due to blindness McConkey1989 p156, AC p103
Oeuvre: Impressionistic landscapes & pastoral scenes often with cattle & the big thundery skies of East Anglia cloudy skies McConkey1989 p156, AC p96, webimages
Grouping: British Impressionism McConkey1989 p156, AC p96
Wife: The artist Mia Edwards, 1870-1931 Wikip
– BRUCE, Patrick, 1880-1937, USA:
Background: Born Long Island, Virginia OxDicMod
Training: With Henri, 1902-3, under Matisse from 1907 OxDicMod, L&L
Career: In Paris, where he mainly lived, he worked closely with his friend Delauney from about 1912 to 1915. He exhibited at the Armoury Show, 1913, but remained almost unknown in America, became discouraged, destroyed most of his paintings, returned to the USA & committed suicide OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: In a series of Compositions, 1916-7 Bruce was fairly close to the Synchromism of Macdonald-Wright & Russell, with whom he collaborated. His Forms, 1917-36, were more geometric & closer to Purism. He was an outstanding colourist & in the 1920s turned to still-lifes OxDicMod, L&L
Phases/Characteristics: In a series of Compositions, 1916-7 Bruce was fairly close to the Synchromism of Macdonald-Wright & RussellJ, with whom he collaborated. His Forms, 1917-36, were more geometric & closer to Purism. He was an outstanding colourist & in the 1920s turned to still-lifes OxDicMod, L&L
..Ambrosius BRUGEL/BREUGHEL, 1617-75, son of Jan I, Flemish & brother in law of David Teniers, Belgium=Antwerp:
Background: Born in Antwerp Grove4 p917
Career: In 1645 he became a master, in 1653 dean of the painter’s guild, & in 1671 a town official Grove 4 p917
Oeuvre: Flower pieces & landscapes Grove4 pp 894, 917
*** Pieter BRUEGEL/BREUGHEL/BRUGEL, the Elder, father of Pieter the Younger & Jan, c1527-69, Belgium; Renaissance, Early Italian
Background: He was probably born in Breda in northern Brabant, which is now just inside the Netherlands GibsonWS p13. He did not come from the peasantry. Bruegel was probably well educated & perhaps belonged to a rederijker kamers. These chambers of rhetoric were centres of festive & literary life in Netherlandish cities L&L. These featured popular theatre, morality plays & holy day processions with didactic tableaux. Illustrated proverb books were popular SuttonP pxxvii
Training: Probably with Pieter Coecke van Aelst but possibly a landscape specialist in his workshop L&L
Influences: Bosch, possibly via the prints produced by Hieronymus Cock, the publisher for whom Bruegel worked Friedlander pp 136-7. Another source was early Netherlandish art & in his mature work the Italian Renaissance & Mannerist fantasy landscape (though naturalism was Brugel’s most important achievement) L&L, Clark1949 p56
Career: He had a spell in Malines after van Aelst’s death but then went briefly to Antwerp. Bruegel visited Rome, Sicily etc but in 1555 he was back in Antwerp. In 1563 he moved to Brussels L&L. He married van Aelst’s daughter Grossmann p8
Phases: During 1555-63 nearly 40 of his drawings were issued as prints by Cock. They were mostly moralizing allegories following Bosch. However in Seven Deadly Sins, c1559-60 he dropped Bosch’s demonic imagery & drew more on examples from daily life. Around 1560 he began painting notable pictures, though in about 1552 he had already painted View of the Bay of Naples. In about 1564 he began painting religious subjects L&L. In 1566 he painted his first rustic wedding dance & during the 1660s, both in his peasant scenes & elsewhere, he displayed increasing interest in expressive faces GibsonWS pp 159, 167. The paintings of 1568 all deal with man’s folly. In this they resemble his earlier moralizing scenes but they are no longer colourful panoramas. Only the bumpkin in The Peasant & Nest Robber is perhaps calculated to make the observer smile GibsonWS p192
Characteristics: He was able to portray moving figures; was richly inventive, with all his thousand figures in different attitudes; &, unlike older artists, did not begin with an upright & ideal figure which was then enriched by a displacement or foreshortening. He boldly seized movement & abandoned the traditional detailed Netherlandish drawing & captured the relationship between separate parts. In 15th century art human beings are the centre of interest & everything else is purely accessory but Brugel reversed the relationship Friedlander pp 140-1. His peasants are coarse & earthy GibsonWS p166. Their movements usually lack grace & even the young women are seldom comely GibsonWS pp 154, 159, Pl 112, 115, 124.
[An important feature of Bruegel’s later paintings is their emphasis on punishment & satanic power.] In Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559, a woman has tied up an agonised devil, & in Fall of the Rebel Angels, 1662, the forces of hell are being routed in this festive carnival GibsonWS Pl 38, 61, p99. The mood is very different in The Triumph of Death, which was probably later. Here Satan is in full command; & a gibbet & cartwheels on poles, where victims were left to die, are for the first time given prominence. Henceforth these, together with soldiers, are a recurrent feature GibsonWS Pl 87, 92, 99, 131, 144, Kunsthistoriches 42, 48, Frayn p259. [However, it would be wrong to give the impression that all of his paintings contain them.]
Circle: Abraham Ortelius, cartographer, scholar & personal friend, wrote a glowing epitaph praising his truth to nature when depicting figures, & implicitly defending Bruegel against classicist criticism Grossmann pp 24-5, Grove4 p896. At the time of the religious troubles, Ortelius strongly condemned the religious intolerance of all parties, though he, like Plantin, acted with considerable circumspection. Ortelius & Plantin, who was connected to Cock, were members of the Family of Love: a discrete heretical sect who believed that Christians could achieve a personal communion with Christ without unnecessary dogma & ceremony. Bruegel may well have belonged to the Family but there is no documentary evidence GibsonWS pp 120-1, 177-8.
Patrons: Antwerp’s leading intellectuals & rich bankers; then the court in Brussels L&L. One patron, both before & after Bruegel’s move to Brussels, was Nicholaes Jonghelinck, a wealthy Antwerp merchant who owned 16 pictures. Another was Hans Franckert, who was a merchant in Amsterdam Grossmann p19; Wkip
Contrasting Opinions: Some consider that Brugel was a townsman who laughed at, & not with, the antics of peasants, & see his peasant pictures are allegories of human folly. It is true that some of his contemporaries -Baltens, Van der Borcht, etc- show bad behaviour at peasant festivities & that moralists made repeated complaints L&L, GibsonWS p168. However, it is highly questionable whether Bruegel is being censorious in his festive scenes. His peasants behave with greater dignity than those in the works of der Borcht. Moreover the size of Bruegel’s works & their careful detailing suggests that his peasants were painted for their own sakes, with humour but also with sympathy GibsonWS pp167, 172.
Innovations: Realistic genre peasant scenes that were painted for sophisticated town-dwellers OxCompArt p466. He was, according to Max Friedlander, the first genre painter to successfully eliminate solemn gravity –a lingering echo of religious devotion- from heads & gestures, & to observe daily life with honesty & humour but without mockery. His landscapes expresses the mood of every season, not just the idyllic spirtit of mid-summer like Patenir & his followers Friedlander p142
Verdict: Bruegel was the greatest 16th century Flemish genre painter SuttonP pxxvii. He was also the only master of naturalistic landscape between Bellini & the 17th century Clark1949 p56
Imitators/Followers: the Mostaert brothers; Pieter Balten; Van Cleef & Vinckboons L&L, SuttonP p xxix
Influence: He had a profound effect on succeeding Dutch & Flemish artists, especially on landscape (Jacob & Abel Grimmer, the Valckenborch brothers, the van Cleef brothers, Gillis Mostaert). Bruegel also influenced rustic genre far into the 16th century (Brouwer & Slavery); & on Rubens who best appreciated the monumentality of his later works. His winter scenes inaugurated a vogue for snowy landscapes GibsonWS pp 201, 204, L&L. [Bruegel had no counterpart elsewhere in Europe & there was no development of genre to correspond with that of the Low Countries. This, however, provokes the question of why he had no followers elsewhere or why, as in Italy, they made so little progress. The answer must be sought in the way in which painting developed in Italy & other countries.]
Repute: He was popular during the late 16th century & in the 17th century, with ardent collecting, particularly by Archduke Ernst, who was the Governor of the Netherlands, 1593-95. His pictures passed to his brother Emperor Rudolph II, & there were further Hapsburg additions. Subsequently Bruegel was largely ignored by academic critics (de Piles) or regarded as an imaginative but technically incompetent primitive (Reynolds). He was generally seen as coarse & vulgar, though his innovatory role in depicting peasant life was recognised. The recognition of his stature & originality began with Henri Hymans’ critical study of 1890-1. In 1910 Gustav Gluck concluded that Bruegel was a townsman & first challenged Van Mander’s 1604 depiction of him as a peasant painter. In 1931 A. E. Popham revealed his connection with Ortelius Grossmann pp 14, 24-35. The early demand for his works was met by numerous early copies & adaptations GibsonWS p200
Collections: The Kunsthistorisches with twelve out of about 40 paintings Grove4 p897
Jan BRUGHEL/BRUGEL, the elder (Velvet Brughel), 1568-1625, younger son of Pieter the elder, & father of Jan II; father-in-law (via daughters Anna/Paschasia) of David Teniers Younger/Hieronymous van Kessel, Belgium:
Training: ?Marie Verhulst = maternal grandma (his delicate miniaturist style) L&L
Career: c1589 to Italy; 1593-5 in Rome L&L; 1597 settled Antwerp OxDicArt
Speciality: cabinet pictures; later on flower pictures (sometimes with precious jewels/manufacture items); textures (hence nickname) L&L
Phases: early work father derivative but in delicate miniaturist technique L&L
Characteristics: meticulous technique; subtle interplay between naturalistic details & artifice (mythological figures); lush/brilliantly coloured landscape vistas of woodlands/open glades L&L, OxDicArt; peasant paintings more anecdotal than father’s Durrant Times4//2/17
Patrons: Cardinal Borromeo of Milan (met in Rome) L&L; Archduke Albert/wife (frequently court visits) OxDicArt
Innovations: more or less invented flower painting in form of fantasy combinations of exotic flowers when each came into bloom Durrant Times4/2/17
Feature: often collaborated with other artists including Rubens (close friend) L&L, OxDicArt; 40% of paintings collaborative DurrantTimes4/2/2007
Pupil: Seghers OxDicArt
Repute: work immensely prized by many artistic collectors; now underestimated due to Jan Brughel II’s imitations L&L
Jan II BRUGHEL/BRUGEL the Younger, 1601-78, son of Jan I, son-in-law of Abraham Jansen & brother-in-law of David Teniers younger, Belgium=Antwerp:
Background: Born in Antwerp Grove4 p915
Career: Brughel/Brugel went to Milan to meet his father’s patron Cardinal Federico Borromeo & in 1624 to Palermo with his childhood friend Van Dyck. In 1625 he returned, took over his dead father’s studio & completed half-finished works, & joined the Guild of St Luke. He married Abraham Jansen’s daughter in 1626. Brughel/Brugel became the dean of the Antwerp guild in 1630-1. Subsequently he produced small pieces in his father’s manner which no longer produced high priced. He worked in Paris in the 1650s & in 1651 worked for the Austrian court Grove4 p915.
Oeuvre: Landscapes of varying types; religious, allegorical & mythological paintings; still-lifes Grove4 p916.
Phases: After 1630 Brughel/Brugel produced small pieces in his father’s manner which no longer produced high priced. He worked in Paris in the 1650s & in 1651 worked for the Austrian court Grove14 p915.
Characteristics: Distinguishing his work from his father’s late paintings is difficult Grove4 p916.
Collaboration: This involved Rubens, Janssen, Lucas Van Leyden, David Teniers the younger, etc Grove4 p916
Studio: It was large but declined from about 1630 Grove14 p915
Pieter BRUGHEL/BRUGEL, the Younger (Hell Brughel), son of Pieter the Elder, 1564-1638, Belgium:
Background: Born in Brussels Grove4 p910.
Career: He became a master in 1584-5. His works were cheap because they were imitations Grove4 p910
Oeuvre/Characteristics: The bulk of his huge output consists of copies & variations of his father’s work, many works being produced in bulk. There are at least 60 copies of Winter with Skaters & a Bird-trap Grove4 pp 910-11. His work is often of high quality but he flattened his father’s dynamic contours OxDicArt GibsonWS p202. Brughel/Brugel produced some original compositions in his father’s style which are energetic, bold & bright but often rather loud Grove4 pp 910, 912.
Studio: It was large Grove4 p910
Repute: Brughel/Brugel was neglected during the 18th & 19th centuries & it was not until 1934 did he begin to be recognised Grove4 p910
Pieter III BRUGHEL/BRUGEL, son of Pieter the Younger, 1589-c1638, Belgium:
Verdict: He was an inferior copyist OxDicArt
Speciality: Fire scenes OxDicArt
Pupil: Snyders OxDicArt
..BRULL-I-VINYOLES, Juan, 1863-1912, Spain:
Background: He was born in Barcelona Wikip
Training: At the Ecole de la Llotja & in Paris Wikip
Career: His was art critic for the magazine Joventut & belonged to the intellectual groups El Quatre Gats & Real Circulo Artistic de Barcelona Wikip
Oeuvre: Portraits mostly of children & beggars in Barcelona Wikip
Phases: Initially realism & then Symbolism Wikip
Friends: Ramon Cales & Santiago Rusinol Wikip
..BRUNI, Feodor, 1800-1875, Russia:
Background: born Moscow. His father was an Italian artist Norman1977
Training: St Petersburg Academy Norman1977
Influences: Brullov’s follower; the Nazarenes Norman1977
Career: 1818 to Rome, he returned to Russia & won membership of the Academy with his Death of Camilla. In 1838 he went back to Rome & prepared The Bronze Serpent which brought him many commissions for church decoration. Bruni was the director of the Hermitage ,1849-54; & then director of painting & sculpture at the Academy Norman1977
Oeuvre: History & religious painter
..Agostino BRUNIAS, 1730-96, Italy/England/West Indies:
Background: He was born in Rome around 1730 Wikip
Training: Academia de San Luca Wikip
Career: During his Grand Tour in Rome Robert Adam employed Bunias as a draughtsman & painter in his workshop, 1754-6. He accompanied Adam to Britain in 1758 & in 1754 went to the West Indies in the employment of Sir William Young, who was disposing of lands captured from the French. Bunias accompanied Young on his travels, settled in Dominica where Young had become Governor & remained his personal painter until 1773. He went back to London around 1775 & exhibited three West Indian paintings at the RA. In 1784 he returned to Dominica having been prevented from doing so earlier due to its capture by the French Wikip, Poupeye p32
Personal: Church records indicate that the mother of his children was a free mulatto woman Wikip
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Paintings & murals for English stately homes & oils & watercolours in the West Indies. These included paintings of white families & landscapes but most are picturesque genre works of free coloureds, black slaves & St Vincent Carib. Notable features are the elegant clothing & in particular the spotless dresses of the women, & the highly diverse social structure of West Indian society in which, for instance, Carib women are bare chested in public & men have numerous wives Wikip, Poupeye p33
Legacy: His sensualist portrayal of coloured women can be seen as an anticipation of orientalism Poupeye p32,
-BRUSASORCI/RICCIO, Domenico, c1516-67, Italy:
Background: He was born at Verona, the son of the painter Agostino Riccio Grove5 p31
Influences: Giulio Romano, Parmigianino, Moretto & finally Veronese Grove5 p31, L&L
Career: He mostly worked in Verona, the surrounding area & in Vicenza Grove5 p31
Oeuvre: Frescoes, altarpieces, landscape views, & portraits Grove5 p31
Characteristics: The precarious pose of in his St Margaret is elegant Mannerism, & his figures were sharply foreshortened Grove5 p31
Innovations: With Battista del Moro he belonged to the avant-garde of Veronese painters prior to Paolo Veronese whom he anticipated by framing his landscape views in illusionistic architecture Grove5 p31, L&L
-Arnt/Arnold BRUYN, Arnt, 1520s-1577, Bartel the Elder’s son & Bartel the Younger’s brother, Germany=Cologne:
Career: He worked in the family shop & was active in civic affairs Grove5 pp 59, 61
Oeuvre: Portraits & altarpieces Grove5 p59
-Bartel/Bartholomaus BRUYN, the Elder, 1493-1555, father of the Younger & Arnt, Germany=Colonge:
Training: Perhaps by Joest of Kalkar who was a relative L&L
Influences: Joest & Joos van Cleve & from about 1530 Jan van Sorel, Heemskerck, Raphael & Michelangelo L&L
Career: He belonged to Cologne’s upper middle class & was active in civic affairs. In 1649 & 1553 was elected to the city council Grove5 p60
Oeuvre: Portraits, which are his best works, & religious works L&L
Phases: Initially his figures are active, often in exaggerated poses. He sometimes used Joest’s method of a light source low in the picture eerily highlighting the figures, & following Joos van Cleve he painted fanciful processions, splendid garments & buildings with classicised ornaments. Then he emulated the classic & heroic style of the Italian Renaissance. His waist-length portraits -mostly of patrician Colognites- are lively, direct & do not flatter but display understanding & respect. Hands are prominent, often gesturing or holding an object Grove5 p60.
First painter in Cologne to introduce Italianate-Flemish forms L&L
Status: He was Cologne’s leading portrait painter in the 16th century Grove5 p59.
Legacy: He founded an important school of portraiture L&L
-Arnt/Arnold BRUYN, Arnt, 1520s-1577, Bartel the Elder’s son & Bartel the Younger’s brother, Germany=Cologne:
Career: He worked in the family shop, collaborated with his father brother, & was active in civic affairs but was less successful than his brother Grove5 pp 59, 61
Oeuvre: Portraits & altarpieces Grove5 p59
-Bartholomaus BRUYN, the younger c1530-1607, Arnt’s brother, Germany=Colonge:
Background: Cologne Grove5 p61
Training: His father’s workshop Grove5 p61
Career: In 1555 he inherited his father’ shop & clientele. He was elected to the city council in 1567, 1580 & 1607. About 1590 he stopped painting due to failing eyesight Grove5 p61
Oeuvre: Portraits & religious scenes L&L
Characteristics: His portraits are somewhat simpler than his father’s & have pleasing design, precise detailing & enamel-like surfaces Grove5 p61
Innovations: He ended Lochner’s Gothic tradition in Cologne, introducing Italianate-Flemish Renaissance forms, & founded an important school of portraiture L&L
Bryullov. See Briulov
..BUBNOV, Alexander, 1908-1964, Russia:
Background: born Tbilisi Bown1991 p240
Training: -1930 Higher-Artistic Technical Institute, Moscow Bown1991 p240
Career: He was during 1928-32 a member of the AKhRR following youth wing & belonged to the USSR Academy of Arts. In 1948 he received a Stalin Prize for Morning on the Kulikov Field Bown1991 p240
Oeuvre: This includes book illustration & wartime posters Bown1991 p240
..BUCHSER, Frank, 1828-90, Switzerland:
Background: He was born in Feldbrunnen and studied theology before he took up painting Norman77
Training: He studied at the Antwerp Academy, 1850-51 Norman77
Career: He played a central role in the organisation of artistic life in Switzerland Norman1977
Oeuvre: He was a much-travelled landscape, genre and portrait painter Norman77.
Characteristics: He belonged to the Realist-oriented generation and took delight in the effects of light Norman77
Repute: His sketches are now more highly regarded than the smoother, more anecdotal exhibition pictures Norman77
BUCK, William Henry, 1840-88, USA (Norway)
Background: Easel-sized landscapes became popular in Louisiana during the post-Civil War period See Richard Lewis at 64 Parishes on web
Training: Ernest Ciceri in Boston, a talented landscapist, & Richard Claque during the late 1870s & early 1880s, becoming his closest follower & going on his plein air sketching expeditions See Richard Lewis at 64 Parishes on web :
Career: He emigrated from Norway around 1865, lived in Boston & arrived in New Orleans around 1870. Here he worked as a clerk to a cotton factor for some years to make a living, & later restored paintings. By 1880 he has opened a studio at 26 Carondelet Street See Richard Lewis at 64 Parishes on web
Oeuvre: Naturalistic, calm & serene views of lakeshores & bayous, often featuring moody light effects & suggestive atmosphere. His moss-covered oak trees appear almost human See Richard Lewis at 64 Parishes on web, web images
Phases/Characteristics: His work became increasingly dark, atmospheric & moody See Richard Lewis at 64 Parishes on web
Grouping: [The Bayou School]
Repute: From the 1920s commentators were criticised his work but by the 19080s his reputation had begun to improve See Richard Lewis at 64 Parishes on web
..BUCKNER, Richard, 1812-83:
Career: During 1820-40 he lived in Rome where he was friendly with Leighton . After his return he was a highly fashionable portraitist Wood1999 pp 277-8, WoodDic
Speciality: Portraits of pretty females Wood1999 p278
Verdict: Talented Wood1999 p277
*BUFFET, Bernard, 1928-99, France:
Background: He was born in Paris OxDicMod
Training: At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, 1944-5 OxDicMod
Influences:Francis Gruber OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Townscpes, historical & religious subjects, still-lifes, etchings & lithographs OxDicMod, L&L
Career: He gained early success which was enormous in the 1950s. He killed himself when unable to paint because of Parkinson’s disease OxDicMod
Characteristics/Phases: Elongated, spikey & darkly outlined forms in sombre colours evoking loneliness & despair in a magazine illustration manner Later his work became mor styalised & decorative OxDicMod, L&L
Status: His work seemed to express pos-war alienation & solitude OxDicMod
..BUNKER, Dennis, 1861-90, USA:
Background: He was born in New York NGArtinP p230
Training: National Academy of Design & Arts’ Students League & during 1882 in Paris under Gerome & Hebert with summer in countryside NGArtinP p230
Career: He spent his summers painting in the French countryside. In 1885 he returned USA; had a teaching position Boston; 1888 worked with close friend sergeant in English countryside in 1888; & returned to New York in 1889. During the summers of 1889 & 90 he painted at Medfield in Massachusetts NGArtinP p230
Characteristics: Bold brushwork & brilliant colours for his New England landscapes. These are often in evening light but with a darker palette & careful draftsmanship for his portraits. Like Sargent his landscapes are usually composed along a diagonal, creating a sense of depth despite a clos-up composition NGArtinP p230, Gerdts1980 p41
Innovations: He was one of first Americans to master Impressionism NGArtinP p230
Buonaccorsi. See del Varga
Buonconsiglio. See Il Marescalco
-BURCHFIELD, Charles, 1893-1967, USA:
Background: Born at Ashtabula Harbour , Ohio OxDicMod
Training: At the Cleveland School of Art, 1912-16 OxDicMod
Career: In 1921 he settled in Buffalo, where he was head designer in a wallpaper factory but from 1929 worked full time on art OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings mainly in watercolour OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: Until about 1918 he painted scenes of nature that have an obsessive macabre quality often based on childhood fantasies. During the inter-war period he he portrayed bleak small town life & the grandeur & power of nature. In the early 1940s he gave up realism & returned to subjectivism in a highly personal interpretation of the beauty & the mystery of nature. His last paintings are filled with butterflies & dragonflies from another world etc OxDicMod
Status: During the inter-war period he was a leading American Scene painter OxDicMod
Collections: The Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo OxDicMod
*BURGKMAND, Hans the elder, 1473-1531, married Hans Holbein the elder’s sister, Germany=Augsberg:
Background: His father Thoman (c1445-1525) was a painter L&L, Grove5 p197
Training: Martin Schonauer during 1488-9 Grove5 p198
Career: He probable made an Italian trip, in 1498 became a master in Augsburg, around 1600 he received his first known large commission from the Church & his reputation blossomed. He travelled to Italy visiting Venice in 1507. Between 1508 & 1519 much of his time was to devoted to woodcuts. His best religious works were the altarpieces of St John, 1518, & the Crucifixion, 1519 Grove8 p198-9.
Phases/Characteristics: During the early 1500s bright late, Gothic colour is increasingly replaced by that of Venice & by sfumato but the figures are still far removed from the ideal types of Giovanni Bellini & Raphael. In his great altarpieces of 1518-9 he produced solemn & statuesque figures & his previous curiousness was replaced by unity, & in that of St John the scene with its red robed saints is beautifully set in a detailed green landscape. In his early portraits concentrated on the depiction of character even if the result was unflattering. From about 1520 the quality of his work declined Grove5 pp 199-200, O&V pp 111-2
Oeuvre: Portraits, altarpieces, smallish devotional pictures, a late battle scene, & the design of numerous woodcuts, mostly book illustrations L&L, Wikip, Grove5 p200.
Innovation: During 1508-12 he made pioneering chiaroscuro woodcuts in gold, silver & colour by using different blocks for the colours Grove5 p199
Status: Together with Durer, Cranach the Elder, Altdorfer & Grunewald, he belongs in the first rank of German artists in the early 16th century Grove5 p198
Follower: Christoph Amberger was the only one of significance in Augsburg Grove5 p198.
Circle/Legacy: With his links to the circle of artists & humanists around Maximilian I & his leading position in Augsburg he played a crucial part in the blossoming of German art around 1500 Grove5 p198
Progeny: His son Hans the Younger, c1500-59, took over the family workshop in 1531. His only known paintings are some miniature works mostly after those of his father Grove5 p197
..BURGKMAND, Hans the Younger, c1500-59, Germany:
Oeuvre: paintings, engravings OxDicArt
..BURKEL, Heinrich, 1802-69, Germany=Munich:
Background: He was born in Pirmasens, Rhenish Bavaria, the son of an innkeeper Wikip
Training: He studied with W Kobell and taught himself by copying Dutch paintings in Munich galleries & among friends there & in The Netherlands Norman77,Wikip
Career: When he was eleven had trouble with the police for a caricature of Napoleon, & went to Rome, 1823-32 Wikip
Oeuvre: Military scenes, cattle & landscapes, especially in winter Wikip
Characteristics: He painted contemporary life without anecdote, his technique echoing his studies of Dutch 17th Century masters, & made many sketching tours in the Bavarian mountains. His landscapes were of a pleasing nature, enlivened by figures & cattle as in Belgiano Valeriano (Royal Collection Trust, c1850 Norman77, webimages, Novotny p141
Reception: After returning from Rome his work became popular for its humour & imagination as in his striking Campagna Landscape, 1834 (Lenbachaus & Kunstbau, Munich) Wikip
*BURLIUK, David, 1882-1967, Vladimir’s brother, Russia; Impressionism Tzarist Movement
Background: He was born in Kotelva in the Ukraine into a middle-class family partly descended from Ukrainian Cossacks. His father was an estate manager Wikip, Brigstocke, L&L
Training: At the Kazan & Odessa Art schools & in Munich & Paris L&L
Influences: Post-Impressionist including Cezanne, Cubism, German Expressionism, Abstraction but it was ancient frescoes in Russian churches, icons & Russian folk art that he saw as the real source of his work Brigstocke, Dube p97
Career: He & his brother initiated a primitivist movement on the estate his father managed. In 1909 he helped found the Knave of Diamonds; went to Munich, became friendly with Kandinsky; exhibited at the first Blaue Reiter exhibition, Munich & contributed to its almanac, 1911-12; went on to France & Italy; & toured Russia cities with Mayakovski promoting Futurism, 1913-14. In 1920 he went to China & Japan, & in 1922 settled in New York where he opened a gallery & edited the journal Colour Rhyme L&L, OxDicMod, Dube p101, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Landscapes, portraits & Abstracts webimages
Characteristics: Fervent iconoclasm featuring bold experimentation. His early work was like that of Goncharova & Larionov. Works are boldly & confidently painted often in striking colour although his works rand from hunky abstracts in dark colours to brightly painted works of a representational type Brigstocke, OxDicMod, webimages, Gray p112.
Status: Along with his brother he was highly influential in the Russian avant-garde’s development Brigstocke
Grouping/Feature: It was a regular sight to see the Burliuks, Gocharova, Larionov, Mayakovski walking in central Moscow with flowers & algebraic signs painted on their cheeks; & during the Futurist tour David had the sign I – Burliuk on his forehead Gray p115
Siblings: Nikolai, 1890-1920, Lyudmila & Nadezhda were also painters OxDicMod
-BURLIUK/BURLJUK, Vladimir, 1886-1916, David’s brother, Russia; Impressionism Tzarist Movement
Background: He was born in Kotelva in the Ukraine into a middle class family partly descended from Ukrainian Cossaks. His father was an estate manager Wikip, Brigstocke, L&L
Training: Azbe School, Munich, 1903; & Kyiv Art School, 1905-10 Wikip
Influences: Post-Impressism including Cezanne, Cubism, German Expressionism, Abstraction but it was ancient frescoes in Russian churches, icons & Russian folk art that he saw as the real source of his work Brigstocke, Dube p97
Career: He fought in the Russo-Japanese war; lived in Moscow, 1907-8; returned to Kiev & helped organise an avant-garde exhibition, 1908; lived in St Petersburg, 1910-11; lived in Moscow, 1910-11; joined the Jack of Diamonds & Soyuz Molodyozhi/Union of Youth, 1910; joined the Odessa art school, 1911; exhibited at the first Blaue Reiter exhibition, Munich 1911-12; illustrated futuristic & other publications; was drafted into the Imperial army,1916, & killed in action Wikip, OxDicMod, Dube p101
Characteristics: Fervent iconoclasm featuring bold experimentation. His paintings are highly varied ranging from semi-geometric forceful works in bold colour to carefully painted, peaceful, pointillist depiction Brigstocke, webimages
Verdict: Kandinsky considered him more talented than David but opinions differ OxDicMod, L&L
Status: Along with his brother he was highly influential in the Russian avant-garde’s development Brigstocke
Circle: Aleksandra Ekster, Mikhial Larionov, Malevich, Nathan Altman, Wladimir Tatlin Wikip
*BURNE-JONES, Sir Edward, 1833-98, England; Aestheticism Movement
Background: He was born in Birmingham. His father was a frame-maker, carver & gilder, & though he worked hard the business did not flourish & the family was impecunious. The mother died immediately after his birth leaving Burne-Jones with a persistent sense of guilt. His father was remote & nervy & Burne-Jones, though resilient, grew up introspective & with a depressive tendency MacCarthy pp 3-5, 11.
Training: Evening classes, when at school, at the government School of Design in Birmingham, 1844-52. Rossetti gave him informal tuition, & he attended some evening life classes, but otherwise he was self-taught Grove5 pp 265-6, Corbett2004 p76.
Influences: The great Italian Renaissance painters including Michelangelo, Signorelli & Botticelli MacCarthy p235
Career: He was educated at King Edward VII school, 1844-52. By the time he left he had under the influence of Newman decided to enter the church. Between 1853 & 1856 he was at Exeter College Oxford where he met William Morris but left in order to pursue a career in art & did not graduate. In 1856 he moved to London & became engaged to Georgiana Macdonald whom he married in 1860. During 1857 he made stained-glass designs for James Powell & Sons, embarked on oil painting & decorated the Oxford Union with Rossetti etc. After teaching at the Working Men’s College & visiting Italy in 1859, he helped found Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co, soon becoming their chief designer. In 1870 he resigned from the Old Watercolour Society, which he had joined in 1864, after a work was severely criticised. He stopped exhibiting until he showed 19 works at Grosvenor Gallery, 1877-8. During 1888 he gave evidence against Whistler at the famous trial. In 1885 he had become an ARA but only exhibited one work & resigned in 1893 Corbett2004 p76, Wikipedia, Grove5 pp 265-6. He had hitherto lived in London but in 1880 he bought a house at Rottingdean in East Sussex where he spent more & more time. Georgiana commented that he seemed increasingly inward turned, & he avoided public life. In 1891 he became a became a member of the Art Workers Guild & in 1894 a baronet Corbett2004 p60, Wikip
Oeuvre: Oils & watercolours of subjects from medieval & classical mythology, murals, book illustrations, the design of stained glass, tapestry, etc; & the design of sets & costumes Grove5 pp266-7,Wikip
Aim: This from his Oxford days was to pass through sordid reality into the spiritual realities that lay behind & to convey them. He & Morris read Carlyle & Ruskin, & they gave Burne-Jones the vision of the artist or writer as a heroic & priestly figure who could explain & interpret the puzzling experience of the modern world of industrialism & capital Corbett2004 pp14,15
Beliefs: “I have no politics, & no party, & no particular hope: only this is true, that beauty is very beautiful, & softens, & comforts, & inspires, & rouses, & lifts up, & never fails” MacCarthy p2. He thought that a picture should be “a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be – in a light better than any light that ever shone – in a land no one can define or remember, only desire” Times 6/10/18 (Campbell-Johnson)
Technique, etc: He was not inspired by Nature itself. Graham Robertson, who knew him well, reported that he did not express pleasure at natural effect effects except when they reminded him of a picture or a story. His work was derivative & dependent either on Italian Renaissance painting or the designs that he had developed for his decorative work. Hence his fondness for restricted spatial recession & for pattern & surface texture. Although he was a fine colourist, he did not see with a painter’s eye but with that of a jeweller who was seeking to construct a beautiful pattern Robertson p82, Grove5 pp 226-7, 269. From the mid-1860s he made extensive use of assistants of whom the most important were John Strudwick in the 1870s & Thomas Rooke who stayed with him until the end Grove5 p269.
Phases: After press criticism, advice from Watts that he must improve his drawing, & competition from academically trained painters, he became a much better draughtsman. He studied from the nude & the Antique during the late 1860s, though his work lost some of its early intensity Grove5 p266. Until the early 1870s he worked almost entirely in watercolour but then began painting in oils. During the 1880s & 90s he painted works with a self-contained dreamlike & hypnotic atmosphere, in which materialistic values are rejected, as in King Cophetua & the Beggar Maid, 1884 (The Tate) Treuherz1993 p150, Wikip.
| The Zambaco Affair: In 1867 Burne-Jones began an affair with Maria Zambaco a young woman who had been sitting for a painting. She belonged to a clan of Greek merchant & banking families who had settled in London. Maria was married but separated, she was very beautiful, uninhibited & had the attraction of being a woman in distress. Burne-Jones was at the time in a highly overwrought state & perhaps most significant he & his wife were no longer having sex. This was to avoid further children but even at the time it was thought to be a mistake by George Howard’s wife, who was Georgiana’s friend & confidant Pl Ash 7, MacCarthy pp 202-5, Flanders pp 119-23. When the love affair came to light in 1868 there was a protracted crisis. At one stage Maria, who was with Burne-Jones, attempted to drown herself in the Regent’s Canal. Although he tried to go abroad with her & reached Dover he was forced to return home. For two or three days he was desperately ill & then laid low for many weeks. The affair, together with acute marital difficulties, continued until 1870, & in the following year Burne-Jones who was depressed & far from well made a trip to Italy. He returned surging with energy MacCarthy pp 211-5, 224, 237 Flanders p121, Corbett2004 p76. Why are these seemingly miserable details worth recounting? The answer is Because they help to explain his subject matter & why his art began to flourish. In 1869 William Morris was greatly impressed by a female figure in one of his paintings & in 1870 he completed a [striking & haunting] portrait of Maria MacCarthy p20, Ash Pl 7.
Henceforth his work ceases to be largely decorative & features striking & obvious depictions of the unhappy relationship between the sexes Ash Pl 4, 5 etc. His marital difficulties also illustrate the difficulty which couples faced before contraception was readily available See Aesthetic Movement in Section 9]. |
Characteristics: His figures are generally expressionless, staring vacantly, & some even appear brain-dead. There is generally little sign of personal interaction or emotional response, & when they are present, they often reveal alienation &/or female mastery & power as in the Beguiling of Merlin, 1874 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight), Tree of Forgiveness,1881-82 (Lady Lever) & [not as in] Depths of the Sea which features a mermaid & the man she has captured Ash1991 Pls 10, 22, 26, etc. The latter appears to contain the only well-known example of a smiling face & here it is an evil one. [The Femme Fatale was a recurrent feature in his paintings after his affair with Maria Zambaco of 1876-70 Corbett2004 p76. Sadness is another characteristic of his work which often depict unrequited longing.] His work was inventive & he experimented with figures in paintings with long horizontal or vertical formats. Sometimes the figures occupy almost all of the available space &/or the perspective is exaggeratedly deep with little figures in the background. In some vertical paintings space is unnaturally compressed & the figures seem to be weightless. Many of figures are androgynous Lucie-S1972 pp 127-8. He was a fine colourist especially in his earlier & later works where he made great play with shot colours Grove5 p269
Verdict: According to Henry James his work was an “art of culture, of reflection, of intellectual luxury, of aesthetic refinement”; of not viewing the world directly but as reflected in art itself & by literature etc Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Only towards the end of his life was there a relaxation in his conviction that art should have a social purpose Corbett2004 p60. David Corbett sees his work as a means of understanding the world & promoting values that the frantic world of action rarely has time to recognise Corbett2004 p75.
Friends: George Howard, Leighton, Swinburne, Simeon Solomon, etc, etc
Wife: Georgiana was a promising artist & wood engraver Wikipedia, web
Son: Sir Philip Burne-Jones, 1861-1926, was an artist who painted portraits, landscapes & poetic fantasies, He exhibited at the RA, his most famous work was The Vampire, & he declared that the best that could be said of negroes was that they made tolerably good servants, though he recognised that their position in America was difficult.
Relations: One of Georgiana’s sisters married Sir Edward Poynter & was the mother of the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin; & another sister was the mother of Rudyard Kipling Wikip
Grouping: The later Pre-Raphaelites, the Aesthetic Movement & Symbolism Grove5 p265, Lucie-S1972 pp 44,46, 127-31.
Patrons: William Graham & Frederick Leyland from1865 etc Corbett2004 p76.
Reception: In 1895, after his phenomenal success at the New Gallery retrospective, his works did not sell well Corbett2004 pp 71-2
Repute: During the modernist era his reputation slumped. When the Tate held a centenary exhibition in 1933 the critical reaction was largely contemptuous & condescending. His final rehabilitation did not come until 1999 when his work was in exhibited in turn at Birmingham, the Met & the d’Orsay Corbett2004 pp 74-5
**BURRA, Edward 1905-76, England:
Background: He was born in London, the son of a barrister who was a descendent of three generations of successful bankers Grove5 p277, Martin pp 14, 19
Feature: From childhood he had chronic ill health due to arthritis & a blood condition sapped his emery but as his frequent travel shows he had a zest for life Martin pp 14,19, OxDicArt
Training: Chelsea Polytechnic, 1921-3; Royal College of Art, under Randolph Schwabe & Raymond Coxon, 1923-5 Martin p14
Influences: Paolo Uccello, Signorelli, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Goya, Tiepolo, Otto Dix, Georg Grosz, Neue Sachlichkeit, Fernand Leger, Gino Severini, Georgio de Cherico, William Roberts, & Cocteau who was crucial in turning Burra to his elusive & decadent art of the late 1920s. He was in revolt against his middle class background. In 1934 he had his shoulder tattooed with a Chinese mask & dagger using money his mother had given for another purpose. Such tattoos were associated with the criminal underworld or sailors Martin pp 14, 47, 51, 79, OxDicArt
Career: He lived with his parents until his mother died in 1968; made trips to Italy, Paris, the south of France & Spain & Mexico between 1925 & 1939. He painted scenes in Haarlem, 1933-5, & in
Boston York, 1937. In 1934 he exhibited with the modern movement Unit One; in 1936-7 at the International Surrealist Exhibitions, signing a Surrealist statement; & in 1937 at the Artists International Association, a Popular Front body; makes post-war visits to Paris & the USA, etc Martin pp 14-17, 21-22, 27, 56-61, See Unit One & Artists International Association
Oeuvre: He mainly worked in watercolour but on an unusually large scale & using layer upon layer of pigment so his works looked like oils. His work included street scenes, cafes, pubs; theatrical scenes & figures, landscapes during the war years & townscapes, industrial scenes, literary scenes, occasional religious works, bird people, dancing skeletons, still-life, works in which he experimented with collage, portraits & theatrical design Matin illustrations & pp 27, 29, 69, OxDicArt
Characteristics/Phases: His work featured strong colours & many works have a dominant colour, blue & red in the 1920s & earth colours in the war period. He was however seduced by any colour that caught his fancy. In his scenes of modern life Burra focused on unlikely contrasts, glamour, & squalor. As his letters show he was fascinated with low life & the seedy as in Harlem, 1934 (Higgins Gallery & Museum, Bedford) is a vividly striking depiction of squalor. From around 1925 to 1935 his work displayed the vitality of modern life. It featured dangerous looking men as in Harlem, 1934 (Tate Gallery), cafes & exotic figures. There was an emphasis on those who were coloured, the mingling of those who were coloured & white, & on women with alluring bottoms & breasts [as in] The Tea Shop, 1929 (Private) & an off-duty prostitute as in The Snack Bar/Delicatessen, 1930 (Tate Gallery) Martin pp 27, 33, 35-41, 44, 49-51, 54, 56-61, 66, OxDicArt.
Around 1930 he briefly experimented with collage & saw the humorous potential of the Surrealist use of unexpected juxtapositions . During the mid-30s his art becomes more grotesque with the impact of the Spanish Civil War & the Second World War, Surrealism, Picasso, Ernst, Goya, Bosch etc. His later pictures were ominous, dramatic & macabre, as in The Straw Man, 1963 (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester); L&L, Spalding 1986 p86, Martin p7
Innovations: The rediscovery of the Danse Macabre as in Dancing Skeletons, 1934 (Tate Gallery), hellish figures as in Bird Men & Pots, 1946 (Royal Pavilion Museums, Brighton), & the Devil himself [as in] Beelzebub c1937-8 (Private). An innovation of a wholly contemporary nature was the depiction of early West Indian immigrants who had arrived in Britain following the permissive British Nationality Act, as in his Zoot Suits, 1948 (Private) Martin pp 66, 68-9, 72-4, 85
Verdict: [He was one of the greatest 20th Century painters.]
Circle: During 1920s he became involved with the world of upper-class gay men & lesbians. After the war Andrews, Auerbach, Bacon, Craxton, Freud, Minton, Vaughan used to meet at the Colony Room, a private club in Dean Street Martin pp 22, 25, Spalding1986 pp 143-5
Grouping: He was or so it is claimed close to the English figuration of William Roberts, Stanley Spencer & Mark Gertler Martin p51
..BURRINI, Giovanni, 1656-1727, Italy=Bologna:
Background: He was born in Bologna NGArt1986p385
Training: Canuti & Pasinelli NGArt1986p385
Influences: Titian, Veronese, Bassano, Tintoretto NGArt1986p385
Career: During 1686-8 he shared a studio with Lo Spagnolo/Crespi. Virtually all of his work seems to have taken place between 1680 & 1700. Laterly he seems to have painted little & devoted himself to more remunerative work due to financial need NGArt1986p338
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescos NGArt1986p38
Phases: He had a neo-Venetian phase which began in the early 1680s NGArt1986p38
Characteristics: His work was unorthodox & experimental
Status: He stands out from other Bolognese painters around 1700 because of his marked originality NG Art2006 p38
Patronage: He was helped by a rich merchant, Giovanni Ricci Haskell p20
Grouping: He, like Canuti & Pasinelli, was a Bolognese practioners of what in Rome, or later Naples, was high baroque illusionistic decoration NGArt1986p338
.. BURTON, William Shakespeare, 1824-1916, England:
Training: At the RA Schools WoodDic
Career: He exhibited at the RA from 1846. The Wounded Cavalier caused a sensation in 1856 , But due to ill-heath & lack of recognition he almost abandoned panting doing the 1880s & 1890s WoodDic
Gossip: The Wounded Cavalier would have been rejected because it was not properly labelled but Charles West Cope withdrew one of his paintings so it could be exhibited Wood1999 p118
Oeuvre: History & religious paintings WoodDic, Wood1999 p121
Characteristics: His works have great intensity Wood1999 p121
Grouping The Wounded Cavalier was his only Pre-Raphaelite work Wood1999 p121
..BURY, Morley, 1919-99, England:
Background: Born at Bournemouth but grew up in the village of Holdenhurst Wikip
Training: Bournemouth Municipal Art College, 1937-9, & Reading University 1939-40 & post-war Wikip
Career: He served in a tank regiment but was captured. He taught part-time at Emanuel School Wandsworth, 1948-58, & Hornsey College of Art until 1964 Wikip
Oeuvre: Figure subjects in the 1950s & landscapes thereafter Wikip
Characteristics: His landscapes are richly coloured & boldly composed Web images
-BUSCH, Wilhelm, 1832-1908, Germany:
Background: He was born in Mechtshausen Norman1977
Training: 1851 Dusseldorf Academy & 1854 at the Munich Academy underf KaulbachNorman1977
Influences: 17th century Dutch art Norman1977
Career: In Antwerp 1852-3. 1855 saw his first charicatures for the Munich Fliegende Blatter Norman1977
Oeuvre: genre, portrait & still-life painting but his fame rests on his caricatures & humorous poem-pictures which poked fun at the bourgeoisieNorman1977
Friends: Diez & Lenbach Norman1977
-BUSH, Jack, 1909-77, Canada:
Background: he was born in Toronto OxDicMod
Influences: Borduas & Jock Macdonald OxDicMod
Career: In 1952 he started visiting New York & joined Painters Eleven OxDicMod
Phases/Characteristics: Initially he worked in the tradition of the Group of Seven but in the early 1950s he turned from landscape to abstraction & experimented with automatism. By the mid-1950s his work was Abstract-Expression-like. Thereafter his work became more individual with an emotional use of colour. His mature work has broad bands of delicate colour & appears weightless expansive & benign close to Post-Painterly Abstraction. A proficient jazz pianist his work has some of its improvisatory but controlled spirit L&L, OxDicMod
–BUTINONE, Bernardino, active 1484-1507:
Background: His father, Jacopo, was a painter from Treviglio Grove5 p307
Influences: Mantegna, & later Foppa L&L
Career: He was in Milan from 1484 &from 1485 collaborated with Bernard Zenale Grove5 p307
Oeuvre: Frescoes, altarpieces & small religious panels Grove5 p307
Characteristics: He had an expressive & refined style Grove5 pp 307-8
Influence: On Bramantino Grove5 p307 Mantegna & later Foppa L&L
..BUTLER, Theodore, 1861-1936, USA:
Background: He was born at Columbus, Ohio Wikip
Training: Marietta College, Ohio; the Arts Students League, New York, under Chase, 1884-6; the Academie Colarossi & Julian, & Carolus Duran in Paris
Career: He made trips to Giverny During 1888 & 1891-2. Butler married Monet’s step-daughter Susanne Hoschede in 1892, a match which Monet had at least to begin with strongly opposed. After her death Butler married her sister Martha. Butler returned to America in 1899 & exhibited at the Armoury Show in 1913. He founded the Society of Independent Artists with his friend John Sloan & served on its board, 1918-21 Wikip. Gratin Paris pp 142.145.
Oeuvre: He painted domestic scenes of family & friends, landscapes, & mural panels Wikip
Characteristics: His palette was similar to Monet’s during the 1890s using brushwork similar to that of Gauguin & the Nabis. His later work was Fauve-like. Butler’s colouring was often vivid & in some cases it was garish Wikip, web images
Verdict: He was a painter of some originality Gerdts1980 p79
Friends: Philip Hale & Maximillien Luce Wikip
Grouping: American Impressionism Gerdts1984 p281
– BUTLER/ THOMPSON, Lady Elizabeth, 1846-1933, GB: Academy Movement
Background: She was born at Gormanston Ireland. Her parents belonged to London’s literary & artistic circles & were close friends of Dickens Grove5 p310
Training: At the Female School of Art, South Kensington, & at the Academia di Belle Arti with Giuseppe Belluci in Florence where the family were living Grove5 p310
Influences: French military & academic painters including Meissonier & Gerome Brigstocke
Career: She spent much of her childhood in Italy & was educated by her father. The family returned to England so that she could have professional tuition. She became a Catholic. A visit to Paris after the Franco-Prussian War inspired her to work on military subject matter & her first big military painting was exhibited at the RA in 1873. It was hugely successful & purchased by the Queen & during 1870s she was one of most popular & discussed British artists. In 1877 she married the war hero William Butler who held radical views on colonial policy & army administration & became a Lt-General. She was narrowly defeated in 1879 in an election for associate membership of the RA & the rules were changed to exclude women. She raised six children Grove5 p310, OxDicArt, Wikip
Oeuvre: She largely painted military scenes, including the Boer & Great War, but also produced some pictures passionately attacking English policy in Ireland, William’s home Grove5 p310
Characteristics: Her works are unashamedly painted in a detailed & precise academic, naturalist style. According to the Yale Dictionary of Art, they are merely (sic) filmic but it has alternatively they have been described as having considerable panache L&L, Brigstocke. Although they have a common style the way in which war is depicted is highly varied. It ranges from the dash, movement & elan of the cavalry charge to the portrayal of ordinary soldiers after battle. The Roll Call, 1874, Balaclava, 1876, & The Return from Inkerman, 1877, were not elevated or heroic treatments of war but what, at least in retrospect, were sincere depictions of an exhausting & horrific experience Treuherz1993 p179
Aim: “I never painted for the glory of war but to portray its pathos & heroism”. What counts, “is the power of touching the people’s heart” OxDicArt,Treuherz1993 p179.
Gossip: She made Ruskin recognise that he had been wrong when he said that “ no woman could paint” OxDicArt
Influence: She inspired a generation of battle painters, including Ernest Crofts, 1847-1911, William Wollen, 1857-1936, & Richard Caton Woodville Grove5 p310
Willem BUYTEWECH the Elder, c1591-1624, , Netherlands=Harlem:
Background: He was born in Rotterdam & his father was a cobbler Grove5 p323.
Career: In 1612 he joined the Harrlem Guild of St Luke with Esias van de Velde & Hercules Segers; & in 1617 was back to Rotterdam TurnerRtoV p67
Oeuvre: Paintings, etchings L&L
First: Genre banquet scenes & Merry Companies L&L
Status/Verdict: His pictures of dandies, fashionable ladies, topers & lusty wenches are among the most spirited Dutch genre scenhes OxDicArt
Influenced: Dirck van Hals, Isack Elyas, & painting in HaarlemL&L, OxDicArt
Progeny: His son Willem 1625-70, the Younger, 1625-70 was also a painter but his work is very rare OxDicArt
Bylert. See Van Bijlert
-BUYS/MASTER OF ALKMAAR, Cornelis the Elder, Buys was active 1490-1524, & The Master c1475-1515, Netherlands:
Background: They are believed to be same person. Their monograms are similar OxDicArt, Grove20 p615
Influences: Jan Mostaert Grove20 p615
Oeuvre: Religious works & portraits Grove20 p615
Characteristics: The Master’s style is somewhat provincial with doll-like figures & stiff movements but space is clearly defined & there is a strong feeling for the atmospheric effects of light & shadow Grove20 p615
Pupils: Jan van Scorel Grove20 p615
-CABANEL, Alexandre, 1823-89, France; Academy Movement
Background: He was born at Montpelier TurnerMtoC p51
Training: Around 1840 he studied under Picot the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Picot; & in about 1845 he went to the Ecole de Rome TurnerMtoC p51
Influences: The elegiac types & suave finish of the Florentine Mannerists TurnerMtoC p52.
Career: He received some important decorative commissions after return from Italy; & in 1855 his exhibits at the Salon made his reputation. He received the Legion of Honour. In 1863 he became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Nymph Abducted by a Faun, 1860, & the Birth of Venus, 1862, were purchased by Napoleon III; the latter having been widely acclaimed TurnerMtoC p52.
Oeuvre: Historical, allegorical & decorative works for ceilings etc; & portraits L&L, TurnerMtoC p52
Specialties: Mysterious & tragic dark-eyed heroines, thinly painted usually in muted tones & immaculately drawnTurnerMtoC pp 51-2.
Characteristics: His works have a high degree of academic virtuosity with an undercurrent of strong feeling TurnerMtoC p53
Status: He rivaled Winterhalter as the portrait painter of Napoleonic aristocrats; & his works were purchased for & by Napoleon III TurnerMtoC pp 52-3
Reception: His dark-eyed heroines & mythological works sold well in Europe & America TurnerMtoC p52
Repute: After his death his reputation collapsed. His most celebrated work, The Birth of Venus, was banished to the Louvre storeroom having been condemned as philistine art TurnerMtoC p52, Celebonovic p11.
Pupils/Teacher: Bastien-Lepage, Edouard Blanchard TurnerMtoC p53; Solomon J. Solomon, Edward Stott. As a teacher he was gentle, sympathetic & confidence inspiring: more ready than Gerome to let his pupils follow their own bent & to tailor his advice TurnerMtoC p53, FoxS pp 74-5
..CADELL, Francis, 1883-1937, Scotland:
Background: He was born in Edinburgh & his father was a friend of Arthur Melville Flemings p124
Training: At the Edinburgh School of Art & 1899-1903 in Paris at the Academie Julian etc Flemings p124, TurnerEtoPM p342
Influences: Virtuoso brushwork which stemmed from Manet &, unlike the other Scottish colourists, less by Post-Impressionism & Fauvism. His early work was strongly influenced by Peploe OxDicMod, Flemings p124
Career: During 1906-8 he lived in Munich, visited Venice in 1909, but then settled in Edinburgh. He fought in France during the Great War. During his last years weakened by cancer & unable to obtain good prices, he became dispirited, & died impoverished OxDicMod, Flemings p124.
Oeuvre: Landscapes & figure subjects Flemings pp 124-5
Speciality: His landscapes on the island of Iona, which he visited regularly from 1918, & also figures in New Town drawing-rooms OxDicMod
Characteristics/Phases: A luscious handling of paint, & rich yet sombre colour, gave way around 1920, following a visit to Cassis in southern France, to brighter, bolder & less subtle painting. He increasingly used brilliant reds, blues & greens, sometimes in areas of pure colour OxDicMod, Flemings pp 124, 126
Feature: His stylish composition & handling, like that of Sargent & Lavery, were an extension of his stylish subject matter Flemings p124
Personal: He had a vivid personality & a clubbable attitude to life Flemings p124.
Friends: Peploe, Hunter L&L
-CADMUS, Paul, 1904-99, USA:
Background: His father & mother were commercial artists OxDicMod
Training: 1919-25 at the National academy of Design; & 1928-30 at the Arts Students League OxDicMod
Career: He initially worked at an advertising agency. In 1931 he made a European trip, & in 1933 was on the Federal Art Project. The Fleet’s In! was described by the Secretary of the Navy as disgraceful & withdrawn from a Project exhibition in Washington OxDicMod
Oeuvre: It was small for paintings as he worked slowly, but he was more prolific as a draftsman OxDicMod Technique: It was meticulous, usually in egg tempera OxDicMod
Speciality: The depiction of sexual hunger & loneliness OxDicMod
Characteristics: Gusto & the rejection of modern methods OxDicMod. His works have a dreamlike atmosphere L&L
Status: He is seen as a Magic Realist L&L
..CAGNACCI/CANLASSI, Guido, 1601-1681, Italy=Rimini & Venice; Classicism Baroque Era:
Background: He was born in Santarcangelo, a small town, near Rimini. His family was probably relatively affluent: his father was the town crier but also a tanner, furrier & hide merchant Salomon p19
Teachers: Reni according to Malvasia Spear pp 12, 323. He finished an apprenticeship with Guercino in 1622 Grove5 p363
Career: Around 1616 he arrived in Bologna. In 1620 he visited Rome & again in 1621 with Guercino 1621. By 1627 he was back in the Romagna & lived at least intermittently for the next 15 years in Rimini. Between around 1650 & 1657 he was in Venice. After about 1568 he lived in Venice, having been invited by the young Leopold I NGArt1986pp 392-3
Oeuvre: Religious paintings & female nudes Grove5 pp 383-4
Speciality: Sensuously painted nudes NGArt1986p394
Phases/Characteristics: Between about 1625 & 1648 he painted many altarpieces & religious subjects NGArt1986p393. At first his early work with its dramatic chiaroscuro displayed a Caravaggesque naturalism. His work was then inspired by Reni’s late work & the classicising manner of Guercino & his sensuous corporeality. The nudes were corporeal, earthy & frankly erotic whereas Reni’s were abstracted & idealised NGArt1986p394 Grove5 pp 383-4, Waterhouse1962 p99, NGArt1986 pp 392, 394. In Vienna he produced a stream of kinky erotic Cleopatras & Lucrezias Haskell p195 His Venetian paintings are having intense colours, rich texture, attention to detail & forms with astonishing clarity & naturalness Grove5 p384
Patronage: After 1645 he had no official commissions for religious works & he relied principally on private patrons catering for the demand by German princes for erotic art Grove5 p384, Haskell pp 194-5.
Verdict: It differs: on the one hand, he painted with great accomplishment what he saw but his work has an embarrassing imaginative poverty & vulgarity Waterhouse1962 p101. On the other hand, his nudes are well considered, direct & dignified by their sensual beauty Grove5 p384
Gossip: In 1628 he tried unsuccessfully to elope with a widowed noblewoman & this affected his future career Grove5 p383
Repute: Cagnacci, who had long languished on lists of provincial artists, was not rediscovered in Italy until the early 1960s. He remained more or less unknown outside Italy until 1986 Solomon pp 12, 15-6.
..CAGNACCIO DI SAN PIETR0 (his pseudonym) 1897-1946, Italy:
Training: He studied for a year at the Venice Academy of Art
Career: He grew up on the island of Pellestrina in the Venetian Lagoon where he lived for most of his life. By the 1930s he had become famous. He contracted an incurable disease & had to make stays in the mountains, where he painted landscapes Ateneum p86
Oeuvre: Principally still-life but also portraits, nudes, etc Ateneum pp 24, 53, 78, 86.
Phases: He had a short Futurist period Ateneum p86
Characteristics: His style was almost hyperrealist with a uniform attention to detail, solidity & a cold, cutting light. He deliberately distorted perspective & often adopted a high viewpoint Ateneum p86
Comment: His work is a moral critique of middle class life & the powers that be, though latterly they are more compassionate Ateneum p8
Grouping: Together with Casorati & Donghi he was the third pillar of Italian Magic Realism. His work has an affinity to Neue Sachlichkeit Ateneum pp 53, 86
*CAILLEBOTTE, Gustave, 1848-94, France; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: His family were very wealthy with an apartment in Paris & a country estate. They were humourless, strait-laced & took pride in a fortune made by hard work Roe p101
Training: Under Bonnat at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under L&L, Roe p102
Career: After giving up painting, he re-started in 1872 after meeting Monet Roe p102. In 1874 he inherited a considerable fortune. After Floorscrapers had been rejected from the Salon, it was exhibited at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. This he more or less financed, together with the third exhibition. Until 1882 he continued to exhibit sometimes organising & contributing money L&L, Roe pp 152, 175.
Oeuvre: Domestic interiors, Parisian streets, boating & bathing scenes L&L
Speciality: Psychologically charged interiors which reflected his own repressed & stifled environment Roe p141
Technique: He used photos & made preliminary drawings which he squared & transferred to the canvas Roe p145
Phases: His earlier naturalist paintings gave way to a less personal Impressionism in the later 1870s L&L
Enemies: He came to regard Degas as a scheming Machiavelli Denvir p11, Roe p261
Firsts: He skewed space constructions & painted vertiginous downward perspectives that were unique in 19th century French painting Wullschlager FT 2/4/16
Personal: He was serious, reserved, intensely private but sporty Roe pp 101, 145
Legacy: He bequeathed his collection of Impressionist works to the nation, although they were only accepted after much wrangling & against the opposition of Gerome. They are now in the Musee d’Orsay OxDicArt
Repute: Of late his reputation has soared L&L
..CALAME, Alexandre, 1810-64, Switzerland:
Background: He was born in Vevey Norman1977
Training: Calame studied under Diday Norman1977
Career: His Orage à la Handeck, exhibited in Paris in 1839 brought him major success, which was followed by the Legion of Honour, in 1842 Norman1977
Characteristics: A successful Swiss painter of Alpine scenery with its jagged mountains, glaciers and torrential waterfalls Norman1977
Reception: Calame repeated his successful compositions for which he was criticised Norman1977
..CALDERON, Philip Hermogenes, 1831-95; Troubadour and Academy Movement
Background: He was born in Poitiers & educated by his father who was a renegade Spanish priest & professor of Spanish Literature at King’s College London. His mother was French WoodDic, M&M p43
Training: In 1851 he entered J. M, Leigh’s art school & in 1851 studied under Picot in Paris WoodDic
Career: In 1853 he started exhibiting at the RA & in 1857 made his name with Broken Vows. He became an RA in 1867 & Keeper in 1887 with control of the RA Schools. His sensational St Elizabeth of Hungary in which she is pictured naked offended Catholics but was bought by the Chantry Bequest in 1891 WoodDic, M&M p43.
Oeuvre: Domestic & historical scenes, portraiture WoodDic
Characteristics/Phases: At first his work was Pre-Raphaelitish but during the 1860s he adopted a St John Wood style. After 1870 he mainly turned to portraiture but around 1870 his work, following that of Leighton & Poynter, became more classical. It included many ideal but rather sentimental women M&M p43.
Grouping/Status: The St Johns Wood Clique. He was its leader & his house with its large studio was the centre of its social life WoodDic, M&M p43
Friends: Storey from 1851 M&M p17
..CALLCOT, Sir Augustus, 1799-1844, England:
Background: He was born in London Norman1977
Training: Hoppner Norman1977
Career: 1n 1810 he became an RA & was Keeper of the Royal Collections Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscapes, seascapes & historical genre Norman1977
Status: He was one of England’s most highly regarded painters in the 1820s & 30s Norman1977
*CALLOT, Jacques, 1592-1635, France:
Background: He was born in Nancy into a family long connected with the ducal court Blunt1954 p126
Training: In 1607 he was apprenticed to a local goldsmith, in Rome he joined the studio of the engraver Phillipe Thomassin, & in Florence became a pupil of Remigio Cantagallina L&L, Blunt1954 p126
Influences: There was a religious revival in Lorraine which was led by the Franciscans L&L p392.
Career: During 1608-11 he was in Rome where he copied Mannerist works. He then went to Florence, where he worked for the Medici court, but subsequently returned to Nancy. In 1625 he went to Brussels & in 1629 to Paris to illustrate the capture of La Rochelle L&L, Grove5 p437.
Oeuvre: Etchings L&L
Characteristics/Phases: He marshalled innumerable small figures into coherent pictures. Until about 1621 his work was witty & fantastic featuring festivities, beggars, hunchbacks & characters from the Commedia dell’arte, but then it was increasingly serious, including religious works, such as the Great Passion series, 1625, & culminating in his series Grande Miseres de la Guerre, 1633. He also turned to landscape L&L
Status: Late Mannerist Pevsner1968 p15
.. CALLCOTT, Sir Augustus Wall, 1779-1844, England; Romantic Naturalism:
Background: He was born in London Norman1977
Training: At the RA Schools from 1797 & studied with the portrait painter John Hoppner Norman1977, Grove5 p434
Influences: Albert Cuyp’s river scenes Grove5 p434
Career: It advanced rapidly & in 1810 he became an RA. w& later as Keeper of the Royal Collections. Like Turner his work was attacked by Sir George Beaumont. This proved damaging & he declined to exhibit at the RA, 1813-14, He was knighted, 1837; & became Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, 1843 Grove5 p434
Oeuvre: Oil & watercolour landscapes, marine works, historical genre & portraits Norman1977, Grove5 p434
Characteristics/Phases/Patrons: His is works featured a concern for light effects & atmosphere sometimes in pale colours but also using emphatic chiaroscuro & a dark rich green. From 1905 he developed a rustic picturesque style influenced by Dutch paintings & Gainsborough. It was popular with major patrons including Sir John Leicester, Richard Payne Knight & Sir Richard Colt Hoare. During 1815-25 he painting large marine scenes, as in his masterpiece Entrance to the Pool of London, 1816 (Bowood House, Wiltshire) with its cool golden tonality. He also painted seaports in Rotterdam & Antwerp, etc. Later he also produced smaller works & landscapes in a Claudian style depicting Italy & the Alpes, together with narrative genre. These smaller works were often pot-boilers Grove5 p434, webimages.
Status: He was one of England’s most highly regarded painters in the 1820s & 30s Norman1977
Friends/Circle/Influence: Friends included David Wilkie, William Mulready & his rival Turner. After marrying the writer & traveller Maria Graham in 1827 their Kensington house was an important cultural salon. He was a formative influence on his friends William Dyce & Charles Eastlake because of his interest in the German & Italian primitives & the Nazarenes Grove5 p434
..CALS, Adolphe-Felix, 1810-80, France; True Impressionism Movement
Background: He was born in Paris Grove5 p441
Training: Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Cogniet Norman1977
Career: He first exhibited at the Salon in 1831. He regularly painted at a farm above Honfleur in Normandy which looked over the Seine estuary, where many artists (Boudin, Monet, Corot, Daubigney, Courbet) gathered in the 1860s to paint en plein air. In 1873 he bought a properly there. Between 1874 & 1881 he participated in the Impressionist Exhibitions, & on principle gave up exhibiting at the Salon Norman1977, Adler p31.
Oeuvre: Landscapes & peasant life Norman1977
Characteristics: His printing have great poetic sensitivity Norman1977
Circle: He was a close friend of Jongkind & the Barbizon painters Norman1977
Patron: Count Doria, c1859 Norman1977
Status: He was an Impressionist forerunner Norman1977
-CALVAERT, Denys/FLAMINGO, Dionisio, 1540-1619, Italy (Belgium):
Background: He was born in Antwerp L&L
Training: Kerstiaen van Queboorn Grove5 p441.
Influences: Marten de Vos, Parmigianino & later Barocci Grove5 p442, L&L
Career: He went to Bologna around 1560, entered the workshop of Prospero Fontana the elder, worked with Lorenzo Sabatini, went to Rome with him in 1572 , but returned to Bologna in 1575, where he founded an Academy Grove5 pp 441-2
Oeuvre: Religious works ranging from altarpieces to small devotional works Grove5 pp 441-2
Characteristics: His later work features softly rounded feminine faces & soft colours of pearly hue Grove5 p 442.
Verdict: He was rather mediocre L&L
Innovation: He was a forerunner of the distinctive classicism that developed in Bologna & Emilia during the early 17thcentury Grove5 p442
Grouping: Mannerism L&L
Pupils: Reni, Albani & Domenichino L&L
..CALVERT, Edward, 1799-1883, England:
Background: His father was a soldier Grove5 p444
Training: He studied drawing with Ambrose Johns, who was Turner’s champion, etc, & then in 1824 for a time to the RA Schools Grove5 p444
Influences: Blake’s illustrations of Virgil Grove5 p444
Career: He met Blake & visited Shoreham. Between 1827 & 1831 he produced 11 miniature wood-engravings which are rich in Arcadian imagery & chiaroscuro. He visited Greece where he sketched prolifically Grove5 p444
Oeuvre: Paintings & initially wood-engravings Grove5 p444
Phases: After 1831 his pastoral vision faded. He abandoned printmaking, & worked in oil, watercolour & gouache, mainly painting mythological subjects Grove5 p444, WoodDic
Personal: He had private means & mainly painted for pleasure, destroying or abandoning much of his work. Latterly he became a recluse Grove5 p444, HallDic
Status: To begin with the Ancients, although his inspiration was never religious but pagan Grove5 p444
..CAMMARONO, Michele, 1835-1920, Italy:
Background: He was born in Naples Norman1977
Influences: The plein air painting of Palizzi and his school Norman1977
Career: After the unification of Italy he received many commissions to record the events of Garibaldi’s campaigns Norman1977
Oeuvre: Genre, battle scenes & portraits Norman1977
Characteristics: Cammarono’s strength lay in narrative painting, often on a large scale, and in social comment, depicting life in the poor quarters of Rome and the Neapolitan countryside Norman1977
Legacy: He influenced the Venetian school, particularly Zandomenghi Norman1977
..CAMOIN, Charles, 1879-1065, France:
Background: He was born in Marseilles OxDicMod
Training: Atr the Ecole des Beux-Arts alongside Manguin, Marquet & Matisse OxDicMod
Influences: Renoir & Bonnard OxDicMod
Career: In 1896 he moved to Paris OxDicMod
Oeuvre: It was large & included portraits,still-lige, interiors, nudes & landscapes OxDicMod
Characteristics: His paintings have an air of freshness & spontaneity OxDicMod
Grouping: Although Marquet is regarded as a Fauvist he like Albert Marquet & Jean Puy, rejected the Fauvist belief that landscape was mainly an invention obtained by means of substitute coloured marks. He was uncomfortable with the way in which Fauvist colour was exulted by emotion, did not believe Impressionism was finished but thought that the task of his generation was its completion Whitfield pp 86-7
-Domenico CAMPAGNOLA, c1500-after 1552, Giulio’s adopted son, Italy=Padua/Venice:
Background: He was the son of a German artisan L&L
Training: Giulio L&L
Influences: Mantegna & Durer L&L
Career: He settled in Padua around 1520 L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescos, engravings & woodcuts for which exceptionally he cut many of his own blocks L&L
Characteristics: He was eclectic L&L.
Status: He was Padua’s busiest painter L&L
-Giulio CAMPAGNOLA, c1483-1517, Domenico’s adoptive father:
Background: He was born in Padua L&L
Influences: They were various & included Mantegna & Durer L&L, OxDicArt, Grove5 p534
Career: By 1499 he was at the ducal court at Ferrara. In 1507 he was in Venice. He played the lute & knew Greek, Latin & Hebrew Grove5 p534
Oeuvre: Mainly or exclusively prints, & landscape drawings which he sold L&L
Characteristics: In Venice he made engravings of idyllic landscape subjects L&L, OxDicArt
Circle: He was close to the humanist circles of the Veneto Grove5 p534.
Innovations: His stippling technique which moved from a linear to a dotted surface of light & shade Grove5 p535
Influence: He spread the style of Giorgione, Titian & Durer OxDicArt
Campana. See de Campagna
.. CAMPBELL, James, 1828-1893, England:
Background: He was born in Livrpool Wikip
Training: At the RA Schools, 1851 WoodDic
Influences: Strongly by the Pre-Raphaelites in the 1850s WoodDic
Career: He spent most of his working life in Liverpool, began exhibiting exhibiting at the Liverpool Academy in 1852 7 became a member in 1856. He only exhibited at the RA in 1859 & 1863 but showed 13 works at the Society of British Artists, several of which were praised by Ruskin WoodDic
Oeuvre: Genre & landscape WoodDic
Characteristics: His genre scenes of the 1850s were had minute finish, pale tonality & Dikensian characterisation, but around 1862 he changed to a broader style & there was a decline in quality WoodDic
Patrons: These were mainly northern including John Miller, James Leathart & George Rae WoodDic
..CAMPBELL, Steven, 1953-2007, Scotland:
Training: From 1978 at the Glasgow School of Art OxDicMod
Influences: Immendorf, Chia, Gilbert & George Macmillan1994 pp 147, 158
Career: After school he was for seven years a maintenance engineer & steel fitter. During 1982-6 he was in New York where he had two well received shows. After his return he became the leader of the Glasgow School OxDicMod
Characteristics: His paintings are raw & immediate Macmillan1994 p142. They are often very large & typically show bulky offbeat or outlandish males in strange settings engaged in bizarre activities & rituals. They together with birds & beasts compete in a garden environment OxDicMod. In paintings such as Through the Ceiling , Through the Floor his figures are dealt nasty surprises by the world they inhabit Macmillan1994 p148
Verdict: His talent was outstanding Macmillan1994 p143
Grouping: Glasgow School OxDicMod
Influence: His achievement did much to shape Scottish painting Macmillan1994 p145
..CAMPECHE, 1751-1809, Puerto Rico:
Background: His father was a slave who became a successful gilder & decorator & bought his freedom Poupeye p32.
Oeuvre: Religious works & portraits of the local elite often with precise background detailing Poupye p30
Phases: His style began with decrative Rococo but ended with a daringly sober neo-classicism Poupeye p31
Characteristics: Lively compositions in ornamental colours with a penchant for the bizarre. He rejected academic convention in favour of tropical light
Status: He was probably the most accomplished Creole artist of his time Poupeye p30
-Antonio CAMPI, c1523-87, brother of Giulio & Vicenzo, Italy=Cremona/Milan:
Training: His brother Giulio L&L
Oeuvre: Religious subjects L&L
Characteristics: His work was simple & realist. From 1567 he painted nocturnal & tenebrist scenes with energetic dark shadows & artificial light effects S&L p11, Friedlaender1955 p11
Innovations: Dirty feet in religious pictures Friedlaender1955 p42
Status: An eclectic mix of Classical & Mannerism but with some proto-Caravaggesque work Friedlaender1955 pp 37-9
Influenced: Caravaggio S&L p7, Friedlaender1955 p37
-Bernardino CAMPI, 1522-91, Italy=Cremona/Milan:
Background: He was born at Cremona. If he was related to the Campi family, it was distantly Grove5 p547, L&L
Training: With his father, who was a goldsmith, & then under Giulio Campi, & Ippolito Costa in Mantua L&L, Grove5 p547
Influences: Giulio Romano, Pordenone & Camillo Boccaccino with whom he seems to have collaborated from 1554 Grove5 p547
Career: In 1542 he returned to Cremona but during the 1550s moved to Milan where his fame grew. He subsequently returned to Cremona, where he worked for & at the cathedral Grove5 p547
Oeuvre: Altarpieces & secular decorative work Grove5 p547
Phases: Initially his style was eclectic but it was then refined in a Maniera direction to achieve a dry, stiff, fragile elegance. However, he could also summon up a delicate mannered echo of Corregio Freedberg p406
Characteristics: His attention to detail Grove5 p547
Verdict: Compared to the Campi brothers he was uninventive Freedberg p406
Pupil: Anguissola L&L
-Giulio CAMPI, c1504-72, brother of Antonio & Vincenzo, Italy=Cremona/Milan:
Background: Born at Cremona Grove5 p 545
Influences: Moretto & Romanino, & then Pordenone, Giulio Romano & Raphael Grove5 p545
Career: At Cremona he concentrated on the important frescos of the Life of St Agatha during the 1530s, & from 1639 to 1642 on works at S. Sigismondo (& again I 1557 &1565. He probably visited Rome in the mid-1550s Grove5 p545.
Characteristic/Phases: His style during the 1630s & 40s was rich & varied. Subsequently it displayed a high degree of sophistication & complexity, from 1557 there was a new monumentality with daring illusion, & latterly there was a gradual transition to a simpler composition reflecting the counter-Reformation Grove5 p545.
Grouping: His paintings are an eclectic mix of Classical & Mannerism but with some proto-Caravaggesque work Friedlaender1955 pp 37-9
Influence: His works at Cremona during the 1530s & early 1640s influenced Cremonese painting in the following decades Grove5 p545
-Vincenzo CAMPI, c1532-91, Antonio & Giulio’s brother, Italy=Cremona/Milan:
Background: He was born at Cremona Grove5 p 546
Training: His brother Guilio L&L
Influences: Formal & complex composition from Giulio & expressive pathos from Vincenzo, & then in turn Counter-Reformation precepts, Venetian painting, & Aertsen & Beuckelaer L&L
Oeuvre: Oils & frescos including religious & from 1580 genre & market scenes; frescos L&L, Grove5 p546
Characteristics: His earliest works are unoriginal & from 1573 he moved to naturalism & illusionism using a richer palette. The genre scenes are humorous. Latterly he emphasised colour & chiaroscuro Grove5 pp 546-7.
Anticipations: One of his last works displays a Caravaggio-like intensity of feeling & direct naturalism Grove5 p547
..Pace del CAMPIDOGLIO, c1610-70, Italy=Rome:
Training: Fioravanti Wikip
Career: Apart from the paintings for Cardinal Flavio Chigi, 1658-60, almost nothing is known Grove23 p701
Oeuvre: Fruit, flower & animal paintings Wikip, Grove23 p701
Characteristics: In the attributed still-life works fruit is painted in rich coloured impasto against landscape backgrounds Grove23 p701
Status: He was recorded as being one of the main painters of his time in Rome Grove 23 p701
Progeny: His son Giovanni Battista, c1643- was a minor religious painter Grove23 p701
**CAMPIN-FLEMALLE, Robert, c1375-1444; Belgium=Tournai; Northern Renaissance
Note: Biographical data is available for Campin but there are no certain paintings. However, he is now frequently & strongly identified with the Master of Flemalle, which was a name invented in the late 19th century by von Tschudi for a group of key paintings by an unknown artist, namely the Merode Triptych, 1426 (The Met at the Cloisters, upper Manhattan) & the stylistically similar Crucified Thief with Two Onlookers, c1435 (Stadelsches Kunstinstutut und Stadtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main). This in turn came from a triptych of which there is a reduced copy in The Walker, Liverpool, & further paintings have been included in a corpus of works attributed to the Master of Flemalle Grove20 pp 666-70, L&L, OxDicArt. However, the attribution of the Merode altarpiece to the Master has been questioned & it is thought by some to be the work of an associate, or of the Master & an assistant Brigstocke, web. [Henceforth the Master & Campin are assumed to be one & the same person & are referred to as Campin-Flemalle.]
Influences: The form & dramatic intensity of Netherlandish & Burgundian sculpture as in the work of Claus Sluter L&L, OxDicArt
Career: He was active from 1406 & from about 1410 was the leading painter in Tournai. Campin held administrative posts in Tournai connected with his deanship of the painter’s guild from 1423. In 1432 he was sentenced to a year’s exile & a penitential pilgrimage for leading a dissolute life but this was commuted to a fine through the intervention of Jacqueline of Bavaria OxDicArt, L&L
Oeuvre: Religious works, secular paintings though none have survived, & portraits including the Portrait of a Woman, c1430 (NG) Grove20 pp 666-70.
Characteristics/Innovations: His work had a new & forthright bourgeois Realism. With van Eyck he initiated the Northern Renaissance & broke with elegant International Gothic. Campin-Flemalle rejected its elegance as an end in itself & instituted a new realism, albeit one in which the viewer is presented with a seemingly natural scene in which events & objects need to be carefully scanned in order to discover their full significance. In the central Annunciation panel of the Merode Altarpiece the Virgin’s purity is indicated by the symbolic lily on the table & by the pot & towel in & adjacent to the niche. He is credited with introducing the disguised symbolism of Northern Renaissance art L&L p121, OxDicArt, L&L p121, Cuttler pp 69-70, 76, Pl 7. A feature of Campin-Femalle’s portraits is their impact. His twin portraits of a man & a woman are presented as real, living human beings, not dummies. They have presence & force of character See Langmuir pp 31, 46. His Frankfurt panels variously feature strong lines & tones, dramatic contours, sculptural modelling, sumptuous detail with bejewelled & patterned costumes, grave expression & gold backgrounds Brigstocke. Because of his ability to observe Van Eyck, unlike Campin-Flemalle, mastered perspective Gomb1972 pp 176-81, Cuttler p76, Pl 7.
Technique: He painted on panels primed with gesso thus exploiting its smooth surface & strangely reflective quality Grove12 p501. Campin-Femalle & Van Eyck were among the first to use transparent oil-glazes over lighter opaque underpainting so obtaining rich saturated colours & greater tonal variation in the modelling of forms Grove12 p803
Pupils: van der Weyden & Jacques Daret L&L
Legacy: The advances made by Campin-Femalle & van Eyck were followed up by great but less original painters such as van der Weyden Cuttler p108 .
..CAMUCCINI, Vincenzo, 1771-1844, Italy:
Background: Born in Rome Norman1977
Characteristics: He painted many religious works, and was also a distinguished portraitist and Italy’s leading exponent of the Davidian school of Neoclassicism Norman1977
Career: Elected to the Academy of St Luke in Rome in 1802 where he became its director in 1804. For more than 30 years he was the overlord of Roman painting Norman1977
*CANALETTO/CANAL, Giovanni, 1697-1768, Italy=Venice; Realism, 18th Century Movement
Background: His father was a theatrical scenery painter OxDicArt
Influences: Giovanni Paolo in Rome OxDicArt
Career: He began as a scenery painter but turned to topography during a visit to Rome in 1719-20 OxDicArt. Canaletto was listed in the Venetian guild records in 1720 Levey1959 p82. Between 1746 & about 1755 he was mainly in England OxDicArt, Solkin2015 pp 119-20. In 1763 he was finally admitted to the Venetian AcademyLevey1959 p88
Development: His early views were vivid & atmospheric with exciting & unsteady tonality for private patrons, & not the tourist market. However, after the Stone Mason’s Yard of 1725-6. He worked for Joseph Smith painting neat views with amusing puppet figures.
During the late 1730s & early 1740s Canaletto tried to mass produce using studio helpers Levey1959 p83. In England his views away from London are neat & rather old-maidish but his London pictures are better & fitfully good Levey1959 p86. After his return to Venice, his pictures are more mannered with tight handling & convulsed blob-faced figures. They are also smaller & without re-painting Levey1959 pp 90-92. His chiaroscuro & interest in surface texture gave way to an overall luminosity & he lit almost all his work with a cold clear radiance Steer pp 203-4, Levey1959 p56.
Characteristics: His quality is uneven with clumsy figures by other hands or authentic ones that enliven the dull architectural scene. The topographical detail is sometimes deceptive because it is out of date Levey1959 p85
Technique: Early on he apparently painted directly from nature & only later did he resort to making studies. Canaletto used a camera ottica in which mirrors reflect the view in a dark box. However, it steepens the perspective, which Canaletto occasionally left uncorrected. It also reduces distant figures to blurs Levey1959 pp 71-2, WestS1996
Style: He painted in the old Italian tradition of fluid & even facture & firm compositional structure whereas Guardi stems from more recent masters of the loaded brush. Listing backwards these were Marieschi, Marco Ricci, Magnasco, Maffei, Fetti & Leys. However, Guardi dissolved & dematerialised solid form to an extent undreamed by any precursor Wittkower1973 pp 503-5
Status: He was the most famous view painter of the 18th century OxDicArt
Grouping: There has been a notable reluctance to classify Canaletto L&L, OxDicArt; P&H pp 350-1, etc
Legacy: He provided the painting of London views with gusto & panache; it having previously been considered a mundane, topographical exercise Solkin2015 p120
Oeuvre: This included some a capricci views (for Smith & Algarotti who determined their composition) Levey1959 pp 85-6
Repute: During the 18th century he was very highly regarded but the Romantics thought him flatly realistic, ie dry & mechanical. Ruskin’s attacked him severely as vulgar, dull & impious. His reputation rose after 1934 (Pittaluga). He was admired by Turner, Whistler, & Manet Paolucci p31, Treves p22
Collections: Woburn Abbey
*CANO, Alonso, 1610-67, Spain=Seville, Madrid & Granada; Baroque Movement
Background: He was born in Granada but soon moved to Seville . His father was joiner & retable designer L&L
Training: In Pacheco’s workshop where Velazquez became his lifelong friend BrownJ p144
Influences: Given his conventional training, the sources of his distinctive style of Italianate painting are obscure. His close scrutiny of the royal collection in Madrid, with its Venetian paintings, resulted in a changed style BrownJ p187, Grove6 p619
Career: In 1638 he left Seville for Madrid to serve as painter to Olivares, the first minister to Philip IV, but Cano lost his job when he fell in 1643. In 1644 his wife was found brutally murdered in bed & Cano was suspected of hiring the murder. He was acquitted after torture but his career was ruined. After going to Valencia he was back in Madrid from 1645. In 1652 he became a prebendary at Granada cathedral on condition that he became a priest. This he failed to do & he was ultimately dismissed by the hostile canons. During 1657-60 he was in Madrid seeking re-instatement & ordination which due to royal favour he secured. Apart from a period in Malaga after renewed difficulties with the canons he remained in Granada BrownJ pp 187, 212-3, Grove5 pp 619-20.
Oeuvre: Paintings, sculpture & architecture L&L
Phases/Characteristics: From about 1625 to 1635 his works have a Zurbaran-like tenebrism & severity. He then in a series of paintings during 1636-8 began using lighter, clear colours & looser brushwork in the manner of contemporary Bolognese work. They have large-scale figures close to the picture plane set against complex, ornamental backgrounds; & they culminate with his luminous, serene classisicing, & painterly works from around 1640. They feature freely applied white highlights. [Surprisingly] Cano continued to paint despite his personal troubles & some of his finest works were painted between 1645 & 1652 L&L, Grove6 pp 618-9, BrownJ p212.
Feature: His masterful figure drawing distinguishes him form contemporaries & successors BrownJ p212
Personal: He was quarrelsome & jealous. He left Seville in a cloud after being imprisoned for debt & wounding a colleague in a duel L&L
Reception: He was acclaimed as much for his polychrome sculpture as for his paintings Moffitt p138
Grouping: He was a member of the exceptional generation of Spanish naturalist painters along with Zurbaran, Vealzquez, Jeronimo Espinoza, Juan Rizi, Jusepe Leonardo. Juan Rizi, Antonio de Pereda. etc Grove29 p281
-CANOGAR, Rafael, 1934-, Spain:
Background: He was born in Toledo OxDicMod
Training: Privately under Daniel Vazquez Diaz Grove5 p622
Career: In 1957 he was a founder member of El Paso which was hostile to Franco OxDicMod
Phases: His earlier Social Realist work developed into aggressively expressive abstraction but in the 1960s he reintroduced representational elements with overtones of humour & satire to express human alienation in the modern world OxDicMod
Beliefs: Industrial society “enslaves our urban existence & reduces the human being to pure functionalism, incapable of the most elementary existence & brotherhood OxDicMod
Status: Regarded as a leading Spanish painter of his generation OxDicMod
..CANON/STRASCHIRIPKA, Hans/Johann, 1829-85; Austria:
Background: Born in Vienna Norman1977
Training: He entered the Vienna Academy in 1845 as a pupil of Waldmulller and Rahl Norman1977
Influences: Canon/Straschiripka’s technique was modelled on Rubens, Jordaens, and their school Norman1977
Oeuvre: Paintings of Austrian history, genre & portraits Norman1977
Characteristics: His portraits are distinguished by their freshness and psychological insight Norman1977
Status: A leading light of late 19th century Viennese painting Norman1977
CANOVA, Antonio, 1757-1822, Italy:
Background: He was born at Possagno near Treviso Grove5 p 625
Career: In 1780 he moved from Venice to Rome & purity replaced sophistication Honour1968 p37.
Painting: This began in 1780 under the guidance of his friend Martino de Bonis, initially as a hobby but then to explore ideas for sculpture. He began in a style reminiscent of Giorgione & created a canon of feminine beauty using elements from Leonardo & Corregio Grove5 p631
..CANTARINI/IL PESARESE, Simone, 1612-1648, Italy= Bologna :
Background: He was born at Pesaro & learned to paint in the stimulating environment of the Marche. Here Mannerism lingered & modern tendencies mingled NGArt1986 p398
Training: Giovan Gandophi & briefly Ridolfi NGArt1986 p398
Influences: These were wide & stemmed from Barocci & Caravaggio. Later they included Reni, & then, when in Rome, the neo-Venetian approach of Pietro Testa & Andrea Sacchi’s classicism NGArt1986 pp 398-400
Career: From around 1634 to 1637 he was at Bologna & joined Reni’s workshop. However he rebelled & was dismissed. In 1639 he was in Pesaro, then went to Rome, by about 1642 was back in Bologna. He finally went to Verona NGArt1986 p398
Phases: His earlier work became increasingly close to the Bolognese way of ennobling forms etc. Later he adopted a classicistic & anti-Baroque style NGArt1986 pp 402-3
Characteristics; His paintings are carefully constructed, strong & serene with varied elements, including naturalism, combined to form a distinct style. Wittkower1973 p342, NGArt1986 p402.
Pupils: Torre & Pasinelli NGArt1986 p398
..CANUTI, Domenico, 1626-1684, Italy=Bologna:
Background: He was born at Bologna NGArt1986 p406
Training: Drawing with the mediocre Giovan Battista Bertusi who had been a pupil of Denys Calvaert & Ludovico Carracci; & during the 1640s for short periods in the studios of Albani, Reni, Guercino & Sirani NGArt1986 p406
Influences: Ludovico Carracci from, via Bertusi NGArt1986 p406
Career: In 1847 he went to Rome. During 1663-8 he was in Padua, & from 1672 in Rome NGArt1986 p406, Wittkower1973 p334
Oeuvre: Mostly frescos on ceilings & vaults, almost always collaborating with the quadraturists Domenico Santi, Enrico Haffner, etc NGArt1986 p406
Characteristics: His works are spirited & feature exuberant draftsmanship & spectacular foreshortening NGArt1986 p406
Patronage: The Pepoli, a noble Bolognese family, particularly Taddeo the abbot-general of the Olivetan congregation NGArt1986 p406
Close Friend: Allesandro Algardi in Rome NGArt1986 p406
Grouping: He, like Burrini & Pasinelli, was a Bolognese practitioners of what in Rome, or later Naples, was high baroque illusionistic decoration NGArt1986 p338
Pupils: Antonio Burrini, Crespi NGArt1986 p406
.. Bartolomeo (de segnolo) CAPORALI, c1420-after 1503; Giovan’s father, Italy=Perugia; High Renaissance:
Background: He was born in Perugia, the son of a highly trained soldier Wikip
Influences: Initially Verrocchio & his followers but then then younger painters with whom he had contact such Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Perugino & Pintorechio Grove5 p672
Career: He appears to have been painting in Perugia by 1442, was treasurer of the painters’ guild, 1457-8; was a civic official, 1467; worked in Rome, 1467; & collaborated with Benedetto Buonfiglio & Sante d’Apollonio in Perugia, 1467-8 Grove5 p672
Oeuvre: Panel paintings, frescoes, missals & artisan work Grove5 p672
Characteristics/Phases: His work altered due to the absorption of new developments & collaboration with other painters; & it has been confused with that of Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. Nevertheless he concentrated throughout on detailing his figure’s clothes, differentiating between fabrics & garments. His work also features gentle facial expressions, facial skin with a peculiar transparency & with strong gold tints, large infantile eyes, with hard blackish lines under the upper lids, sensitive mouths & overlong fingers as in Virgin & Child with Angels, 1477-9 ( Galleria Nazionale, Perugia) . His works were clearly delineated and brightly coloured as in Annunciation, c 1460 (Louvre). The quality of his work declined severely as he aged Wikip a
Brother: The painter Giapeco -1478 Grove5 p672
Son: Giovanni was also a painter Wikip
.. Giovanni CAPORALI, c1475-c1555; Bartolomeo’ s son; Italy=Perugia; High Renaissance:
Background: He was born in Perugia Grove5 p672
Training: Perugino Wikip
Influences: Raphael Grove5 p672
Career: He collaborated with Pinturicchio, 1503; & made a trip to Rome, 1508-9; built a place near Cortona for Cardinal Silvio Passerini, also executing frescoes there Grove5 p672, Wikip
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, frescoes, illuminations & architecture with many churches in the Perugia area possessing his works Grove5 p672
Characteristics: He used clear bright colour & his work is Raphael-like as in Christ Enthroned with Saints, c1510 (parish church, Cereseto) Grove5 p672
Pupil: Organtino di MarianoWikip
Son: Giulio, active 1559-94 was a painter Grove5 p672
.. CAPPELEN, August, 1827-52, Norway:
Background: He was born at Skien, Telemark in the middle of Norway. His family were well-to-do Kent p69, Grove5 p679
Training: At Christiania/Oslo university & as a private pupil of Hans Fredrik Gude Kent p69
Influences: Johann Wilhelm Schirmer & Dutch landscape Grove5 p679
Career: He went to Dusseldorf in 1846 & remained there, except for summer visits to Norway & a longer stay in 1848-9 Kent p69, Grove5 p679
Oeuvre/Characteristics: His landscapes are melancholy, mystical & non-panoramic. He was not attracted by mountain scenery Grove5 p679, Kent p69
Caracciolo. See Battistello
**CARAVAGGIO/MERISI, Michelangelo, 1571/2-1610, Italy=Rome (Lombardy):
Background: He was born Caravaggio near Bergamo. His father seems to have followed the traditional family trade & been a mason, & may have been the superintendant of buildings for a noble family OxDicArt, Friedlaender1955 p34. When Caravaggio arrived in Rome Filippo Neri had a crucial religious role. His followers constituted what was in effect an immensely popular low church in which faith & mystic devotion would provide a direct contact with God. Only by knowing this can Caravaggio’ religious work be fully understood. Although it is improbable that Caravaggio ever belonged to the inner circle of the Fhilippino, he had links with them. Several members of the Crescenzi family, who were among Neri’s most intimate friends, were associated with the administration of the Contarelli chapel, where Caravaggio painted his first great religious works. Moreover, Pietro Vittrice, who was one of Neri’s most important friends at the Papal Court, commissioned Caravaggio to paint the Disposition in the Chiesa Nuova Friedlaender pp 123-6; For Neri see Anti-Mannerist & Counter-Reformation Painting in the Pre-Baroque Age in Section 9
Training: During 1584-8 under Peterzano who provided a solid technical education Friedlaender1955 pp 35-6
Influences: He must have reacted against Peterzano’s schoolmasterly paintings, but was influenced by Moretto, Romanino, probably Savoldo, Campi, who anticipated him, & Moroni ‘s Realism & painting from life (Longhi) L&L, Friedlaender1955 pp 37-8, 42, C-B p8, RAMoroni p38. He arrived in Rome with a manifesto for revolutionary Realism already in his pocket (Longhi) Bayer p5. Caravaggio’s patron was the corrupt, sophisticated and pleasure loving Cardinal del Monte, who held parties where boys danced in drag, & in whose household Caravaggio painted effeminate young boys Haskell pp 28-9
Career: By 1592 he was in Rome & early on was employed in the workshop of Giuseppe d’Arpino as a fruit & flower painter. He undertook a commission for Monsignor Petrignani & entered & painted in the household of another high-ranking ecclesiastic, Cardinal Francesco del Monte. Around 1598 he had his first monumental & church commission, The Calling & The Martyrdom of St Matthew for the Contarelli chapel, were probably secured through del Monte. When working on the St Matthew series he saw Annibale’s Saint Margaret & declared it was the first real painting he had seen. With the discovery of Annibale’s revolutionary naturalism, & handling of colour, chiaroscuro, Caravagggio created his new style. In 1606 his brilliant career in Rome ended when he quarreled over a game of racquets & stabbed his opponent to death, He fled to Naples & then moved to Sicily, & back to Naples where he was badly wounded in a tavern brawl L&L, OxDicArt, WestS1996, NGArt1986 p253
Phases/Characteristics: His relatively few profane genre paintings are early, & thereafter he almost exclusively painted altarpieces. His early realistic works display a careful attention to textures & the local colours of objects which were probably set up in the studio. In his scenes from the life of St Matthew, 1599-1603, he first employed dramatic chiaroscuro. Latterly his works display violent movement, & were weaker, as 17th century critics noticed, with frozen figures. Caravaggio ignored the techniques for relating figures in space despite the out-flung limbs & contorted faces which suggesting activity. Sacred & other figures were not idealised, & he adopted a direct & natural approach when depicting the supernatural, as in the Conversion of S. Paul. However intense light & shade were in general strictly delineated, & the light source was almost never revealed. The light penetrates the darkness obliquely from above Kitson1966 pp 100-1, Friedlaender1955 pp 12, 14, 22-7, 117, WestS1996.
Innovations: The executioners of Christ & martyrs were conventionally villainous, but in S. Peter’s Crucifixion Caravaggio shows one looking with self-doubt & others toiling Jones p264. His violent subject matter & chiaroscuro were mutually supporting Kitson1966 p41. He was the first popular painter to defy the general standards of the profession. Hithero artists had increasingly deviated in the direction of melodrama, sentimentality & illusion but had at least pretended to conform & had not broken the accepted form of pictorial design. He made a direct appeal to the uninstructed public through melodrama, & used new methods of simplification. They comprised rounded sharply marked contours, draperies in big heavy folds, & a new use of light & shade in which light from a single concentrated source produced strongly contrasting masses of bright light & extreme darkness Fry1926 pp 105-7. 110, 119
Contrasts; Titian’s colour triumphs over his material; with Tintoretto’s anti-realistic & spiritualised colour & chiraoscuro. Unlike his Lombard predecessors Caravaggio was not interested in the witty effects of sunbeams or flickering torchlight effects. He did not play with light from different sources in a single picture (Master of Housebook’s Freiburg altarpiece). His paintings contain little of wilful excitement produced by candles & lanterns, common among later northern tenebrisi from Honthorst to early Rembrandt. Caravaggio does not use light & shadow for sentimental or romantic purposes Friedlaender1955 pp 10-12
Beliefs/Aim: “Everything in art is trifling that is not taken from nature” Kitson1966 p100. His work was not intended to shock but to follow the the recommendations of the Council of Trent WestS1996
Category: He was an outspoken & belligerent anti-mannerist Friedlaender1955 p11. Authoritative sources seem reluctant to assign Caravaggio to a positive artistic grouping OxDicArt, L&L, Grove5 pp 702-20. However, Pevsner says that he founded Italian Baroque, & for Kitson he is mainly a Realist because of his psychological Realism &, above all, through a non-idealised treatment of sacred as well as other figures Pevsner1968 p30, Kitson1966 pp 9, 15, 101. His work differs from that of Titian whose compositions are full of implied dramatic movement, & thus anticipate the Baroque, whereas Caravaggio’s arrested movement corresponds to neo-Classical developments around 1600 (Annibale Carracci) & prepares the way for the restrained art of Velazquez & Manet Friedlaender1955 p50
Verdict: The works of his maturity express astonishing & intense religious feeling dominated by strong social consciousness & sympathy for the poor as his pictures show Friedlaender1955 p129
Character/Behaviour: All sources agree on his violent & quarrelsome temperament, & disorderly behaviour. There are numerous police records detailing both small & serious accusations such as throwing a plate at a waiter & assault. He carried a large sword & walked the streets looking for adventure & trouble. However, the incidents all appear to be post-1600 & were never for personal gain. These violent actions peaked during 1600-6 which was the period of his greatest artistic productivity. He associated with quarrelsome people (Baglione), & refused to acknowledge his brother. Caravaggio did not paint steadfastly but after a fortnight’s work he would swagger about for a month or two Friendlander1955 pp 118-9, 236, 258, 260
Sexuality: He was said (Susini in the early 18th century) forced to leave Syracuse after a brawl with a schoolmaster who was suspicious about his attentions to his young male pupils. In 1605 he had a dispute over a young woman Friedlaender1955 pp 133, 284
Legacy: Caravaggio had at least one pupil & assistant, Cecco del Caravaggio. During the period up to about 1630 Caravaggio had many followers in Italy, both native & foreign, & his style, though never homogeneous, was the main alternative to that of the Carracci. Those strongly influenced included Bartolomeo Manfredi, Orazio & Artemesia Gentileschi, Saraceni, Reni, Rubens, Ribera, Zurbaran, Velasquez, Valentin de Boulogne, Georges de la Tour, Simon Vouet, Lastman & the Utrecht Caravaggisti. However, the intense religious aspects of Caravaggio’s pictures had little influence outside Italy, & Velazquez’s early pictures of sacred events are essentially genre with religious overtones Grove5 p719, Friedlander1955 p129, H&P pp 86, 177, L&L, BrownC p32.
Between 1610 & 1620 Manfredi popularised the Caravaggesque style through his large studio, & spliced his later chiaroscuro onto his early genre subject-matter See Manfredi for the Caravaggisti. After 1630 Caravaggio’s influence was more diffuse in nature & in extent. The impact on Rembrandt, who had probably never seen an original work, was great. It was not primarily a matter of style. Like Caravaggio, Rembrandt sympathised with the poor & was an artistic rebel who was out to shock. The intense religious aspects of Caravaggio’s pictures had little influence outside Italy, & Velazquez’s early pictures of sacred events are essentially genre with religious overtones Grove5 p719, Clark1978 pp42-8.
Repute: Interest in Caravaggio declined during the 18th century & he was not mentioned by Reynolds. However, it revived around 1850, though Ruskin was highly critical. So later was Roger Fry who dubbed him a great & sinister portent in the history of modern art. Although he was the only Italian 17th century painter who contributed a new power, he used his discoveries to appeal to trivial curiosity & sensationalism. Like modern popular artists, he regarded verisimilitude as an end in itself with any object taking his fancy receiving an emphasis that impaired rhythm of form & tone. According to Fry, his work was “brilliant charlatanism” Fry1926 pp 105, 119-20, 124.
Serious historical research did not begin until the early 20th century OxDicArt. There was a seminal 1922 exhibition in Florence covering Caravaggio, together with Longhi’s ground-breaking 1951 Milan exhibition. Although American galleries were buying his pictures, the National Gallery turned down an offer in 1952 under a Director who knew nothing about Caravaggio OxDicArt, Treves pp 26-7 Treves pp 26-7
Caravaggio, Polidora da. See Polidoro
Carbo. See Fortuny y Carbo
FORTUNY Y CARBO, MARIO, 1838-74, Spain:
Background: He was born in Reims, Spain, and brought up by his grandfather who was a sculptor and modeller Norman1977
Training: Began formal studies at the age of twelve, attending the Barcelona Academy from 1853 Norman1977
Awards/Career: In 1857 Carbo won the Barcelona Academy’s Rome prize, arriving in the city the next year, and making his home there. Norman1977
Oeuvre: A genre painter, whose elegant scenes of daily life in 18th century costume and of small dimensions were very popular in France, Italy and Spain Norman1977
Phases: His visits to Morocco, in 1859 and 1862 resulted in a series of Oriental scenes, while during his last months in Portici he turned towards Impressionism, inspired by Manet Norman1977
Characteristics: Carbo had a penetrating eye for character, fine draughtsmanship, a brilliant palette and sparkling, virtuoso brushwork. Norman1977
Influenced: He had many imitators, notably in Italy and Spain Norman1977
Personal: In 1866-67 Carbo was in Paris and Madrid, where he married the daughter of Madrazo, inspiring Carbo’s most famous work, The Spanish Wedding (La Vicaria) Norman1977
Cardi. See Il Cigoli
-Bartolome CARDUCHO/CARDUCCI, c1560-1608, Vincenti’s brother, Spain (Italy) Spanish Eloquence and Counter-Reformation Movements
Background: He was born in Florence Brown1998 p80
Training: With Bartolomeo Ammanati in Florence, where in 1578 he joined Zuccaro’s workshop. He was trained in academic Vasarian Mannerism with its draftsmanship & composition but was familiar with Correggio’s sfumato & the looser technique & rich colouring of Venice Grove5 p735, Brown1998 p80
Career: Carducho/Carducci went to Rome with Zuccaro where, like Passignano, he worked at the Vatican (Cappela Paolina). In 1585 he accompanied Zuccaro to the Escorial where he remained after Zuccaro’s dismissal. He became an importer of Florentine pictures assisted by the reform painters Passignano & Gregorio Pagani etc. In 1598, having become an excellent reform artist, he was appointed court painter to Philip III. He also became the favourite painter of Lerma the king’s first minister who entrusted him with many commissions between 1601 & 1606 Brown1998 p80, Grove5 p735.
Oeuvre: Oils & frescos. His brother acted as his assistant & collaborator from around 1600 at the palaces at Segovia, Valladolid, the Escorial & the Prado L&L, Grove5 p735
Characteristics: He had a taste for realistic detail & tried to achieve a unified treatment of light. It glances off objects & reveals texture sobjects. Still-life objects were painted with exceptional intensity, faces with realism, & lighting was intense Grove5 pp 635-6, Brown1998 p81.
Innovations/Status: He introduced a new style of religious painting at court with an arresting use of light & shadow. His work was a bridge between austere Counter-Reformation painting & the pre-Baroque & naturalistic era of the following Zurbaran generation. He reorientated artistic taste at court towards that of the Florentine & central-Italian reformers Brown1998 p81, Grove5 p735
Grouping: Naturalist Brown1998 Ch5
-Vincent/Vincencio CARDUCHO, 1576-1638, Bartolome’s brother, Spain(Italy): Spanish Eloquence and Counter-Reformation Movements
Background: Born in Florence Brown1998 p82
Training: His brother Brown1998 p82
Career: In 1585 Carducho went to Spain with brother. During the period while the court was in Valladolid Vincente, who was collaborating with Bartolome, attracted patronage from Lerma. From 1609 he was a royal painter but during 1620s was supplanted in favour by Velazquez. During the latter 1620s he executed his best work. Between 1626 & 1632 he worked on a series of 56 large paintings for the Cartuja del Paular, a Carthusian monastery, north of Madrid . They depicted scenes from the life of St Bruno & other illustrious Carthusians. His Dialogues on Painting, 1633, attacked the disregard for beauty, & the Realism of Caravaggio & his followers. Naturalistic art was unsatisfactory because of nature’s imperfections. The rules for good painting -an idealised art intended to lead people to God- were learnable. The Dialogues were partly motivated by a desire to raise artists’ mediocre status which was aggravated by their treatment by Lerma. From 1606 he tried unsuccessfully to get an artistic Academy established L&L, Brown1998 pp 82-3, 111,
Speciality: Innumerable works for religious foundations throughout Spain & vivid preliminary oil sketches L&L
Phases: Carducho perpetuated his brother’s Florentine Reform style into the mid- 1620s; then introduced greater Realism Brown1998 p82
Characteristics: His works were balanced & dignified & preceded by preliminary drawings & after their refinement to oil sketches. In most of the narrative Paular paintings he employed a frieze-like composition with monumental figures fronting classical architecture or placid landscapes. Faces are individualised & the scenes of miracles & martyrdoms are dramatic featuring, for instance, a blaze of light Brown1998 pp 82-3,112
Grouping: He was a naturalist Brown1998 Ch5
Friends: The leading men of letters at court, including Lope de Vega & Juan de Jauregui Brown1998 p82
*CARIANI, Giovanni (not to be confused with Cignani), c1485-active 1547, Italy=Bergamo:
Background: He was probably born in the Bergamo region RAVenice p160
Influences: Bellini for composition & Giorgione for themes; Titian & Piombo for warm colours, delicate tonality & landscape; & Lotto & Romanino from his visit to Bergamo RAVenice p160
Career: He was mainly active in Venice & from 1509 was in Bellini’s workshop. In 1517 he visited Bergamo, in 1523 returned to Venice, but during 1528-30 was again in Bergamo. His last years were spent in Venice but he painted little & less well RAVenice p161
Oeuvre: Pastorals & cheerful rustic scenes, allegories, altarpieces, devotional pictures, & portraits, which are remarkable L&L, RAVenice p161
Phases: His mature work has a Venetian sense of colour & a Lombard feeling for Realism & light L&L; RAVenice pp 160-1
Circle: Giorgione L&L
Grouping: The Lombard Painters of Reality Bayer p106
Foreshadowed: Caravaggio in The Concert RAVenice p161
-CARLEVARIS/CARLEVARIJS, Luca, 1663-1730, Italy=Venice (Udine): Romantic Picturesque Movement
Background: He was born in Udine & his father was an architect of sorts Levey1959 p75
Influences: Almost certainly the view paintings & capricci of Vanvitelli, etc Grove5 p765
Career: He moved to Venice in 1679, became friends with the Zenobio family, & returned from a trip to Rome in 1698. During 1703 his etched views of Venice were published in book form. He was also a mathematician Levey1959 p75, Grove5 p765
Oeuvre: Paintings & etchings which, mainly views of Venice Levey1959 p75.
Specialties: Paintings of ambassadorial arrivals Levey1959 p78
Characteristics/Phases: He began by painting capricci. His views of everyday life have more vivacity than his pageant scenes. Although his etchings capture thundery effects, his paintings, unlike Canaletto’s earlier works, are not so atmospheric & are painted in pale Flemish tones Grove5 p765, Levey1959 pp 79-80, 82
Patrons: Foreign dignitaries who were being honoured, Marshall Schulenburg; John Strange who was the English resident in Venice. Due in part to the Zenobio family he received commissions from Venetians L&L, Levey1959 p75, Grove5 p765
Innovations: The recording of Venetian regattas & outdoor receptions, & the deliberate display of the Republic’s splendours Levey1959 pp 75-6, L&L
Influenced: Canaletto, who re-used his scenes, & whom he may have taught L&L, Levey1959 pp 7881
The Earl of Carlisle. See Howard
..Annie CARLINE, 1862-1945, GB:
Influences: Cubism OxDicMod
Career: She married George & took up painting in her sixties OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Some of her works are Lowry-like OxDicMod
..George CARLINE, 1855-1920, father of Hilda, Richard & Sydney, GB:
Training: In London, Antwerp & at the Academie Julian OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Landscapes, portraits, genre OxDicMod
Verdict: He was accomplished but unexceptional OxDicMod
..Hilda CARLINE, 1889-1950, George’s daughter, sister of Richard & Sydney, GB:
Training: 1913 at Percival Tudor-Hart’s art school & part-time at the Slade, 1918-23 E&L p69
Career: She served in The Women’s Land Army. In 1919 she met Stanley Spencer & between 1925 & 1937 they were married until she divorced him. They had two daughters & she did little painting, although there was a maid. Hilda exhibited regularly at the RA from 1935 to 1944 as well as at the NEAC. She suffered from depression & ill-health, & she had a mental breakdown in 1942 E&L p69
Verdict: She may have been as talented as Stanley OxDicMod
..Richard CARLINE, 1896-1980, George’s son, brother of Hilda, Sydney, & brother-in-law of Stanley Spencer; England:
Background: Born in Oxford Wikip
Training: At the Academie de Peinture under Percival Tudor-Hart in Paris, & part-time the Slade, 1921-4 OxDicMod, Wikip
Career: He served on the Western Front & from 1919 with his brother in the Middle East, & was the youngest Official War Artist working for the Royal Flying Corps, 1918-9. In 1920 he was elected to the London Group but from the mid-1930s his painting was restricted by his activity in local, national & international artists’ organisations. He was chairman of the Artists International Association. During the war he worked for the Air Ministry designing camouflage for aircraft & factories OxDicMod, Wikip, Turner EtpPM p57
Oeuvre: Genre, interior scenes, aerial views, the western front, & portraits webimages
Characteristics: His paintings, like those of his brother, are well composed: distinguished by his ability to spot the unusual & interesting. The portraits are somewhat dour webimages
Innovation: The new methods of composition required by a bird’s eye view from space, also smoke clouds from bombs Chamot p70
Circle: During the 1920s the Carline family home in Hampstead was the centre of a group including Henry Lamb, Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler & John Nash Wikip
Collections: The Imperial War Museum
Wife: Nancy (1909-2004) was also a painter OxDicMod
..Sydney CARLINE, 1888-1929, George’s son, brother of Hilda & Richard & brother-in-law of Stanley Spencer, England; British Impressionism:
Background: He was born in London Wikip
Training: At the Slade, 1907-10, & then in Paris OxDicMod, Wikip
Career: He served in army & the Royal Flying Corps. In 1918 he became an Official War Artist. He painted aerial battles on the Italian front & then worked & flew in the Middle East. After the war he resumed exhibiting at the RA, also exhibited at NEAC, & from 1921 taught at the Ruskin School in Oxford making painting trips to the Balkans, etc Wikip, OxDicMod, McConkey2006 p155
Oeuvre: Landscapes including aerial views, genre & portraits OxDicMod, Chamot p70
Characteristics: His paintings are, like those of his brother, are well composed: distinguished by his ability to spot the unusual & interesting webimages
Innovation: The new methods of composition required by a bird’s eye view from space, also smoke clouds from bombs Chamot p70
Friends: John Nash Rothenstein p486
Collections: Imperial War Museum
-Carlo Innocenzo CARLONE/CARLONI, 1686-1775, Italy:
Background: He was born at Scaria Grove5 p774
Training: He was apprenticed to Giulio Quaglio III in Venice, & during 1706-11 was in the workshop of Francesco Trevisani in Rome & at the Accademia diS Luca Grove5 p774
Influences: Pietro da Cortona, Luca Giordano & Francesco Solimena Grove5 p774
Career: After 1700 he worked with Quaglio at Laibach/Ljubljana. He was a versatile decorative painter who worked throughout Lombardy, in Vienna & South Germany. From 1625 he returned to & worked in Italy during the winter L&L, Grove5 pp 774-5.
Oeuvre: Fresco decorations Grove5 pp 774-5
Phases/Characteristics: During his early period in Vienna his works were grandiose in a bravura style but with unspectacular colour & light effects. In the 1720s his compositions became clearer & more expansive, his figures lighter & more graceful, & his colours more radiant Grove5 p774.
Verdict/Grouping: He was probably the most gifted Lombard rococo painter Wittkower1973 p575
-Giovanni Andrea CARLONE/CARLONI, 1639-1697, Giovanni Battista’s son, Italy= Genoa:
Background: He was born in Genoa Grove5 p770
Training: His father & he worked in Maratta’s studio Grove5 p770, L&L
Influences: Gaulli Grove5 p770
Career: During the 1660s & 1670s he travelled widely. From the 1680s he was based at Genoa. He was active in Roman artistic circles & in 1675 joined the Academy of St Luke Grove5 p770
Oeuvre: Frescos Grove5 p770.
Characteristics: He was eclectic with his paintings in Perugia & Foligno resembling Umbrian work, those in Rome Maratta-like & his Genoese frescos a combination of his father & the High Baroque of Gaulli & Maratta in a fluid manner Grove5 p770, Wittkower1973 p551
-Giovanni Battista CARLONE/CARLONI, Giovanni Andrea’s brother & Andrea’s father, 1592-1677, Italy=Genoa:
Training: Under Passignano in Florence Wittkower 1973 p551
Oeuvre: Frescos L&L
Verdict: He was competent but uninspired Waterhouse1962 pp 210-11, Wittkower1973 p551
Brother: Giovanni Andrea, 1590-1630, was also competant & uninspired but less important Waterhouse1962 pp 210-11, Wittkower1973 p551
..CARNOVALI, Giovanni (Il Piccio), 1804-73, Italy=Milan:
Background: Born in Montegrino Valtravia, near Cremona Norman197
Training: The Accademia Carrara at Bergamo under the classicist Giuseppe Diotti Norman1977
Influences: He studied the Old Masters (Corregio, Luini, Titian, Rembrandt etc with care, and made constant studies of nature Norman1977
Career: In 1831 he went to Rome, visited Cremona & in 1836 settled in Milan. He travelled to France with his painter friend Giacomo Trecourt in 1845, & went to Rome during 1847-8 & 1855. Carnovali was a solitary and individualistic innovator whose work was more admired than understood during his lifetime Norman1977
Characteristics: Subtle lyricism combining a rich impressionistic colourism & bozzetto work. His work is not so much Romanticism as a delicate-neo Baroque in the manner of Hayez using a sensitive, transparent sfumato Norman1977, Novotny p312
Grouping: The Lombard Romantic School of which Carnovali is the best representative Norman1977, Novotny p312
Influenced: He had a powerful influence on the Scapigliatura colourists and such painters as Previati Norman1977
Carolsfeld. See Schnorr von Carolsfeld
..CAROLUS-DURAN, Charles-Emile, 1837-1917, France; Academy Movement
Background: Born Lille into a family in humble circumstances TurnerMtoC p59.
Training: At the Academie in Lille when he was 11 & with Francois Souchon, a former pupil of David, when 15 TurnerMtoC p 59.
Influences: Courbet & Velazquez whose work he copied for a year TurnerMtoC p59, Norman1977.
Career: In 1853 he moved to Paris & first exhibited in the Salon in 1859. From 1862 to 1866 he lived in Rome TurnerMtoC p59. La Dame au Gant, a portrait of his wife, was a major success at the Salon, 1869, & he became an fashionable portrait painter. He was a co-founder of the Societe Nationale Des Beaux-Arts, 1889. In 1900 he became a member of the Institute & in 1905 director of the French Academy in Rome,1905 Norman1977.
Oeuvre: Portraits but also landscapes & subject pictures Norman1977
Characteristics: His later work is Impressionistic Norman1977
Friends: Manet Norman1977.
Feature: Those who taught foreign students were above all draftsmen, Carolus-Duran alone based his instruction primarily on painting I&C p364.
Gossip: Degas said he was in despair at his inability to paint atrociously like Carolus-Duran & be feted MooreG p72.
Grouping: In his early years he was a Realist Norman1977
-CARON, Antoine, c1523-1600, France:
Influences: Niccolo dell’Abbate Blunt1954 p103.
Career: He worked under Primaticcio before 1550, became painter to Queen Catherine de’ Medici, & was closely connected with the Catholic League Blunt1954 p103
Oeuvre: Allegorical subjects which reflect the festivities of the Valois court, massacres which relate to the Wars of Religion & two paintings of semi-magic activities, like those which took place in Catherine’s circle Blunt1954 p103
Characteristics: Elongated pin-headed figures with strange twisted attitudes & tapering limbs. They are deliberately placed in an over-large space so they seem lost & insignificant. The framing architecture features sharply exaggerated perspective & schematic versions of Roman ruins. Colouring is dominated by rainbow contrasts Blunt1954 p103.
Status: Caron & Jean Cousin the Younger were the only outstanding French painters during the last part of the 16thcentury Blunt p103
Grouping: The School of Fontainebleau; Mannerism of a sophisticated & courtly variety Lucie-S1971 p 42, Blunt1954 p103
*CARPACCIO, Vittore, c1463-1525, Italy=Venice:
Background: His father was a Venetian leather merchant Valcanover p3
Teachers: He may have been trained under the teleri specialist Lazarro Bastiani L&L
Career: Almost nothing is known ShearerW1996
Influences: Gentile & Giovanni Bellini, Messina, Alvise Vivararini, & Flemish art with its precise observation of features & attention to detail Grove5 p818, Valcanover p5
Technique: He pioneered the use of canvas for altarpieces & exploited its expressive possibilities by generally using thin priming, by sketchy & suggestive use of oil paint. He used bold touches of pure colour anticipating Giorgione & Titian Grove5 p822
Oeuvre/Phases: Carpaccio painted four great narrative cycles: (i) During the mis-1490s he produced the St Ursula series for the Scuola di S. Orsola in which his work a rapidly improved from a conventional approach to one that is more subtle & harmonious. (ii) In the series for the Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni he painted, 1502 to about 1506, dealing with the lives of St Jerome & St George. Here the composition is less frieze-like, the works have greater clarity, & the colouring has become deeper & more glowing. There are also paintings, c1507-8, of St Tryphonius Exorcizing the Demon [which are less exciting, though not as poor as sometimes suggested]. (iii) The Scuola degli Albanesi cycle, c1500-10, feature hard, dull colour & slack draftsmanship. (iv) The Scuola di S. Stefano series, 151-20 , show a marked recovery in invention & execution, although they are without picturesque detail & other qualities that made his former work so appealing. The stylistic change may be explained by a loss of confidence due to the radical innovations of Giorgione, Titian etc, & by extensive use of workshop assistance. He also painted one innovative work in a series for the Scuola Grande di San Giovani Evangelista, [together with other notable works]. His altarpieces were less successful Grove5 p818-2, Valconover pp34-39, 68,73,77.
Characteristics: His work was colourful & he had a taste for anecdote & fantasy, & an eye for crowded detail. His best work had greater vivacity & spontaneity than that of Giovanni Bellini & Cima, etc but, although his work was carefully planned, his worst looks incompetent L&L, OxDicArt, Grove5 p822.
Status/Verdict: He was superior to other teleri painters due to his response to light, feeling for interval, & inventiveness; & second only to Giovanni Bellini as Venetian painter of his generation L&L, OxDicArt
Patronage: His customers ranged from patrician & princely families down to artisans. His four narrative cycles were all painted for the lesser scuole & he only produced one work for a Scuola Grande Grove5 pp 818-9
Feature: Some of his work is humorous Vancanover Pl 41, 46 & possibly 38
Firsts: He painted the first known Italian full-length portrait, Portrait of a Knight, 1510 Pope-H p320, Murrays1959
Anticipation: His Miracle of the Cross (Accademia) anticipates Canaletto & Guardi OxDicArt
Repute: Vasari regarded Carpaccio as a secondary figure & his work was first re-evaluated by Ruskin; who was attracted by his wealth of detail, which he thought sprang from Christian sincerity & morality. During the later part of the 19th century /Carpaccio was viewed as a genre painter, but during the 1930s Longhi & Giuseppe Fiocco saw him as following on from Piero della Francesca & Messina; his work being characterised by simplified forms rounded by light, emotional impassiveness etc Grove5 p823
Progeny: His sons Pietro & Benedetto were minor painters Grove5 pp 817, 823
Collections: Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice
Carpi. See da Carpi
..CARPIONI, Giulio, 1611-1674, Italy=Venice:
Training: Padovanino Waterhouse1962 p117
Career: He worked mainly Vicenza Wittkower1973 p347
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Academic eclecticism & Poussinesque Bacchanals Wittkower1973 p347
Verdict: He was somewhat superficial Wittkower1973 p347
-CARR, Emily, 1871-1945, Canada:
Background: She was born at Victoria, British Columbia OxDicMod.
Training: At San Francisco, 1889-95; the Westminster School of Art etc, 1899-1904; & Paris 1910-11 OxDicMod.
Influences: The Fauves OxDicMod.
Career: Her artistic development was interrupted by ill health & the need to earn a living OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Landscape L&L
Speciality: Forrest scenes as in Wood Interior, 1932 Forest (Vancouver Art Gallery)
Phases: After her return to Canada she painted the landscape of British Columbia with passionate feeling for the power of nature, often working out of doors. Discouraged by years of neglect she almost ceased painting, but was carried away by an exhibition in 1927 by the Group of Seven, worked with renewed energy & deeper spirituality; & became a national idol OxDicMod
Characteristics: Her work has Expressionist qualities L&L
*CARRA, Carlo, 1891-1966, Italy:
Background: He was born in Berlin but moved to Italy when young Ateneum p87
Training: At the Milan Academy where he met meet Boccioni L&L
Influences: Giotto & Uccello etc whom he studied during the Great War Ateneum p87
Career: In 1909 he joined the Futurists, & in 1910 signed the Futurism Manifestos. He went to Paris with Boccioni & Russolo in 1911 to confront Cubism, & met Picasso & Modigliani. In 1915 he met Chirico in an army hospital, & they launch Pittura Metafisica. In 1918 he broke with Chirico L&L, OxDicArt, Ateneum p87. Later he was associated with Novecentro Italiano L&L. He became a professor at the Brera Academy in 1941 & had long written prolifically on art Ateneum p87
Phases: He painted Futurist street scenes involving the spectator in impersonal dramas, then Cubist works & during 1914 works incorporating collage & words. From 1919 his paintings were influenced by the Renaissance & antiquity L&L.
Oeuvre: Landscapes, maritime motifs, figure compositions & frescos Ateneum pp 30, 87.
Characteristics: From the 1920s he produced static compositions with weighty figures & objects, & empty landscapes with occasional figures
Status: He has been classified with Neue Sacklichkeit Hayward1979 p10
| The Carracci Family:
The context for their work was the coarse subject matter & bold naturalism that were popular around Bologna, eg the genre paintings of Bartolomeo Passerotti H&P p73, Posner1971 pp 4-5. Another contextual aspect was the prevailing Second/High maniera in Bologna. According to Malvasia, all three main Carraccis were from the first outspoken opponents who decided to challenge the established masters without timidity. They regarded it as idealised, remote from reality, hastily conceived, with washed out colouring & poor drawing. It was they believed equally remote from a true antique style or from naturalism. The Counter-Reformation was yet another part of the background to the Carracci reforms. Artists were now thought to have a duty not to embroider their paintings with inventions & ornament. They were enjoined to tell the truth & to convince the spectator, & this became the aim of the Carracci H&P pp 72-3, NGArt1986 p240, 244. In 1582 they established an art academy in Ludovico’s rooms as a workshop & teaching institution for their new ideas. It was dedicated from study from the model, which had become rare in central Italy. Its membership included many who had already trained & apparent belief in education as an ongoing & exploratory process. The Carracci now received a commission to decorate the Palazzo Fava & this was followed by further collaboration at the Palazzo Magnani & the Palazzo Sampieri Hall1999 p281, NGArt1986 pp 239-40, L&L. The work Carraccis had many features in common. Lodovico & Annibale tended to concentrate their figures in the foreground which heightens the impact of their work Kitson1966 p61. Lodovico was much more Baroque. Annibale’s work is more compact, more powerful & has refined chiaroscuro. It is increasingly classical & has heavier & fuller colours Friedlaender1925 pp 59-61. During the later 1580s & early 1590s both Lodovico & Annibale were under Venetian influence, but Annibale’s pictures have a clear, rational ordering of figures & light effects, whereas Ludovico compressed space, piled up figures & displayed intense spirituality & emotional ecstasy using heaving draperies, spot lit colours & even anatomical distortion. However, their earlier & pictures are closer NGArt1986pp 249-250. Ludovico’ s work is more animated & dynamic, whereas that of Annibale & Agostino’s tends to be controlled & restrained. Annibale’s work had a far greater imaginative & innovative force than Agostino’s & he had a clearer sense of purpose than Ludovico H&P p75, NGArt p263. |
*Agostino CARRACCI, 1557-1602, Annibale’s brother & Ludovico’s Cousin, Italy
Training: With Passarotti in Bologna L&L
Influences: The Venetians & Corregio L&L; the Carraccis’ outspoken opposition to Mannerism H&P pp 72-3
Career: In 1579 he had success with prints after Michelangelo & Peruzzi etc. Around 1580 he went to Venice after being contracted to engrave works by Veronese &Tintoretto. In 1582 he went back to Bologna where the Carracci Academy was founded with Agostino & Ludivico NGArt1986 pp 238-9. Between 1584 & 1587 he produced his Lascivie, a series of erotic prints Webb p118. During 1597-1600 he assisted Annibale with the Farnese Gallery & From 1600 until his death he worked for the Farnese in Parma L&L
Oeuvre: He was primarily a graphic artist & engraver L&L
Phases: During 1584-93 he produced easel paintings, some of which were erotic & by the mid-1580s he had developed a Venetianizing manner L&L, Webb p118, Posner1971 p34.
Characteristics: His erotic work displays great ability to depict the nude in positions of physical exertion Webb p118. [A feature of Agostino’s erotic work is that copulation is shown as being a collaborative activity in which females are active participants] Webb p119, Frantz Fig14-20
Status: He was the most prolific engraver of erotica of his era Grove10 p477
***Annibale CARRACCI, 1560-1609, Agostino’s brother & Antonio’s father; Ludovico’s cousin, Italy; Baroque Classicism Movement
Background: He was born at Bologna Grove5 p85.
Training: According to 17th century writers he was taught by Ludovico but his early work differs markedly from Ludovico’s contemporaneous paintings. His rougher & more expressive style suggests that he worked under Passarotti Posner1971 pp 4-6. Barocci, Veronese L&L
Influences: Initially Passarotti & Corregio. For his gallery decorations at the Farnese palace the influences were Michelangelo, Raphael (Villa Farnesina Psyche paintings) & ancient sculpture. For landscape he was influenced by Niccolo dell’Abate L&L, NGArt1986 p263, Posner1971 p116.
Career: Around 1579-80 he probably joined Ludovico’s workshop as a junior partner Posner1971 p4. In 1580 he was sent by Ludovico to Palma to study Parmigianino & especially Corregio; & in about 1581 he went to Venice to copy paintings & help Agostino. He was back in Bologna in 1582, where the Carracci Academy was founded with Agostino & Ludovico NGArt1986 p239. It is presumed that he re-visited Venice around 1587 Grove5 p860. In 1595 Annibale went to Rome at the invitation of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese & between around 1597 & 1600 he decorated the vault of the Farnese Palace. From around 1605 he painted little & suffered from a depressive mental illness L&L, NGArt1986 p248
Oeuvre: Paintings in oils & fresco, drawings & prints Grove5 p858
Highlight: This according to standard authorities is the ceiling (but not the walls) in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome. It is a work of heroic scale, endowed with extraordinary illusionistic conviction & displaying a luxuriance of pictorial forms & simulated features. The latter include the architectural features, the sculptures. the marble herms, the bronze medallions & the framed easel paintings. These are locked together in a structure which culminates in the central painting of the Triumph of Bacchus & Ariadne. The ceiling is a work of joyful abandon & a celebration of Love & sexual attraction in which males abandon war & weapons (Jupiter & Hercules), & females play an active part (Diana, Venus, & Aurora). Although in some scenes the darker consequences of sexual attraction are evident the narrative scenes are light & joyful in spirit NGArt1986 p252, H&P p89, Posner1971 pp93-4.
Phases/Characteristics: During the early 1580s he painted genre subjects H&P p73. Between about 1584 & 1588 he had a Corregguesque period & thereafter began a Venetianising phase Posner1971 pp 25-6, 44. From about 1595 his work displayed greater classicism & the assimilation of Raphael & the Classical model NGArt1986 p249, L&L, Grove5 p862. Forms are defined with greater clarity as his line became sharper, his light more general & his colour more localised H&P p88. The final stage of his evolution began in 1601when he moved to what has been termed hyper-idealism. Forms were simplified & became more solid & gestures abrupt, draperies are stiff, colour is bright & loud Posner1971 p126, Grove5 p864
[[[[Annibale’s work is compact, powerful & has refined chiaroscuro. It became increasingly classical with a heavier conception & fuller, warmer colours Friedlaender1925 pp 59-61. ]]]]
Assistants: Under great pressure due to the volume of work, Annibale delegated painting to students from the Carracci Academy who joined him in Rome during 1602. They included Francesco Albani, Domenchino, & Antonio Carracci, together with Agostino’s former pupils Lanfranco & Badalocchio. Annibale himself painted relatively little of the walls of the Farnese gallery. He was however responsible for the preparatory drawings & his own geometrical, hard-edged painting there does not differ from that of his assistants Grove5 pp 864-5, Posner1971 p125.
Innovations: The Farnese ceiling by reviving Michelangelo’s architectonic scheme for the Sistine Chapel provided the 17th century with a major alternative to those of the illusionistic & open type L&L pp 130-1. It had a dramatic effect on Roman painting which had hitherto been dominated by late Mannerism as represented by d’Arpino, Pomarancio & the brothers Allessandro & Cherubino Alberti. From around 1690 or after he created Ideal & Classical landscape with his Landscape & two paintings of the Flight into Egypt, etc NGArt1986, pp 252-3, 278-9, 287-8, Waterhouse1962 pp 10-11, Posner 1971pp 115-6. He invented caricature in the form of the humorous depiction of a particular individual & coined the term Posner1971 p66
Grouping: Friedlander describes him as Anti-Mannerist whereas Pevsner classes him as Baroque. When contrasted with Ludovico his work is much less purely baroque-like than that of Ludivico Friedlaender1925 pp 59-60, Pevsner1968 p38.
Repute: During the 19th century Annibale’s greatness was questioned on the ground that his work was reactionary & eclectic. Only from about 1925 was there a critical re-evaluation for which Friedlaender, Longhi, Wittkower & Mahon were responsible Grove5 p869, Friedlaender1925 pp 60-63.
The Carraccis’ outspoken opposition to Mannerism & Antwerp market scenes (Beuckelaer) H&P p73, JonesS p140. & charicature Martin p99
Emotion was frequently indicated by hands pressed on chests with the palm inwards & by arms spread wide with outstretched hands with the palms facing outwards NGArt1986 Ils
-Antonio CARRACCI, Antonio, c1583-1618, Agostino’s son:
Background: His mother was a Venetian courtesan Grove5 p870.
Career: After his father’s death he lived with Annibale, went to Bologna after his death in 1609 but retuned in 1610 & assisted Reni & collaborated with Annibale’s former pupils Grove5 p870
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescos Grove5 p870.
Characteristics: His works are an attractive & delicate blend of Emilian naturalism & Roman classism combining purity of line with a strong narrative impulse Grove5 p870
Anticipations: His late works strikingly foreshadow the classicism of Poussin & Eustace Le Sueur Grove5 p870
**Ludovico/Lodovico CARRACCI, 1555-1619, Agostino & Annibale’s cousin, Italy
Background: He was born in Bologna Grove5 p851
Training: Prospero Fontana, who discouraged him from painting NGArt1986p238
Influences: Corregio, Tintoretto through early visits to Parma & Venice Friedlaender1925 p79; Murrays 1959
Career: He left Bologna for Florence where he joined joining Domenico Passignano. He then went to Parma, Mantua, Venice, etc where he studied the master works. By 1578 he was back in Bologna NGArt1986 p238. Around 1582 he founded an art Academy with Annibale & Agostino where the pupils made life drawings. When Annibale & Agostino left Bologna in the mid-1590s Ludovico took over the thriving Academy after having declined the Farnese invitation to Rome L&L, Emiliani pXLIX, NGArt1986 p248
Oeuvre: Paintings, etchings & drawings Grove5 p851
Technique: He painted on grounds of red-brown bolus which gives his pictures a certain heaviness Friedlaender1925 p58
Speciality: This was the attempt to represent the supernatural in terms of the natural or what Friedlaender called the “securalisation of the transcendental”. He did not omit figures that had appeared from heaven, & thereby engage in full realism, but resorted to a number of strategies to make their presence more credible. These included the depiction of Christ in The Conversion of St Paul as formed by clouds & the Virgin in The Vision of St Francis as abundantly present within the paining but not belonging there Emiliani pp LV, 30-1, 42-3, etc Friedlaender1925 p77
Phases: His early paintings were Mannerist, elegant & polished. Subsequently following Annabale he entered a Correggesque period, & rom around 1587 he began to use brushstrokes, & light & shade, to convey emotion & mystery rather than to clarify form L&L, Posner1971 p26. After 1600s his work deteriorated & he painted didactic Counter-Reformation altarpieces. However, in his better work he continued to represent the mystical & ecstatic Murrays1959, L&L
Characteristics: Annibale’s work is compact, powerful & has refined chiaroscuro. It became increasingly classical with heavier & fuller colours Friedlaender1925 pp 59-61. His pictures have a clear, rational ordering of figures & light effects. He compressed space, piled up figures & displayed intense spirituality & emotional ecstasy using heaving draperies, spot lit colours & even anatomical distortion NGArt1986pp 249-250. His work is animated, dynamic & restless. Ludovico even used occasional Mannerist devices throughout his career. His hands are often eloquence of his hands with long tapering fingers lending emphasis to charge gestures. Another feature was the emphasis on human warmth & affection H&P p75, Emiliani pp LII-LIII, 89, 113, 115, 124, 130, 132, 143.
Feature: His religious painting was astonishingly inventive. He painted the Assumption of Virgin several times & works are all different & effective H&P p75.
Innovations: He painted stormy clouds edged with brightness; placed large, striking figures in the foreground: & placed a kneeling saint in a diagonal relationship to a heavenly figure: a device which became a mainstay of Italian Baroque art Emiliani pp LII, 5, Kitson1966 p15
Status: He became the premier painter in Bologna when Annibale & Agostino left in the mid-1890s Emiliani pXLIX
Patronage: After his cousins’ departure he had a torrent of commissions Emiliani pXLIX
Friends (lifelong): Bartolomeo Dolcini (Canon at Bologna Cathedral); Ferrante Carlo (picture dealer) Emiliani pXLIX
Pupils: He trained next generation of Bolognese painters: Reni, Domenichino & Albani Emiliani pXLIX
-CARRENO DE MIRANDA, Juan, 1614-85, Spain=Madrid; Baroque Movement
Background: He was born in Aviles (Asturias) & his father belonged to the impoverished gentry & dealt in pictures Brown1998 p197
Training: He was apprenticed to Pedro Cuevas in Madrid BrownJ p197
Influences: Rubens, Van Dyck & other Flemish & Italian sources BrownJ pp 197-8
Career: In 1658 he was hired as an assistant by Angelo Colonna & Mitelli & began a fruitful collaboration with Rizi who taught him how to handle the bush with greater facility & develop and develop an individual style. After their collaboration ended in the latter part of the 1660s their work fell off BrownJ p197. He was a favourite of Queen Mariana who ruled for the young Charles II L&L. He was appointed a royal painter in 1669 OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Initially he concentrated on religious works but from 1669 he was mainly a portraitist OxDicArt
Characteristics: Opinions Initially his work was derivative but he later mastered a wide range of effects including scintillating highlights using minute touches of pigment. In his state portraits of Charles II he diverted attention from his ugly, degenerate appearance by concentrating on surroundings & reflections. Nevertheless with increased ugliness the portraits become disturbing BrownJ pp 197, 238-9.
Status: Velazquez apart, he was the most important court painter in 17th century Spain OxDicArt
Grouping etc: Baroque with his Mass of St. John of Matha, 1666, representing its triumph in Madrid. The stern, ascetic realistic style of the earlier 17th century had at last been replaced by ebullient & colourful work due to the importation of foreign artworks BrownJ p198
Friend: Velazquez OxDicArt
*CARRIERA, Rosalba, 1675-1757, Italy=Venice; Rococo Movement
Background: She was born in Venice Grove5 p877
Training: She was a pupil of Giuseppe Diamantini Grove5 p877
Career: She was successively a lace pattern designer, a painter of snuff box tops, a miniaturist working on ivory ovals, & a pastellist. In 1705 she admitted to the Academy S. Luke in Rome. During 1720-1 she had a triumphant year in Paris, where she was made a member of the Academy. She worked in Vienna during 1730, but around 1745 became blind Levey1959 pp 138-40, L&L, Grove5 pp 877-8.
Oeuvre: Bust-length single-figure Fancy Pictures & portraits L&L
Characteristics: [Opinions differ sharply but there seems to be agreement that] her work had charm, that her technique was exquisite, & that her works do not always flatter, as her self-portraits & other work shows. Her background were plain & there was little variation between poses L&L, Levey1959 pp 142-4.
First: Rococo portraitist to initiate a new type of likeness which was seemingly intimate yet flattering, though her self-portraits were objective. Her fancy pictures of girls impersonating the arts anticipated those of Greuze L&L
Patrons: Foreign tourists, especially from England. She had a large mail-order clientele, in particular Augustus III of Saxony (who bought 150 works). Pellegrini, who was her brother-in-law, was her virtual agent in England & Joseph Smith, the British consul in Venice, dealt extensively in her work L&L, Haskell p295, Grove6 878.
Parisian Circle: Hyacinthe Rigaud, Largilliere, de Troy, Watteau Grove5 p877
Verdict: [Judgments about the quality & evolution of her work vary wildly.] They range from her work being insipid & flimsy in the Yale dictionary, through the more measured but somewhat contradictory remarks of Ellis Waterhouse, to the favourable comments on her style & its development in the Grove dictionary L&L, Waterhouse1959 pp 141-4
Influenced: Quentin de Latour & Liotard L&L
-CARRIERE, Eugene, 1849-1906, France, Symbolism:
Background: He was born at Gournay, Seine-et-Oise, the son of a poor insurance salesman with nine children Grove5 p880
Training: Initially at the Strasbourg Ecole Municipale de Dessin, & then under Cabanel at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After Franco-Prussian War & imprisonment, with Cabanel again & Jules Cheret Grove5 p880
Influences: Henner (early); spiritualism Grove5 p880
Career: When briefly employed as a lithographer, he saw Rubens at the Louvre & decided to become an artist. In 1878 he exhibited at the Salon but his work went unnoticed. He moved briefly to London where he admired Turner. Still unsuccessful, he took temporary jobs until about 1889 & during 1980-5 his brother arranged part-time work at the Sevres porcelain factory. In 1884 his work a salon exhibit gained attention, the influential critic Roger Marx championed his work, & thereafter he found friends among important artists, writers, critics & collectors Grove5 p880
Oeuvre: Paintings, portraits & prints Grove5 p880
Specialities: Mother & child pictures Grove5 p880
Characteristics: By about 1885 his work featured a dense brown & vaporous atmosphere out of which figures emerge & in which the values of underpainting were modified & sparse additions of subtle colour were introduced. His work has a quality of poetic, dreamlike reverie with figures emerge without much individuality out of a thick, dark & pervasively still atmosphere atmosphere Grove5 p880
Circle: He frequented the Cafe Voltaire, was involved in Symbolism theatre & appealed to Symbolism critics including Charles Morice, Jean Dolent Grove5 p880
Friends: Rodin who was close & the founders of Symbolism TurnerDtoI p66, GibsonM p230
Politics & Religion: He was a spiritualist & professed socialist sympathies but his paintings avoided direct statements Grove5 p880, WestS1993 p41
Grouping: Symbolism, although Novotny classes him as a French intellectual painter of the latter part of the 19thcentury, albeit on its Romantic side Novotny p327
Pupils: Matisse, briefly L&L
Collections: Musee d’Orsay
..Dora CARRINGTON, 1893-1932, England:
Background: She was born into a comfortable middle-class family OxDicMod
Training: During 1910-14 she was at the Slade OxDicArt
Life: From 1917 lived with & was devoted to the homosexual Lytton Strachey. However she married Ralph Partridge, and they all lived together. She committed suicide soon after Strachey’s death OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Landscapes & figure compositions, which were seldom exhibited, & designs for the Omega Workshop & Hogarth Press OxDicMod
-Leonora CARRINGTON, 1917, England:
Background: Her father was a wealthy Lancashire textile manufacturer OxDicMod
Training: In 1936 at Ozenfant’s Art Academy in London OxDicMod
Influences: It was wide-ranging including ancient Babylonian, Assyrian & Egyptian mythology Grove5 p882
Career: After two expulsions from convent-school, she went to finishing schools in Florence & Paris. In 1937 she met Ernst & settled with him in France. During1938 she started exhibiting with the Surrealists in Paris. In 1939 she fled to Spain after Ernst’s internment. She had a breakdown, went to New York & in 1942 settled in Mexico where she took citizenship, After a marriage of convenience she married the Hungarian photographer Imre Weisz OxDicMod, Grove5 p882
Oeuvre: Painting & design OxDicMod
Characteristics: Insect-like humanoids; imaginary world where hyenas go to balls & rabbits eat human flesh etc. Her work features strange, enigmatic & subtly humorous anecdotes; technical refinement & careful but extremely free design OxDicMod, Grove5 p882
Grouping: She was a dedicated Surrealist OxDicMod
*CARSTENS, Asmus, 1754-98, Denmark/Germany:
Background: He was born at Sanct Gurgen near Schleswig Grove5 p285
Training: He was briefly at the Copenhagen Academy but was largely self-educated OxDicArt, L&L
Influences: Winckelmann’s writings & Giulio Romano’s Mantuan frescos L&L
Career: In 1783 he went to Mantua & in 1788 became a teacher at the Berlin Academy. He went to Rome in 1792 & in 1795 his drawings & studies were exhibited there L&L
Characteristics: He was not interested in colour & his work was pompously serious OxDicArt
Grouping: Neoclassicism L&L
Influence on Germany Romanticism artists, including the Nazarenes, & the Classical northerners L&L, OxDicArt
-CARUS, Carl, 1789-1869, Germany:
Background: The Alps appealed to Biedermier painters because of their untamed nature & Swiss political freedom Norman1987 p148
Training: In medicine L&L
Influences: Friedrich who was his close friend Vaughan2004 p196, L&L
Career: He was simultaneously court physician, professor of gynaecology at Dresden & an amateur artist. He praised landscape painting at a time when Neo-Classicists treated it as minor art form & 1831 published Nine Letters on Landscape Painting Vaughan2004 pp 215-6, 336, L&L
Oeuvre/Characteristics: His paintings frequently have a great charm like Friedrich’ smaller works. They became firmer & more progressive after an Italian visit L&L, Vaughan2004 p216.
Beliefs: Viewing the glories from a mountain is “a calm prayer…you are nothing, God is everything” Honour1979p80. The viewing of landscape generates feeling with both Art & Science leading to understanding of the Divine in nature. In Art one feels God within oneself. He later saw painting as a way of revealing the inner & organic workings of nature, with spiritual enlightenment a secondary matter Vaughan2004 p217
-CASORATI, Felice, 1883-1963, Italy:
Background: Born in Novara OxDicMod
Training: At the Academies of Padua, Naples & Verona
Influences: Art Nouveau & then Metaphysical Painting & Cezanne OxDicMod, Ateneum p87
Career: He took a law degree in 1906. After war service he began teaching at the Turin Academy, founded an art school, & became influential in the city’s intellectual & artistic circles. He exhibited with Novecentro OxDicMod, Ateneum p87
Oeuvre: Figure paintings, portraits, landscapes; & also prints, sculpture & costume design OxDicMod.
Speciality: Bathing or nude female figures Ateneum p87.
Phases: Initially his work had hard outlines & strong colours OxDicMod.
Characteristics: In the 1920s his figures have volume & substance, & there is a sense of unreality often with strange perspectival effects. During the 1930s his palette lightened & his composition was more rhythmic OxDicMod. His sharp contrasts between light & shadow are like those of Caravaggio & the 17th century Spanish masters. Many works have an arrested, timeless feeling Ateneum p87.
Politics: He was an active anti-Fascist Ateneum p87
Aims: The linking of modern with older art, the rejection of Futurism, & those of the journal Valori Plastici Ateneum p87
Grouping: He was the leading Italian Magic Realist & has been classified with Neue Sacklichkeit Ateneum p22, Hayward1979 p10
-CASSATT, Mary, 1844-1926, France (USA):
Background: Her father was a Pittsburg banker Grove5 p921.
Training: When 16 she attended classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. During 1866-90 she studied under Gerome, Charles Chaplin, Paul Soyer & Couture in France; & with Charles Bellay in Rome Grove5 p921
Influences: From 1871 she copied in museums in Italy, Spain & Antwerp. Her study of Velazquez, Rubens, Couture, Courbet & Degas caused her to question contemporary Salon painting. Degas was particularly important with his cropping, framing & strong diagonal thrusts across picture plane; his figures in unaware moments & not academically posed, & his avoidance of Impressionist vagueness. Japanese prints were another source. During the 1890s she was influenced by the pastel techniques of the 18th century masters, especially La Tour Grove5 p923. She regarded Sargent as fuddy-duddy lacking Impressionist candor Grove5 pp 921, 923, Hughes1997 p256-8.
Career: She had a cultured upbringing. During 1851-5 she was abroad. In 1874 she settled in Paris where she lived alone in her studio. She exhibited at Salons of 1868, 1870 & 1872-6; & at the Impressionism exhibitions of 1879 (invited by Degas), 1880, 1881, 1886. From 1877 she lived with her newly arrived family. In 1889 & 1890 she exhibited with new Societe des Peintres-Graveurs, & in 1891 had her first solo exhibition at Durand –Ruel. Her mural Modern Woman was painted for the International Exposition at Chicago, 1893.. In 1894 she bought a chateau outside Paris, & henceforth alternated between the country & with trips to the south in winter. She helped her American friends -the Havemeyers, Mrs. Sears, Bertha Palmer, & James Stillman- build their collections. Around 1916 she ceased painting (cataracts) Grove5 pp 921-2
Periods: During 1860-78 he mainly painted portraits & genre, specializing in women in Parisian interiors. Her work was painterly with rich, dark colours. She developed an increasingly innovative style (& was rejected at 1875 & 1877 Salons). The years 1879-86 were her Impressionist period when she used a pastel palette & exuberant brushstrokes. Between 1886 & 1900 in her mature period her work was more finished & dependent on linear design. She increasingly concentrated on mother & child pictures & on studies of women & young girls. From 1900 she often used somber colours Grove5 p921-3
Innovations: Pastels conveying the vibrancy of modern life Grove5 p923.
Verdict: She was the outstanding woman painter of the 19th century Hughes1997 p256, Gerdts1980 p45.
Grouping: She was an Impressionist though this has been questioned Gerdts1980 p45.
Personal: She may have had a romantic relationship with Degas, why else would she have carefully destroy correspondence Hughes1997 p257.
Repute: She has been celebrated by Feminists (Pollock, Nochlin) for questioning & subverting traditional images of women, despite fidelity to the social realities of middle class female life Nochlin1999 p214. Her Woman in Black at the Opera gazes through opera glasses which were an instruments of male power. Her mother is pictured as mentally active (Reading “Le Figaro”) & powerful (Portrait of Katherine Kelso Cassatt). Her more conventional motherhood scenes avoid sentimentality &, according to Linda Nochlin, animalistic depiction (as in Renoir’s contemporaneous Motherhood) Nochlin1999 pp 192-6. [But is this really subversive?]
[Expand=Mathews]
..CASTELLO, Valerio, 1624-1659, Italy=Genoa:
Background: His father, Bernardo, was a rather conventional painter & friend of Tasso & Chiabrera Waterhouse1962 p213
Training: In the studio of de Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari Wittkower1973
Influences: Corregio, Van Dyck & Rubens Wittkower1973 p352
Oeuvre: Fresco & history painting, etc Waterhouse1962 p213
Characteristics: His masterpieces –dramatic, sophisticated, spontaneous & lyrical- have extraordinary intensity with violent contrasts & fiery, scintillating hues Wittkower1973 p353, Waterhouse1962 p213
Status: Together with Giovanni Battista Castiglione he was the best Genoese painter of the mid-17th century Waterhouse1962 p212
Forerunner: His pictures of domestic devotion anticipate the rococo Waterhouse1962 p213
*Giovanni Benedetto CASTIGLIONE/IL GRECHETTO, Francesco’s father, 1609-c1664 (confusable with Baldassar Castiglione) Italy=Genoa:
Background: Born Genoa L&L
Training: Sinibaldo Scorza, who was an Italian specialist in Flemish anima & still-life genre L&L
Influences: The etchings of Rubens, Van Dyck & Rembrandt etc; Poussin’s Classical landscapes to which he added greater Realism; Bernini; da Cortona; &Strozzi OxDicArt, L&L
Career: He was in Rome during 1632-4 & from 1634 in Naples. In 1645 he returned to Genoa, & in 1648 became court painter in Mantua L&L
Phases: During the 1630s he produced fluid brush drawings in oil on paper. Towards end his worked were ecstatic & Bernini-like L&L
Characteristics/Oeuvre: He was extremely eclectic & versatile, painting Grand Manner history paintings, rustic genre, animals, & Rosa-like fantasy pictures OxDicArt
Firsts: He invented the monotype technique during the 1630s by which a single print made is from an unincised copper plate painted with oils or printers’ ink L&L
Features: He was open to foreign influence which was then unusual in Italy OxDicArt
Influenced: Fragonard, Tiepolo OxDicArt
Anticipations: He was sometimes Boucher-like Fry1926 p111
Castletillo(s). See del Castletillo(s)
-CATENA, Vincenzo, c1480-1531, Italy=Venice:
Career: He was wealthy L&L
Phases: Initially he was Bellini-like but rather naive; & later Giorgione-like (but only after his death) RAVenice p167
Circle: This was humanist & included Antonio di Marsilio, Giovanni Egnazio & Giorgione RAVenice p167
-CATLIN, George, 1796-1872, USA:
Background: Born Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Grove6 p87
Training: Self-taught L&L
Career: He was briefly a lawyer but then set out to record native Americans by accompanying General William Clark on a diplomatic mission in 1830 up the Mississippi where he produced his most vivid & penetrating portraits of his career. Later he made trips along the Arkansas, Red & Mississippi rivers & visited Florida & the Great Lakes. In 1837 he mounted a big Indian Gallery collection, published his first Catalogue & began lecturing. Soon after he began a lifelong & abortive effort to sell his collection to the government. Rebuffed he exhibited his collection in Europe. In 1841 he published a book on the customs & conditions of the native Americans. Confident that Congress would ultimately purchase, he borrowed heavily & in 1852 suffered financial collapse. His debts were paid & by the American manufacturer Joseph Harrison, who shipped the collection to Philadelphia, where it was stored, & after Catlin’s death donated to the Smithsonian. Catlin ultimately secured funds to travel to South America, where he painted the native inhabitants. These, copies of works from his Indian collection, & new works from a trip up the Pacific coast comprised his Cartoon Collection. It was shown in Brussels & New York. From 1965 many of the works have been at the National Gallery of Art, Washington Grove6 pp87-8
Oeuvre: Huge, long recognised as vital source material, but only recently discussed as compelling art Grove6 pp87-8.
*CAVALLINI/DEI CERRONI, Pietro, active 1273-1308, Italy=Rome;
Background: He belonged to the ancient family of the Cerroni Grove6 p103
Career: He was employed by Charles II of Anjou in Rome L&L. In 1308 he was in Naples working by invitation for the Angevin kings OxDicArt, Brigstocke
Influences: The Palaeologus phase, 1261-1453, of Byzantine art Brigstocke
Oeuvre: He worked in large fresco & mosaic. It is believed that he painted frescoes depicting the life of St Francis in the upper church at Assisi, possibly the last six, together with the 32 Old Testament scenes above Brigstocke, LP
Characteristics: Soft modelling & relative naturalism. His figures were majestic & have a real sense of weight & three-dimensionality as in the Angels which is a surviving part of his Last Judgement, c1293 S Celia in Trastevere, Rome L&L, OxDicArt, Grove6 p104 He was the first artist to make a significant break with Byzantine stylisation, becoming the first artist to break with the late medieval tradition of central Italy & establish an original figure style which anticipated Giotto OxDicArt, Brigstocke
Innovations: His style displayed a new vision of the human body and is the first medieval artist whose identity and personalisy are know. The painting of areas of wet plaster small enough to be completed in one day Grove12 p695
Status: He may have been Rome’s leading painter & in Naples he achieved a social position which was unprecedented in Italy OxDicArt, Brigstocke
Legacy: Cavallini founded a Roman school of painting which fused antique, Byzantine & some Gothic elements. When he died he was given the honour of burial in S Paolo fuori le Mura. He influenced Giotto via Cimabue L&L
..CAVEDONE, Giacomo, 1577-1660: Italy=Bologna: Baroque Movement
Background: He came from Sasuolo in the Apennine foothills south of Modena NGArt1986 p408, Waterhouse1962p92. His father was minor decorative painter NGArt1986 p408
Training: In Bologna 1591-5 with Bernardino Baldi & Annibale Carracci NGArt1986 p408
Career: Between 1595 & 1619 he was Ludovico’s principal assistant, & in 1609 Reni’s assistant in Rome. Around 1612-3 he was in Venice NGArt1986p408. About 1612-4 he produced a handful of great paintings, but they did not continue Waterhouse1962 p92. Between about 1623 & 1630 he sustained an accident & calamities. He seems to have lost the will to paint & mostly lived in a state of extreme poverty & pious resignation NGArt1986p408
Speciality: Monumental altarpieces NGArt1986 p408
Characteristics/Phases: His earlier works weld Annibale’s plastic forms to Ludovico’s abstract surfaces. After his stay in Rome his work became more monumental & Classical NGArt1986p408 Cavedone’s best work is dramatic & unclassical Waterhouse1962 p92. After his Venetian trip he produced a group of works that have a painterly richness unusual in Bologna. However, around 1618 his work became smoother & more generalised NGArt1986 p408
Influence: His Adoration scenes influenced Guercino’s early style & Crespi’s impressionistic works NGArt1986 p410
Cavaliere d’ Arpino. See Arpino
-CAVALLINO, Bernardo, 1616-56, Italy=Naples & Sicily; Baroque Movement
Background: He was born at Naples Grove6 p107
Influences: Rubens, Van Dyck, Sweerts, Castiglione & Poussin L&L
Career: Most of his best work probably dates from the 1640s & early 1650s Waterhouse1962 p182
Speciality: Smallish history paintings L&L
Characteristics: His works combine naturalism, courtly elegance, vivid colouring & the play of light. They are refined & lyrical L&L, Waterhouse1962 p182
Status/Verdict: He was the most individual & poetic Neapolitan painter during the first half of the 17th century Grove6 p107
Repute: He was not rediscovered until the early 20th century Grove 6 p107
..CAZIN, Jean, 1841-1901, France:
Background: He was born in 1841 Norman1977
Influences: Cazin was strongly influenced by Millet and Corot Norman1977
Career: A founder member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890. He became a chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1882 Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscape and history paintings Norman1977
Phases: In the 1890s he turned to subject pictures, placing biblical or historical events in a landscape setting Norman1977
Aim: A heightened mood of poetry, often painting at dawn and dusk. Norman1977
Repute: Cazin was highly esteemed in the last decades of the 19th century
*CERANO/CRESPI, Giovanni, c1575-1632 (confusable with Ceruti & Giuseppe Crespi), Italy; Counter-Reformation (early) and Mannerism Movements
Background: painter parents C-B p29
Influences: Lombard Sacri M Realism; Barocci; Roman Mannerism L&L
Career: born Cerano near Novara; late 1590s to Rome where befriended by Cardinal Frederico Borromeo; c1598 settles Milan L&L, OxDicArt Murrays1959; 1601-10 fresco at S. Maria presso S. Selso & 10 Quodroni (huge paintings in MilanCathedral of life & miracles of Carlo Borromeo aimed at sainting); 1620 Federico Borromeo maked Cerano the painting director of the Academy Ambrothersiana; in 1631 he became master of works at Milan Cathedral L&L
Oeuvre: also sculpture, architecture, engraver, writer L&L, OxDicArt
Phases: early Lombardian realistic; then more Mannerist; 1600 delicate, almost introspective Baroquism (Two Franciscans Nursing a Sick Man Art etc) C-B pp 30-1 leader of new more realistic generation in Milan Friedlaender1925 p66
Characteristics: eclectic/expressive L&L; mystical feeling; Mannerist colouring/elegant figure postures + Baroque solidity/Realist detailing OxDicArt; Madrid paintings (Uffizi/Brera etc) new simplicity/symmetry/solidity of forms/colouristic richness Friedlaender1925 p66; often almost agonising tension, sliver-grey light/clear tones Wittkower p99
Style: eclectic L&L
Status: a leading Counter Reformation artist L&L; leader of new more reealistic generation in Milan Friedlaender1925 p66; Anti-Mannerist Friedlaender1955 p37
Status: along with Procaccini & Morazonne, leading Milan artist in early 1600s L&L
..CERESA, Carlo,1609-1679, Italy=M&L, confusable with Ceruti:
Background: Near Bergamo Grove6 p343
Influence: Late Mannerism, Crespi Grove6 p343
Teacher: Daniele Crespi Waterhouse1962 p144
Oeuvre: Religious works & portraits in oils & fresco Waterhouse1962 p144, Grove6 p343
Characteristics/Phases/Verdict: He moved from Mannerism to a more naturalistic tradition, & his warmly human religious paintings placed in a domestic setting display simple, sincere devotion. His colour is delicate with intermediate tones & the portraits powerfully convey character. From the late 1650s his non-portrait work was somewhat repetitive Grove6 p343
Grouping: He was a Lombard painter of reality & the link between Moroni & the 18th century paintings of Ceruti & Glissandi Waterhouse1962 p144, Grove6 p343
-CERUTI, Giacomo, 1698-1767 (confusable with Ceresa & Cerano) Baroque Movement
Background: Italy taste for the grotesque Levey1966 p132
Influences: Callot’s prints, borrowing liberally+Bloemaert’s pastoral scenes L&L; Ghislandi Murrays1959
Career: c1721-35 in Brescia (East of Milan); from c1736 in Venice the Veneto & Piacenza L&L
Oeuvre: prolific portraitist of local aristocrats L&L; a few altarpieces Waterhouse1962 p150
Specialities: stark dark-hued beggars/vaggabonds, nicknamed Piocchetto=little beggar L&L; genuine Realism, neither sympathy nor disgust Waterhouse1962 p150
Clientelle: appears to have sold his low class pictures to Brescian/Garda villa folk Waterhouse1962 p150
Characteristics: careful depiction of costumes/textures; sober (unlike Traversi); unsentimental Levey1966 pp 131-2
Status: Realism Levey1966 p131; Lombard painter of reality Waterhouse1962 p150
– CERQUOZZI, Michelangelo, 1602-60, Italy:
Background: Born Rome Grove6 p346
Training: de Haase OxDicArt
Influences: His friend Pieter Van Laer L&L, OxDicArt
Career: He spent his entire life in Rome & belonged to the Accademia di S Luca from 1634 Grove6 p346
Oeuvre: Battle scenes, genre works, religious works & occasional mythical & literary scenes Grove6 pp 346-7
Characteristics: His battle paintings show anonymous figures in furious cavalry skirmishes sometimes fronting Roman ruins & in the [as in] Sack of a Village (Museo Nazionale di San Martino) soldiers or brigands murder & abduct the inhabitants. The genre works include naturalistic depictions of upper class activities as in the Garden Party, c1642 (Schloss Wilhelmshaven) Grove6 p346
Friends/Circle: Domenico Viola, Pietro da Cortona Giacinto Viola, Paulus Bor, Cornelis Bloemaert’s Grove6 p340
Patronage: Initially he probably sold to dealers; then to professionals; & also to leading aristocrats although not to the Barberini circle Haskell p130
Status: He was the leading native Italian Bambocciante OxDicArt
Cesari. See death’Arpino
..CESI, Bartolomeo, 1556-1629, Italy=Bologna:
Background: Born in Bologna into an affluent family Grove6 p361
Influences: The Carraccis to whose circle he belonged Grove6 p361, Spear p218.
Career: During the 1570s Cesi was involved with Prospero Fontana & others on the decoration at Bologna cathedra. The work was co-ordinated by Cardinal Paleotti, & this influenced his development Grove6 p361. He probably went to Florence in the early 1580s & was influenced by Santi di Tito’s lucid, uncomplicated works Posner1971 p37
Characteristics/Phases: His early work has a late Mannerist elegance. Cesi’s mature work is sober, devotional, abstract in exposition, & with precise, linear naturalistic figures in a cold, clear light. His works, which became increasingly severe, seem designed to instruct rather than to move Grove6 p361, Posner1971 pp 37-8, Spear p140.
Group: The Carracci circle Spear p218
** CEZANNE, Paul, 1839- 1906, France:
Background: He was born in Aix-en-Provence, the son of a hat dealer who became a prosperous banker OxDicMod
Training:At the Ecole Municipale de Dessin in Aix, 1857-61; & at the Academie Suisse in Paris, 1861-2. Here he met Pissaro Turner MtoC p70:
Influences: Pissaro who intoduced him to Impressionism in Paris; also Delacroix L&L, Clark1949 p208
Career: His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps & put him to law studies, but in 1861 he managed to embark on a career as an artist & with a modest allowance established himself in Paris. Here he moved from studio to studio, failed the entrance exam for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, copied in the Louvre, moved backward & forwards to Aix, participated in the Salon des Refuses, had his pictures rejected by the Salon, & in 1969 met a young model, Hortense Fiquet, who became his mistress Kendall1992 p9, TurnerMtoC p70, L&L
He participated in the first & third Impressionist exhibitions & was given a one-man show by Ambroise Vollard in 1895. This excited many younger artists but attracted little general attention. Rarely seen he began to acquire a legendary reputation & by 1900 was revered by many in the avant-garde, & in 1904 he had a special exhibition at the Salon d’Automne OxDicMod. However, his main impact was not felt until after his death & the two large exhibitions of 1907 L&L
Specialities: Portraits of his wife, Hortense, still-lifes & above all landscapes of Provence, especially Monte Sainte-Victoire OxDicMod
Technique: His lack of conventional draughtmanship frustrated his ambitions to paint large figurative works. He did not use nude female models, explaining in 1904 that this might cause a scandal in Aix &, more importantly, because he was shy Jacobs1979 p76
Phases/Characteristics: At first he produced loosely painted scenes of violence, & also sombre portraits using a palette knife to produce a compact surface L&L. They included scenes of unparalleled sexual savagery K&P p11. In 1870 he painted his first important landscape, The Railway Cutting Clark1949 p216, Wikip. From around 1872 his palette & touch lightened. This was under the influence of Pissaro with whom he worked for periods during 1872-4, & who advised him to abandon blacks, bitumens & earth colours Reyburn p58, Turner MtoC p72. During this phase he almost always worked from the model or motif, returned frequently to the same subject in his portraits, still-lifes & landscapes which occassionaly included nude figures. These suggest a Golden Age combining humanity & nature L&L. In the 1880s he started painting naked male & female bathers John McEwen Country Life 27/2/19. He next adopted an abstracted version of Impressionism in which he simplified & concentrated colours, used brushstrokes to indicate pictorial structure, & represented shapes so as to create tension over space. Because he built his pictures patch by patch they often have a mosaic character & objects have a faceted look L&L His paintings rarely indicate the time of day or even the season OxDicMod
Innovations: Cezanne was probably the first artist to complete paintings almost entirely with a palette knife Grove23 p379
Beliefs: “that final perfection which earns the admiration of imbeciles is merely the effect of craftsmanship & renders all work resulting from it inartistic & common” Lindey p97. “I wanted to make of Impressionism something solid & enduring, like the art in museums” TurnerMtoC p70. However his real aim was an impossible reconciliation between the complexity of visual experience & art’s call for succinct, reconciled images L&L
Grouping: Although he is customarily given extended coverage in books on the Impressionist, he is authoritatively seen as a Post-Impressionist OxDicArt, Denvir p199
Friends: Zola who encouraged his urge for self-expression L&L
Personal: According to the poet Rilke, Cezanne, who only developed a taste for work at 40 but then never ceased, was constantly enraged with every picture & exhausted every evening to the point of collapse. No picture achieved “La realisation”. He attended Mass & Vespers every Sunday hoping to achieve it John McEwen Country Life 27/2/19
Legacy: [It was enormous & included the following influences on Modernism.. If it was legitimate to systematise & tidy up landscape, it must be appropriate to depict mechanical objects & those whose forms were already regular.] Rilke’s poetry was deeply influenced by Cezanne L&L
**CHAGALL, Marc, 1887-1985, Russia:
Background: He was from a poor, deeply religious family from Vitebsk L&L, OxDicMod; His father was a herring, depot worker and mother was uneducated Venturi p6; Hassidism was influential among Russian Jews which brought constant stresses in communion with God; providing peace, joy, condemning asceticism and sadness Venturi pp 13-14
Training: Studied in 1908 at St Petersburg School of Fine Arts but disliked its rigid teaching methods. From 1908-9 he joined Baskt’s private school, where they liked his work but were unenthusiastic about his decorative aesthetic and soulless objective portraits Venturi pp 8, 20
Influences: Using many memories of Jewish life, folklore and the Bible, giving his work a strong nostalgic, celebratory feel, spacial dislocations and prismatic colours from Cubism/Orp OxDicMod; the Delaunays Tate2013 pp 84-5; From 1914 he turned to Expressionism Venturi p18 Anti-Real of Jewish State Theatre boosted his confidence in reality of the unreal Venturi pp 38, 40
Career: From 1910-14 he joined avant-garde circle in Paris (Delaunays, Soutine, Leger, Modigliani) & exhibited with Cubists, where he stayed with Delaunays. In 1914 he moved to Russia and was caught by the War. In 1918 Art Commissar Vitebsk, where started school and in 1919, he invites Malevich to join but he then takes over saying Chagall was old fashioned & irrelevant. In 1920 moved to Moscow working on designs for Jewish state Theatre, then to Berlin in 1923, Paris in 1941-8 then to New York and Paris. From 1949 he lived near Nice L&L, OxDicArt, Gray p240, Read p124, Venturi p38; Tate2013 p84
Phases: While staying in Russia his early paintings were white & grey/black but converted to bright/melodious colour in Paris. Moving from the strange (violinist on roof) to the inconceivable Venturi pp 25, 28 In 1911 semi-Cubism =geometricisation but only a superficial mannerism & soon returns to roots Read p124 He hinks Cubism separates art from life but some Cubistic works until 1918 Venturi p37; 1912-13 Delaunay influenced paintings Tate2013 pp 84-5; from 1923 unruffled serenity, with hint of melancholy, never more charming but perhaps certain loss of depth, glowing colours Venturi pp 18, 66
Oeuvre: prolific including book illustration, stained glass designs, sets/costumes for theatre &ballet OxDicArt
Characteristics: highly distinctive fantasy, often with airbourne figures OxDicMod; palette’s barbaric richness Read p126; painting not merely emotional seasoning to intellectual speculations but of imagination run free & wild Venturi p40; painting from heart/with love in contrast to Matisse & Picasso who, absorbed in technique, lack humanity Read1931 pp 157-8
Status: sometimes regarded as Surrealism precussor but said work about conscious memories, not unconscious associations OxDicArt, OxDicMod; now seen as Neo Private TurnerEtoPM p263
Influence: his fantasy & that of de Chirico made deep impression on young generation Read p124; Surrealists debt to Chagall finally acknowledged by Breton, 1945 (previously ostracised, suspected of mysticism they hatred) Venturi p65
..CHALFONT, Jefferson, 1856-1931, USA:
Background: He was born at Sadsbury Township. Pennsylvania AinP p236
Training: At the Academie Julian under Bouguereau & Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, 1890-92 AinP p236
Career: He initially followed his father’s trade as a cabinet-maker, spent the summers of 1891-2 painting plein air figural composition, & returned to Wilmington Delaware in 1892 AinP p236
Chalons. See de Chalons
CHALMERS, George, 1833-78, Scotland:
Background: His father captained a coasting vessel WoodDic
Training: Trustees’ Academy under Lauder from around 1898 Macmillan1990 p231, WoodDic
Influences: Pre-Raphaelites especially Millais Macmillan1990 p232
Career: Initially he was apprenticed to a ship chandler, & made occasional painting trips to the Continent, Skye, Glenesk & Ireland. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1871 WoodDic
Oeuvre: Domestic genre, landscapes & portraits WoodDic
Characteristics: His genre & portraits are mostly single quiet figures placed in strong light & seated in dimly lit interiors WoodDic. Though Lauder’s pupils paint very differently, all have sense of colour & unified composition through light & atmosphere Macmillan1990 p232
-CHANDLER, Winthrop, 1747-90, USA:
Background: He was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, the son of a farmer Grove6 p446
Career: He probably started as a sign painter, worked in Connecticut in the Woodstock area but moved to Worcester, Maryland, in 1785. His activities were diverse including gilding, carving & house painting. He was often in financial difficulties L&L, Grove6 pp 446-7
Oeuvre: Portraits & landscapes, though the latter appear to be attributed Grove6 pp 446-7
Characteristics: He was a vigorous portraitist who never achieved the sophistication of the Boston-bred painters such as Feke, Greenwood & Copley. His style was that of a highly gifted folk painter, & his work was linear & very realistic with accurate renderings of costumes & furnishings in his monumental full-length portraits L&L, Grove6 pp 446-7
..CHAPLIN, Charles, 1825-91, France
Background: He was born in Les Andelys to an English father and French mother Norman1977
Influences: Drolling, Chardin and Fragonard Norman1977
Oeuvre: Chaplin’s success was due particularly to his portraits of women and children, but he also painted genre, landscape and some mythological and allegorical works. Chaplin also heightened the effect of female charm by using pastel shades Norman1977
Career: Executed several murals for the Elysée Palace Norman77
Verdict: Empress Eugenie admired him: “Your pictures are not merely indecorous, they are more.” Norman1977
Awards: Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (1865), subsequently an officer (1887) Norman1977
..- CHARCHOUNE/SHARSHUN, Serge/Sergey, 1888-1975, France (Russia):
Background: He was born in Buguruslan Wikip
Training: He moved to Moscow in 1909, was taught by Ilya Machov, & at the Academie de la Palette under Jean Metzinger & above all Henri Le Fauconnier in Paris Grove6 p469, Artnet
Influences: Ornamental Spanish-Moorish art with its geometric patterns in ceramics & tiles Bach & Tchaikovsky Grove6 p469 Wikip
Career: In 1909 he moved to Moscow where he discovered Cubism & met the met avant-garde artists. He was called up in 1910 but deserted in 1912 & went via Berlin to Paris where he became part of the Ecole de Paris. During the war he took refuge in Barcelona. He participated in Dada demonstrations, founded the group Palata poetov & wrote a Dadaist poem. In 1922 he lived in Berlin but in 1923 settled in Paris Grove6 p469, Wikip.
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Abstract paintings, sometimes with representational elements, which range from clear cut geometric design in unmodulated bold colour to lyrical, tasteful works in pale almost monochrome colour which have no clear design. After meeting Ozenfant in 1927 he had, under the influence of Purism he simplified his design & from the 1940s his work became neo-Cubist Artnet images. Grove6 p469
Circle: Larionov, Goncharova & Tatlin in Moscow, & Marie Laurencin & Albert Gleies Grove6 p469, Artnet
***CHARDIN, 1699-1779, France; Realism, 18th Century Movement
Background: His father was a master carpenter L&L
Training: In 1718 he was an apprentice for Cazes; Coypel’s assistant at the Academy of Saint Luke L&L
Career: In 1728 he worked in the Academy then later became the treasurer where he was also responsible for picture hanging. From 1757 he worked in the Louvre quarters L&L
Phases: In 1620’s he tried unsuccessfully to compete with Oudry’s large & ornamental still-lifes moving to more smaller, more unified & static still-lifes from 1730-55. During 1760s after Oudry’s death, he received largers more decorative still-life commissions. From 1771 he mastered pastel portrait heads L&L
Technique: He painted impasto still-lifes laboriously from direct observation (unusual for still-life) By 1750s he used subtle glazes, scumbling & dragging techniques. L&L
Subjects His still-life depicted dead game; the kitchen table with copper & earthenware pots & utensils, fish, meat, vegetables & eggs and more refined desert table with fruits. , wine & porcelain, glass, silver, pewter; did not paint prepared or abandoned meals but a still moment before food preparation or consumption L&L
Characteristics: still-lifes in a soft & atmospheric manner with colour patches & blurred edges (Rembrandt inspired, unlike Claesz & Kalf’s shining clarity & precision) H&P pp 314, 317; classic still-lifes have a grave, even auster, moral compulsion/climate (domestic values of industriousness, education & order) due to long-meditated geometric arrangement of simple shapes & modest objects L&L; genre without sentimentality/affectation OxDicArt
Status: Realist like Hogarth & Troost NCMH7 p79
realist almost by default; not interested, like 19th century realists in depicting contemporary life; realism because avoided prestigious genres/lacked imagination P&R p34; represented naturalistic tendency tendency which existed alongside Rococo OxDicArt
Verdict: for genr&still-life one of greatest ever masters of still-lif&genre OxDicArt
Pupils: Fragonard OxDicArt
Followers: de la Portre L&L
Repute: disrepute with Neo-Classical critics of late 18th century & early 19th; resarrected by Rists in 1840-60s L&L
..CHARLES, James, 1851-1906, England
Background: He was born in Warrington, the son of a draughtsman & cabinet maker Wikip
Training: Hatherley’s School, the RA Schools from1872, & the Academie Julian in Paris WoodDic
Career: He exhibited at the RA, 1875-1906, the Grosvenor Gallery, & the Salon, 1897-1905. Charles belonged to NEAC1886-7 & continued to exhibit there. During 1889-95 he lived at Bosham, Chichester. He visited & painted at Montreuil-sur-Mer during 1902 & 1904.& went to Capri in 1905 WoodDic, Wikip.
Oeuvre/Phases: Initially portraits but then mainly landscapes & rustic genre WoodDic
Characteristics: His landscapes were pleasing, well composed works in harmonious & low-key colours, usually containing figures webimages.
Innovations: He was one of the first plein air painters in England WoodDic
Patron: John Maddocks of Bradford who purchased many works & successfully promoted his paintings in the north Wikip
Grouping: Impressionism Wikip
..CHARLET, Nicolas-Toussaint, 1792-1845, France:
Background: He was born in Paris Turner DtoI p46
Training: He first studied under Charles Lebel, a pupil of David , & from 1817 in Gros’ studio, where Joseph Bellange, Bonnington, & Delaroche were pupils Turner DtoI pp 15, 46, .
Career: After working as a minor civil servant & distinguished himself in the defence of Clichy. As a Bonapartism he lost his commission after the Restoration & turned to art. He produced drawings for a book on Napoleon, 1826, held various military positions after the 1830 revolution, entered the Academie des Beaux-Arts, 1836, & became a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, 1839 TurnerDtoI p46
Oeuvre: Lithographs & paintings usually of military subjects during the Empire TurnerDtoI p46
Characteristics: Some of his work celebrated Napoleon & his battles, but some did not, in particular The Retreat from Russia, 1836, which is a poignant picture vigorously executed in cold colours with slanting or whirling strokes of the brush Webimages, Leymarie p55
Friend: Gericault Norman1977
Collections: Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
CHARPENTIER, Constance, 1767-1849, France:
Background: She was born in Paris TurnerDtoI p46
Training : Francois Gerard & David TurnerDtoI p46
Career: She exhibited at the Salon from 1795 to 1819 & Melancholy, 1801,which showed a silently weeping woman was universally praised by the critics TurnerDtoI pp 46-7
Oeuvre: Sentimental genre & portraits of women & children TurnerDtoI p46
Status: She was considered by contemporary to be one of finest portraitists of the age TurnerDtoI p46
..CHASE, William Merritt, 1849-1916, USA:
Training: 1872-8 RAMun NGArtinP p236
Influences: Leibl’s bravura brushwork /dark palett&belief in direct/spontaneous painting with little retouching NGArtinP p236, Hughes1997 p261; Whistler’s isolate&single figure against bare ground, highly conscious props; Alfred Stevens Hughes1997 p262
Career: 1878 settles New York, teaching at Art Student League; summers 1881-2 to Paris = first seriously encounters Impressionism, meets Sargent Carolus-Duran NGArtinP p236; moves to Shinnecock eastern Long Island about 75 miles from New York, from 1896 Chase School of Art there; opposed New York’s Post-Impressionism/Cubist avant-garde OxDicArt, Hughes1997 pp 261-3
Speciality: Paintings of his sumptuous studio Galatti pp 38, 41, 51.Phases: full Impressionism after Shinnecock move = direct/simple landscape painting Hughes1997 p263
Characteristics: vigorous handling/fresh colour OxDicArt; landscapes more like Sisley than Monet’s divisionist colour Hughes1997 pp 263-4
Innovations: among earliest American artists painting Impistically in USA NGArtinP p236
Status: He was one of the most fashionable New York portraitists Hughes1997 p262; important art teacher of generation Gerdt p96
Grouping: He has been included in works on American Impressionism but it has been noted that he only adopted Impressionist techniques when they were useful as in the broadly rendered sunlit landscapes he painted at Shinnecock Gerdts1980 pp 24-5, 1984 p96
Personal: a toff (sauntered down 5th Avenue with Russian wolfhounds; lavish entertaining Hughes1997 p262.
Students: Demuth; O’Keefe; Sheeler; Stella; Hopper; Maurer Hughes1997 p261
-CHASSERIAU, Theodore, 1819-56, France:
Background: He was born at El Limon, near Samana, now in the Dominican Republic, the son of the French consul & a Creole mother. In 1822 the family moved to Paris Grove6 p500, Leymarie p92
Training: At Ingres’ studio, 1830-4 Grove6 p501
Influences: Delacroix Grove6 p501
Career: His Salon debut was in 1836 & in 1839 he exhibited the Venus Anadyomme & Susanna & the Elders which are elegiac, refined & sensual. During 1840-1 he visited Italy & in 1846 made a long journey to Algeria & Oriental scenes now dominated his work. From 1843 to 1854 he mainly painted murals Leymarie pp 93-5
Oeuvre: Biblical, mythological, & Orientalist works; also portraits, murals & etchings Leymarie pp 93-5.
Technique: He preferred painting oil on plaster to true fresco Grove6 p501
Characteristics: His work combines Hellenism & exoticism with a growing interest in romantic art. The early female nudes are Ingres-like but with a distinctive & heightened eroticism both elegiac & sensual. His portraits & other works of the early 1840s have refined colouring –greens, bistre, red & amber- & subtle, slanting composition & in the portraits a new intensity of feeling. In his Orientalist works he succumbed to the lure of the picturesque & his colours are heavier, more intense but meretricious, though the paint handling in the Interior de Harem was bravura & expressive Leymarie pp 92-3, Grove 6 p501, ThompsonJ p33.
Innovation: His etchings for Othello in 1844 were a landmark in the expression of romantic sensibility with their concentration on moments of intense emotion landmark in expression of romantic sensibility TurnerDtoI p48.
Verdict: Degas thought his Two Sisters, 1843, the best portrait of the century Leymarie pp 93-4
Friends: Marilhat ThompsonJ p110
Influence: His decorative paintings had a marked influence on Gustave Moreau & Puvis de Chavannes Grove6 p501
Repute: His importance was & is underestimated due to his early death, the destruction of the Cour des Comptes murals & the retention of paintings by the family Grove6 p501
Works:
Mural, 1844. (Chapelle de Sainte-Marie l’Egyptienne, Church of Sainte-Merri, Paris)
Mural, 1854. (Chapelle des Fonts Baptismaux, Saint-Roch, Paris)
Descent from the Cross, 1856 altarpiece. (Saint-Phillipe du-Roule, Paris)
Chevannes. See Puvis de Chavannes
..CHELMONSKI, Josef, 1849-1914, Poland:
Background: Born in Warsaw Norman1977
Training: Studied in Warsaw under Gerson, and at the Munich Academy from 1872-74 Norman1977
Influences/Phases: His early work was influenced by Lenbach and the Realist oriented Munich painters; his later work holds echoes of Bonheur Norman1977
Oeuvre: A Realist genre and landscape painter, who painted scenes of Polish peasant life. Chelmonski was always fascinated by horses Norman1977
Career: On his return to Poland in 1887, Chelmonski became an influential figure, and in 1897 joined the ‘Young Poland’ artistic group Norman1977
..CHERET, Jules, 1836-1932, France:
Background: He was born Paris Norman1977
Training: He was apprenticed with lithographers from 13 & took a course at the Ecole Nationale de Dessin, Paris under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran Grove6 p549
Influences: Watteau, Fragonard & Tiepolo Grove5 p550.
Career: In 1858 he first gained recognition with his poster Orpheus in the Underworld. He was in London from 1859 to 1866 where he designed book covers & posters for the circus etc. In 1866 with the support of a perfume manufacturer he set up a commercial colour lithographic shop in Paris. At first he worked in two colours but later his colour schemes became much more elaborate & varied. He used different stones to provide layers of colour which sere superimposed to convey a subtle range of delicate tones as in his Theatre de l’Opera Carnaval, 1892. After he retired in 1898 he produced murals Grove6 p551, Norman1977, Grove25 p346.
Oeuvre: Poster design & illustrations, & also paintings, pastels & murals Norman1977, Grove6 p550.
Characteristics: His posters are notable for the combination of artistry & technique & feature a romantic vision of fin-de-siecle women, or cherettes as they came to be called Grove5 p550
Innovations: Posters that were full of movement & colour; the use of pretty female face in advertising Norman1977, Grove25 p346.
Status: He was the father of colour lithography Grove6 p550
Influence; He inspired a generation of artists including Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, & Alphonse Mucha Grove6 p550
Collections: Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nice
..CHIA, Sandro, 1946-, Italy:
Background: He was born in Florence OxDicMod
Training: At the Academe, Florence OxDicMod
Influences: Poussin& Classical sculpture derived figures. He felt close to the heroes of his childhood: Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto OxDicMod
Career: In early 1970s he adopted Conceptual/Performance art but in 1975 returned to painting OxDicMod
Speciality: Muscle-bound & pseudo-heroic figures parodying Old Masters figures OxDicMod
Status: Transavantgarde’s senior figure & one of the best known Italy painters of his generation OxDicMod
Verdict: Pastiches of Italian Futurism, Mussolini –era official art & late de Chirico. His figures are lady-like coal heavers expelling wind while floating in postures vaguely derived from classical statuary Hughes1991 p400, OxDicMod
Grouping: Neo-Expressionism Lucie-S2003
Chimenti. See da Empoli
..CHINTREUIL, Antoine, 1814-73, France:
Background: He was born at Pont-de-Vaux Norman1977
Training: Under Corot Norman1977
Career: In 1847 he forst exhibited in the Salon. He settled in 1850 he settled at Igny in 1850, & in 1857 at Septeuil where he battled with illness, His work was little appreciated Norman1977
Oeuvre: Sensitive landscapes Norman1977
Chirico, See de Chirico
-CHODOWIECKI, Daniel, 1726-1801, Germany:
Background: father Polish cron merchant; mother = Hugenot descendant Germany Hugenot M site
Influences: Watteau/Chardin (prints) L&L; Hogarth repeatedly & often in detail Antal1962 pp 208-9
Career: born Danzig OxDicArt; shop assistant; c1743 turned to min portraits; then to literary/scientific illustrations & bourgeois life L&L; 1767 made name with Calas’s Family to His Family in Private Antal1962 p208; 1755 M Hugenot (Jeame Barez) Germany Hugenot M site; 1797 director BerA OxDicArt; much occupied charitable activities etc Antal1962 p208
Oeuvre: almost exclusively book illustrator, engravings in cycles (from 1774) telling stories Antal1962 pp 208-9
Phases: early oils imitate France manner OxDicArt
Characteristics: unlike Hogarth, much preferred to portray positive & moral activities, harmless/idyllic/tranquil/sentimental; out of depth when depicting passion/dissoluteness Antal1962 p208-9
Innovations: worked for Germany middle classes independent of court employment L&L; new era of Germany Realism; natural attitudes/facial expressions based on genuine study Antal1962 p208
Status: outstanding book illustrator of time Antal1962 p208
Verdict: little of Hogarth’s unique creativeness Antal1962 p208
Beliefs: opposed Hogarth’s bitterness/ugliness; engravings attacking France RevAntal1962 pp 208, 255; lifelong Hugenot; considered his work to be service to God Germany Hugenot Mus site
..CHRISTIANSEN, Poul, 1855-1933, Denmark:
Background: He was born at Hudevad Grove7 p233
Training: As a teacher & then at the Kristian Zahrtman’s art school, Copenhagen, 1885-90 Grove7 p233
Influences: Grove7 p233
Career: He worked at Kristian Zahrtman’s art school. In 1896 he made a trip to Italy. He did not receive popular recognition until a 1910 retrospective Grove7 p233
Oeuvre: Paintings & etchings Historical, religious & mythological subjects in distinctive landscapes, portraits Grove7 p233
Characteristics: Historical, religious & mythological subjects in distinctive landscapes, & well characterised portraits. His landscapes are attractive well composed & clear-cut realism Grove7 p233, Webimages
Collections: Faborg Museum for Fynsk Malerkunst Grove7 p233
Grouping: The Fynboerne (Funen Residents) along with Peter Hansen & Fritz Syberg Kent p198
CHRISTUS/CRISTUS, Petrus, c1442-72, Belgium=Bruges:
Background: Born Baarle-Hertog Grove7 p238
Influences: His contemporaries, & Van Eyck on whose work he was heavily dependent Brigstocke, L&L
Career: He was active in Bruges from 1444 when he became a citizen in order to become a painter Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, other religious paintings, genre, & portraits Grove7 pp 239-10
Innovations: His St Elgius as a Goldsmith, 1449, has been considered the first genre painting in northern art, & in his Virgin & Child in a Gothic Interior, c1455, there is a view into another room. By linking the viewer’s own space to that of the Virgin by perspectival means Christus has collapsed the distance (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri) Cuttler p131, Grove7 p239
Status: He was Bruges’ leading painter after van Eyck’s death,1441 L&L
Pupils: Possibly Ouwater Fuchs p14
..CHUBB, Ralph, 1892-1960, England:
Background: He was born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire Wikip
Training: Selwyn College. Cambridge; the Slade, 1919-22
Influences: William Blake & the haunting memory of a young chorister at St Albans, etc. E&L p70
Career: He was an officer during the war but was invalided out as neurasthenic in 1918. His paintings did not sell & he worked as an art master at Bradfield College & tutor of life drawing at St Martin’s School of Art. He moved with his family to the village of Curridge near Newbury & mainly devoted himself to his spiritualist & homoerotic books which celebrate the male adolescent nude Wikip, ArtUk, E&L p70
Oeuvre: Woodcut & from 1930 lithograph illustrations to his own privately printed books, but also paintings E&L p70
Characteristics: His paintings feature young male nudes but also include pure landscapes. His painted in a conventional realist manner E&L p70, Webimages
Beliefs: That he was a genius sent by God & that Albion could be redeemed by the boy-God Ra-el-phaos for whom Chubb was the prophet & herald E&L p70, Wikip
Repute: He is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary
..CHUIKOV, 1902-80, Russia:
Background: He was born at Pishpek (Frunze) Bown p240
Training: 1920-1 Turkestan Art School; until 1930 at the Higher Artistic Technical Institute, Moscow Bown p240
Career: During 1931-2 he taught at the Institute of Proletarian Visual Arts; between 1934 & 1937 he chaired the Kirgizian Artists’ Union; & during 1941-8 was a member of the USSR Academy of Arts. In 1947-8 he taught at the Moscow State Art Institute. He 1949 received a Stalin prize (Kirgizian Collective-Farm Suite) in 1951 & in 1951 another for landscapes. He was married to Evgenija Maleina who was also a painter Bown pp 240, 244
..CHURBERG, Fanny, 1845-92, Finland:
Background: Born Vaasa Grove7 p251
Training: She had private lessons in Helsinki from Lindholm etc, 1865-6; & then in Dusseldorf, 1867-8 & 1871-74, & Paris 1876 Grove7 p251
Career: In 1880 she abandoned painting & devoted helself to promoting national handicrafts Grove7 p 251
Phases: Early still-lifes. After another stay in Paris in 1878 her expressive use of colour became increasingly evident in her landscapes Grove7 p251
Characteristics: Her favourite time of day was sunset, dusk or moonlight & her season late autumn & not bright snowy winter Aeteneum p55 Explosive brushwork & lush shades of grey that indicate the the strange subdued glimmer when the sun does not rise above the horizon Grove7 p251. Her trees show the struggle against wind & her stones seen crushing. Nature is a never ending struggle in which man scarcely figures Ateneum p55
Repute: Contemporaries with their idealistic tastes found her pictures too strange & their colurs loud & garish. They were not the Dusseldorf idyll Ateneum p55
Grouping: Her work had expressionistic intensity Kent p221
-CHURCH, Frederick Edwin, 1826-1900, USA:
Background: He was born at Hartford. Connecticut the son of a wealthy businessman Grove7 p284, Norman1977
Training: With the local artists Alexander Emmons & Benjamin Coe, & then Thomas Cole, 1844-6 Grove7 p284, Norman1977
Influences: Ruskin’s aesthetics &, around 1850, Alexander von Humboldt’s book Cosmos with its Chapter on landscape painting & modern science, after which he fused panorama & scientifically correct detail. The sensational La Magdalena, 1854, was the first work based on his studies Grove7 pp 284-5.
Career: He began exhibiting at the National Academy of Design while still a student & in 1847 established his own studio in New York. In 1851 he began visiting Maine & from 1853 he travelled extensively to South America, Europe & the Middle East. Heart of the Andes1859 was the first of a series of tropical landscapes. In 1877 his hands became crippled & he ceased painting but continued sketching Norman1977, Grove7 pp284-6
Oeuvre: Landscapes, marine & coastal works, & early allegorical works Grove7 p284
Characteristics: Dramatic light effects combined with meticulous realistic detail Norman1977
Links: He had a studio in the same 10th Street building as Bierstadt Hughes1997 p195
Grouping: The second generation of the Hudson River School Grove7 p284 Norman1977
Reception: His nationalistic painting Niagara, 1857, made him the most famous American artist Grove7 p285
Grouping: The second generation of the Hudson River School Grove7 p284
Collections: At Olana, his house overlooking the Hudson, & the National Academy of Design Grove7 pp285-6
..CHUIKOV, 1902-80, Russia:
Background: He was born at Pishpek (Frunze) Bown p240
Training: 1920-1 Turkestan Art School; until 1930 at the Higher Artistic Technical Institute, Moscow Bown p240
Career: During 1931-2 he taught at the Institute of Proletarian Visual Arts; between 1934 & 1937 he chaired the Kirgizian Artists’ Union; & during 1941-8 was a member of the USSR Academy of Arts. In 1947-8 he taught at the Moscow State Art Institute. He 1949 received a Stalin prize (Kirgizian Collective-Farm Suite) in 1951 & in 1951 another for landscapes. He was married to Evgenija Maleina who was also a painter Bown pp 240, 244
..CHURBERG, Fanny, 1845-92, Finland:
Background: Born in Vaasa Grove7 p251
Training: Churberg had private lessons in Helsinki from Lindholm etc, 1865-6; & then in Dusseldorf, 1867-8 & 1871-74, & Paris 1876 Grove7 p251
Career: In 1880 she abandoned painting & devoted helself to promoting national handicrafts Grove7 p 251
Phases: Early still-life’s. After another stay in Paris in 1878 her expressive use of colour became increasingly evident in her landscapes Grove7 p251
Characteristics: Churberg’s favourite time of day was sunset, dusk or moonlight & her season late autumn & not bright snowy winter Aeteneum p55 Explosive brushwork & lush shades of grey that indicate the the strange subdued glimmer when the sun does not rise above the horizon Grove7 p251. Her trees show the struggle against wind & her stones seen crushing. Nature is a never ending struggle in which man scarcely figures Ateneum p55
Repute: Contemporaries with their idealistic tastes found Churberg’s pictures too strange & their colurs loud & garish. They were not the Dusseldorf idyll Ateneum p55
Grouping: Her work had expressionistic intensity Kent p221
-CIAMPELLI, Agostino, 1665-1630:
Background: Born Florence Grove 7 p297.
Training: Tito Grove7 p297.
Influences: Zuccaro, Pomarancio, Roncalli, & Domenichino Grove7 p297
Career: He was summoned to Rome when his patron Alessandro de Medici, Archbishop of Florence, was made a Cardinal Grove7 p297
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescos Grove7 p297
Characteristics/Phases: He followed Tito in the creation of new naturalist style in line with Counter-Reformation requirements. Around 1600 his work attained a purer & more monumental classicism; later he became interested in light effects; & finally he became more Baroque, but it was laboured & superficial Grove7 p297
Patrons: The Medici court, during 1600-3 the Jesuits, & Marcello Sacchetti, through whom he gained entry to the circle of Urban VIII Grove7 p297
Friend: Bernini Tito Grove7 p297
..CIARDI, Guglielmo, 1842-1917, Italy=Venice; Romantic Naturalism
Background: He was born in Venice, the son of an official in the Austrian government Norman1977, Wikip
Training: The Venice Academy under Moja & landscape & seascape under Domenico Bresolin Norman1977
Influences: The anti-academic Scoular di Resina in Naples. Etc web
Career: In 1868 he travelled to Florence, Rome & Naples making contact with the Macchiaioli & other Realist groups. Around this time, he painting some of his finest landscapes. In 1894 he became professor of vedute at the Academy in Venice Norman1977
Oeuvre: Land & seascapes exploring every corner of the Veneto region Norman1977
Characteristics/Speciality: His paintings are of pleasing lyrical nature featuring views of Venice & the Venetian lagoon as in Fisherman in the Lagoon, 1880-85 (Fondazione Cariplo, Milan) with its well-balanced composition, sense of depth, gently contrasting blues & accomplished brushwork webimages
Innovation/Grouping: He was one of the artists who after the reunification of Venice to Italy in 1866 marked the beginning of its own artistic renaissance introducing a new sense of realism & light. Others included Giacomo Favretto, Ettore Tito, Pietro Fragiacomo & Luigi Nono Grove32 p197
Friends: Giovanni Costa & the Macchiaioli painters Wikip
Dal Ponte. See Bassano
Dal Poggio. See Di Paolo
-Carlo CIGNANI, 1628-1719, father of Felice, Filippo, Pompeo & Paolo’s grandfather, Italy=Bologna; Baroque, Baroque Classical and Rococo
Background: He was born in Bologna, was a Count & appears to have worked for glory, not for need Grove7 p307
Training: In Bologna Under the minor painter Giovanni Battista del Cairo & then as the favoured pupil of Francesco Albani from whom he absorbed the tradition of Bolognese classicism from Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, Reni & himself Grove7 p307, NGArt1986 p412
Influences: Correggio, together with Poussin’s rigour NGArt1986 p412
Career: During 1662-5 he was in Rome in the entourage of Cardinal Girolamo Farnese where he painted in the apse of S. Andrea Valle. Back in Bologna he produced a series of celebrated works. He was appointed director for life of the Academia of the Academia Clementina, Bologna’s first municipal art academy Grove7 p308
Oeuvre: Historical, religious, mythological & allegorical paintings in oils & fresco NGArt1986 pp 412-17, Grove7 p308
Characteristics: He was a painfully slow & exacting worker, a fanatical perfectionist, who produced works that are splendidly composed & balanced, using sumptuous, luminous, harmonious colour, which variously included deep red, orange, blue & purple with white highlights & flesh tints. His works feature marked chiaroscuro & are of a highly dramatic nature with animated figures as in Joseph & Potiphar’s Wife, 1680 (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden); & Caritas Romana (Kunsthistoriches Museum), 1695 in which the figures are brought forward against a very dark background Grove7 p308NGArt1986 p412
Phases: Between 1683 &1706 he worked on his [as in] grandiose, hyper-dramatic Assumption of the Virgin (cupola of the chapel of the Madonna del Fuoco, Forli cathedral), a work that is seemingly in motion. In 1685 he even moved his studio to Forli NGArt1986 p412
Status: He was the most celebrated Bolognese artist of the latter 17th century NGArt1986 p412, Grove7 p307
Verdict: He has been repeatedly credited with having shifted Bolognese painting from an energetic & declamatory mode to a gentle, reflective & intimiste mood. [However, inspection of his work does not bear this out; & this is the case both for The Finding of Moses, an early work, originally cited in support of the assertion, which may be gentle but is certainly, with its gesturing figures, emphatic & dramatic; & also for the late Assumption] NGArt1986 pp 412-3, Wikip, Grove7 pp 307-08
Workshop: He made extensive use of assistants, although they were closely supervised NGArt1986 p412. His studio was vast Grove4 p277
Pupils: Marcantonio Franceschini, Giuseppe Maria Crespi; Giovanni Maria Benkovic; Andrea & Francesco Bondi; Giacomo Boni, Giovanni Girolamo Bonesi; Girolamo Domini; Pietro Donzelli; Francesco Galli; Bonaventura Lamberti; Giovanni Battista Loreti; Camilla Lauteri; Stefano Maria Legnani; Francesco Mancini; Paolo Antonio Paderna; Santi Vandi; Matteo Zamboni; & Charles Lucy; of which Franceschini, Benkovic were the most important L&L, Grove7 p309, Wikip
Grouping: Bolognese Classicism NGArt1986 p412, Grove4 p277
Reception: He was widely acknowledged as one of the finest Italian painters Grove4 p308
Patronage & Purchasers: Cosimo III de ’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; Lothar Franz Schoenborn, Elector Archbishop of Mainz; the Elector Palatine, John William Wittelsbach; & Duke Ranucci Il Farnese Grove3 p308
Collections: The Palazzo del Gardino, Palma; the Ashmolean Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum
Progeny: His artist sons Felice, Filippo, Pompeo (1677-1739?) who was a quadrature painter; & his grandson Paolo (1709-64) L&L
–Ludovico Il CIGOLI/CARDI, 1559-1613, Italy=Florence; Baroque
Teachers: Allori OxDicArt
Influences: Barocci, Corregio, Caravaggio & Veronese OxDicArt, L&L
Phases: Initially his work was Manneristic, but then it became more direct & emotionally expressive L&L. From 1604, when he moved to Rome, there was more dramatic chiraoscuro OxDicArt
Characteristics: A sensuous handling & colour with dramatic light & shade OxDicArt
Innovation: His colour style differs markedly from that of the prosaic Tito; & he largely inaugurated Florentine Baroque Hall1999 p255
Verdict: He was the outstanding Florentine painter of his generation OxDicArt
Influenced: Rubens Wedgwood1967 p31
*CIMA DA CONEGLIANO, Giovanni, c1459-1517, Italy=Venice:
Background: He was born in Conegliano L&L
Training: Vivarini L&L
Influences: Giovanni Bellini, Messina & later Giorgione Murrays1959
Career: His earliest dated painting is from 1489. .From 1492 he was in Venice L&L
Phases: His style changed little (& he repeated entire compositions) L&L
Oeuvre: Altarpieces & other religious paintings. He mainly painted imitations of Bellini L&L, Murrays1959.
Speciality: Quiet devotional scenes often in landscapes OxDicArt
Characteristics: His figures were calm & weighty OxDicArt
Verdict; His work was unsubtle but he had an individual response to landscape & a real feeling for light Steer p90
Studio: It was large L&L
Collections: NG OxDicArt
Cione. See di Cione for Nardo & Jacopo & Orcagna for Andrea
Cipper. See Todeschini
*CIMABUE/DI PEPI, Cenni, c1240-1302, Italy=Florence:
Background: Pisa was the great port of entry for Byzantine art & artists White p175
Influenced: By Cavallini with his new modes of fresco pinting & the classicism then current in Rome. He drew on antique Roman & Byzantine works & in his first Crucifix was also influened by the sculpture of Pisano L&L, Murrays1959, Grove7 p 314
Career: In 1272 he was in Rome & an independent master, & from 1301 he was in Pisa Murrays1959, White p175
Technique: He spread a thin coat of plaster over the whole wall, not a small area where painting could be finished before drying Grove12 p695
Oeuvre: Paintings, mosaics & possibly stained glass. His sole surviving document work is a mosaic of St John in Pisa. However, this has styalistic features that are very close to the great altarpiece the Madonna & Child Enthroned with Angels & Prophets, known as the Trinita Madonna (Uffizi) White p175, Grove7 p314. A moderately substantial amount of work has been attributed & it covers a wide range including a Crucifix, a Maesta & frescoes in the Upper Church of S Francesco, Assisi Grove7 p314
Characteristics: He attempted to paint things as they really were & his figures appear three-dimensional Eimerl p72. His paintings are monumetal both in composition & the solidity of objects & figures, angels included, Facial features have become larger & more powerful. However, his treatment of musculature is unconvincing . The colouring is subtle & he used a wide & continuous range of hues White pp 176-8, Grove7 p314.
Innovations: He made progress towards perspectival painting in the Trinita Madonna where the parallel lines at the base of the throne converge Eimerl p72. This work is twice as big as the average 13th century panel, although it continues the trend to greater size by Coppo di Marcovaldo & Guido da Siena White p176. Cimabue inserted an illusionistic jutting cornice above his frescoes in the upper church at Assisi which emphasises the pictorial space below. This device was developed in the nave by the First Master of the St Francis Legend & became one of the most elaborate illusionistic devices in pre-Renaissance art Grove7 p315
Personal: He was said to be arrogant & haughty & to have destroyed any work that turned out to be faulty Eimerl pp 64-5
Gossip: Cimabue is a nickname meaning oxhead presumably because of his strength & energy Eimerl p64
Status: He was the leading painter in Florence during last third of the 13th century but was then eclipsed by Giotto Eimerl p65
Pupil: He is traditionally regarded as having taught Giotto Murrays1959
– CINI, Bartolo di Fredi, c1330 but active 1353-1410, father of Andrea di Bartolo Cini, Italy= Sienna:
Influences: Simoni Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, Barna & late Gothic Murrays1959, Art in Tuscany site (AT)
Training: Ambrogio Lorenzetti AT
Career: He shared a workshop with Andrea Vanni & collaborated with his son & other artists, & held various civic offices AT, Brigstocke p49
Oeuvre: Frescos, panel paintings & polychrome sculptures L&L, AT
Characteristics: He was an eclectic artist but his work displays discrimination & imagination as in his Adoration of the Magi, 1385-9 (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena) which is a highly stylised & schematic work with its medley of animated figures painted in warm, harmonious colours, but features some delicately delineated garments. Another notable work but less stylised work is his Presentation in the Temple,1388 (Louvre) Grove7 p329, AT
Status: He became one of the most successful Sienese painters of the late 14th century & maintained a large workshop Grove7 p328, AT
Grouping: The International Style Walters pp 1-2
-CIPRIANI, Giovanni, 1727-85, Italy; Neo-Classicism
Background: He was born in Florence Grove7 p339
Training: Under the Anglo-Florentine artist Ignazio Enrico Hugford Grove7 p339
Influences: Grove7 p339
Career: He went to Rome in 1750 & became friendly with Wiiliam Chambers & Joseph Wilton who in 1755 took him to London. Here he settled, married an Englishwoman, & immediately became popular as an early exponent of the Neo-classical decorative style. He was an instructor with Wilton at the Duke of Richmond’s Gallery in Whitehall, an art academy; a member of the St Martin’s Lane Academy; a founder member of the Academy, where he exhibited; a teacher at the Royal Academy Schools; & a designer of stage scenery for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane Grove7 pp 339-40.
Oeuvre: Paintings & decorative design work, in particular allegorical & historical Neo-classical ceiling paintings as at Syon House, which fittingly accompanied the restrained architecture of Chambers & Robert Adam. These were often studio works onto canvas or even paper or were executed by others using his designs Grove7 p339, F&KB
Innovations: Stage scenery, hitherto the work of artisans, now became a fine art Grove7 p340.
Legacy: His teaching influenced a generation of artists including John Hamilton Mortimer Grove7 p340
Circigani. See Pomarancio
-CIURLIONIS, Mikolajus, 1875-1911, Lithuania, Symbolism/Abstract:
Background: He was born in Varena, Lithuania, the son of an organist Grove7 p363, OxDicMod
Training: Music at the Warsaw Institute of Music & the Leipzig Conservatory,& then painting at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, 1905, but he was mainly self-taught L&L
Influences: Lithuanian folklore, fairy tales & Oriental thought, L&L; Lithuanian mythology, Nietzsche & Rudolf Steiner: Theosophy GibsonM p230, Wikip
Career: In 1905 he turned to painting. In 1907 he moved to Vilnius; was a founder member of the Lithuanian art Society; & in 1909 moved to St Petersburg where his work was well received. He died insane Grove7 p363, Wikip, Hamilton1967 p86
Oeuvre/Characteristics/Verdict: Paintings in pastels & tempera of a mystical & visionary nature inspired by landscape & castles. Some of his work appears wholly abstract & he has been regarded as the first abstractionist. His works are of a pleasing & imaginative type as in Creation of the World IX, 1906 (M. K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas). They are also highly varied L&L, OxDicMod, webimages
Beliefs: That music & the visual arts are analogous Grove7 p363
Collections: The M. K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas
Civetta. See de Bles
*CLAESZ, Pieter, c1597-1661, Berchem’s father, Netherlands (Germany)=Haarlem:
Career: He settled in Haarlem in 1620 Grove7 p368, Wikip
Oeuvre/Characteristics/Phases: Still-life of the table top variety comprising breakfast meals & vanitas still life paintings featuring skulls, etc. Initially he painted monochromatic breakfast still-life corresponding to the tonal landscapes of contemporary Haarlem landscapists. His unifying colour is usually warm brown, gold or olive green with yellow or red fruit or contrasted with the cool greys of silver & pewter. He experimented with candle light & often a diagonal shadow fall on a background wall. Bowls of fruits & berries etc together with a jug are spliced on a white damask table cloth with little overlap between objects which are sometimes viewed from above. During the 1630s & 40s his compositions were simple, tight knit & refined as in Still-life, 1647 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). They resemble those of Willem Claesz Heda but are usually cooler & more luminous. Sometimes they are meticulously painted & sometimes vigorously free. His late paintings are often luxurious displays, grandly composed in bright colours webimages, Hodge 2020 p39, Grove7 p103.
Verdict: Although his work is restricted to table top still life displays surprising variety as in Vanitas with Violin & Glass Ball (Germaniches Nationalmuseum, Nurembourg)
Influenced: Other Haarlem artists & Chardin Hodge p39
Background: He was born in Paris to parents from wealthy New Orleans families Wikip
Training: With Jean-Charles Humbert in Geneva; & Leon Pomarede, Horace Vernet, Antoine Herbert, & Ingres in Paris Wikip
Career: The family returned to New Orleans when he was very young but when his parents separated the children lived in Paris with their mother. After his father’s death, 1836, he received a substantial inheritance. He travelled to Morocco, Algiers & the Middle East where he became interested in Oriental subject matter. After settling in New Orleans, he regularly painted with William Buck, Marshall Smith, etc. His Home on Bayou Street was a popular retreat for artists Wikip
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Calm, serene paintings of the low-lying countryside & waterways, often with fisherman’s or trappers’ shacks Grove23 p32, New Orleans Museum of Art
Pupil: William Henry Buck Wikip
Grouping: The Bayou School New Orleans Museum of Art
..CLARK, John Cosmo, 1897-1967, England:
Background: He was born in London & his father James was an artist ArtUK
Training: Goldsmith’s College School of Art, 1912-4 & 1918, Academie Julian, 1918-9, & RASchools 1919-21 ArtUK
Career: He fought in the war, having enlisted, & received an MC. From 1921 he taught at the Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts, & was then head of Hackney Art School. During 1928-9 he lived in New York. He exhibited regularly at the RA, 1924-67, joined NEAC in 1946 & became an RA in 1958. In 1939 he was appointed to the Camouflage Unit of the Air Ministry & later became its deputy chief ArtUK, E&L p71
Oeuvre: Landscapes, townscapes, genre, decorative works & portraits ArtUK, E&L p71
Phases: ArtUK
Characteristics: Works of a realist nature, painted head on, & not from a low or high viewpoint, with highlights that contrast sharply with dark areas Images at ArtUK, E&L p71
Wife: The artist Jean Manson Wymer, 1902-1999 E&L p71
..CLARKE, Joseph, 1834-1921, England:
Background: He was born at Cerne Abbas, Dorset Wikip
Training: J. M. Leigh’s Art School Wikip
Career: Brought up as a member of Swedenborgian New Church he remained a member all his life. He exhibited at the RA during 1857-1904 Wikip, WoodDic
Oeuvre: Domestic genre & a few biblical subjects WoodDic
Characteristics: His genre works were tender & affecting, usually children. Not all of them can be described as sentimental. The Chimney Corner has an authentic feel WoodDic, Wood1997 pp132-3
**CLAUDE GELEE/LORRAIN, 1600-82, France:
Background: He was born into a peasant family at Champagne in the Duchy of Lorraine Grove7 p389
Early Life & Training: After training as a pastry cook, he moved to Rome around 1618 and turned to painting. He moved to Naples and worked under the German artist Geoffreso Wals for two years. Then returned to Rome and was taught by Agostino Tassi, who specialised in landscape and illusionistic architecture. He followed Sandrart’s example by painting from nature Brigstocke, Clark1949 pp 122, 124
Career: He returned briefly to Lorraine in 1625, then became an assistant to the court painter Claude Deruet; retuned to Rome by 1627 and settled there for the rest of his life Brigstocke
Influences: The late Mannerists, Elsheimer’s landscape of mood. Brills & Albani Murrays1959, NGArt1986p366. He was also inspired by the coastline of the Gulf of Naples & the Roman Campagna Blunt1954 pp 196-7.
Phases: The use of light for dramatic effects, like Elsheimer, was replaced by the use of light for its own sake OxDicArt. From about 1655 his work is characterised by asymmetry and his colours are cool & chalky with silver L&L; open unconstrained views OxDicArt
Characteristics/Features: Nostalgia for the lost world of antiquity e.g. Landscape with the Arch of Constantine & the Colosseum Martin p249. The absence in landscapes of signs of rural labour, e.g. hedges, ditches, haystacks, ploughed fields RuskinMP Pt 9, Ch5, Sec 12 wholes not parts, which despite detailed elaboration only have schematic interest Fry p157; but some of the detail, such as foreground plants is of interest, also important because of light effects, e.g. Pastoral Landscape with Arch of Titus; appeal through splendid architecture of solid tonal masses Fry p158; The power of design is most evident in some drawings Fry p158; There were three types of drawings, viz preparatory composition, detailed studies of trees, rocks etc, with impressions of general effects of nature, e.g. mist effect, contrasting gloom & dazzling light on water & plains Fry pp 158-9; extreme simplicity obscures paintings’ rich observation/subtle tonality/delicate drawing/immense preparation Clark1949 p124; material pushed back to accentuate space (rare Baroque feature) Kitson1966 p12
Comparison with Pousin: They had different roots, with Claude deriving from the Northerners in Rome (Brill, Elsheimer) & Pousin from Bellini, Titian, Annibale Carracci, Domenichino Blunt1954 p196. Claude had a pastoral serenity of the Golden Age in contrast to Poussin’s heroic vision of ancient Rome OxDicArt
Status: Pre-eminently classical with landscapes subject to artistic laws of Italy Renaissance; a finite universe with picture space a section of a cube. Unlike Elsheirmer, Rembrandt & Turner Claude he had no sense of boundless space & time. His space was a limited recession from the pictures’ front plane ending in a luminous backcloth. Claude was not of interested in time past. This explains his inconsistent use of antique & modern dress. He lacked any Romantic interest in the remote past Wilenski pp 102-5; (The Baroque apart, there were two contemporary artistic strands, viz the Romantic which included Elsheimer & which for Dutch art culminated with Rembrandt and the classical -architectural-picturesque which ran from Paul Bril to Claude & Poussin, culminated for Dutch art with Vermeer Wilenski p59)
Method/technique: Sandrart says Claude was in the fields before sunrise and until sunset to study red skies. He then hurried home with suitably mixed colours Martin p61. Claude accurately sketched scenes from which he derived ideally composed landscapes Hussey p10. However, the composition was conceived first & then its elements were assembled Allen p77.
First: to find the Roman Campagna beautiful as opposed merely interesting Blunt1954 p197. Claude’s idealized landscapes were highly original because of the previous belief that idealisation was only applicable to the human figure Allen p 77.
Patrons: Claude always worked on commission, at first sometimes for agents but increasingly receiving direct orders Kitson1969 p6. Philip IV’s ordered a large commission in c1536 (the most important foreign commission in Italy during first half 17th century) His large landscapes featuring hermits & anchorites. It was made via the Crescenzi brothers, who were among the first to employ Claude Haskell pp 1 72-3; Lorenzo Colonna Haskell p155
Status: By about 1637 he had become the leading landscapist in Italy Kitson1969 p6
Verdict: This has varied widely. Fry criticised his oils for having a timid & formulaic composition & balance, & he thought his drawings superior because of their freedom & originality Fry p160. But, according to Kitson, his art is subtle, elusive & repays a patient, subjective response Kitson1969 p5
Legacy: There should be an area of light at the centre of a landscape & everything should be subordinated to a single mood Clark1949 p139. It was in England that his impact was greatest. However his earliest followers (Wooton & Lambert) were dazzled by his illusionistic skills & their works had a pastiche quality. It was not until artists (Wilson etc) visited Italy & saw for themselves that this quality evaporated Kitson1969 p9
Repute: He painted two pictures for English customers and by about 1700 his works were being imported at a steady rate but it was not until the 1820s when Richardson admired Claude, that his reputation soared. It lasted for over a century. As a result, most of his greatest works are in aristocratic & other collections in the British Isles Kitson, 1969 pp 5, 9
– CLAUSEN, Sir George, 1852-1944, England; Rural Naturalism/Impressionism British & Irish
Background: Born in London; his father was a Danish interior decorator & his mother of Spanish descent Grove7 p406
Training: Apprenticeship at the drawing office at a form of decorators, attending classes at the Government Art Training School, South Kensington; then full-time & briefly at the Antwerp Academy & the Academie Julian in Paris under Bouguereau & Robert Robert-Fleury, 1883 Grove7 p406, OxDicMod, Chris Beetles Gallery site, McConkey1989 p156
Influences: The Hague School, Leon Lhermitte, Millet, George Robertson Reid, Bastien-Lepage & French plein-air painting, etc OxDicArt, McConkey p23, Grove7 p406. ,
Career: Visited Belgium & Holland, 1975-6, first exhibited at the RA, 1876; painted at Quimperle in Brittany, 1882; moved to Berkshire, 1885; was a founder member of NEAC, 1886, after his Labourers after Dinner, RA 1884, had been attacked for its harsh realism; The Girl at the Gate, 1889, was purchased for the Chantry Bequest after its exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery; he moved to Widdington, Essex, 1891; was a popular & reforming professor at the RA 1904-6; became an RA 1908; & an official war artist,1917, painting the monumental [as in] In the Gun Factory, Woolwich Arsenal, 1918 (Imperial War Museum); & painted the mural Wycliffe’s English Bible for the Palace of Westminster, 1926, gaining a knighthood Chris Beetles Gallery website, OxDicMod, Grove7 p406; McConkey1989 pp 33. 124, 156, Rothenstein104
Oeuvre: Mainly landscapes & scenes of rural life; also town scenes, nudes, barn & domestic interiors, still-life, nudes & large decorative commissions OxDicMod, Web images
Phases/Feature: Initially plein air painting but later he worked in the studio from open air studies. After his move to the country Clausen produced a notable series of works in oils & watercolour in which he depicted the work of farm labourers toiling in the fields near his home as in Howing Turnips, 1884. In some works, the workers are vigorously swinging implements to emphasise how hard they are having to work as in The Mowers, 1892 (Usher Gallery, Lincoln) OxDicArt. McConkey1989 p26
Characteristics: He was preoccupied with light effects with his figures often painted contre-jour but maintaining a sense of solid form OxDicMod. [The most striking feature of Claussen’s work is their impact. In order for a painting of a realist nature to qualify as a great work of art it must, unless it has a direct emotional appeal, possess that seemingly magical quality of being super real: the creation of a visual impression more vivid & arresting than the one that would be obtained by actually looking at what is being depicted. Such a picture will have a hypnotic force. This was what Vermeer, Rossetti, & Sargent achieved. So did Clausen in his best works as in The Girl at the Gate, 1889).] Some of his works like this one have dappled or mellow colour but others [as in] such as Winter Work, 1883 (both The Tate Gallery) re-enforce their harsh message by locating the scene in a dismal dirty cold field under a grey sky in which heavy clothing is desirable Weisberg1992 pp110-11.
Grouping: Because he painted rural scenes of hard rural &/or monotonous rural labour Clausen belongs to the latter 19th century Rural Naturalist Movement along with such painters as La Thangue & Fred Hall in England & E, A. Walton, James Guthrie, George Henry & other Glasgow Boys See Sections 1, 9. However his membership was of an inter alia type because his output was so diverse
Style: Clausen’s earlier work was mostly of a rural naturalist type, although it already included some paintings of an Impressionist nature, but his later work was more consistently Impressionist in its facture & emphasis on landscape as in The Willow Tree, 1901 (Whitworth Gallery, Manchester) Weisberg1992 p92, webimages
Innovation: [He was one of the pioneers in the British Impressionist movement.]
Repute: His reputation slumped & as late as 1981 he was being censured as an unreflective & unoriginal follower of Bastein-Lepage. However, in 1989 Clausen was recognised by Kenneth Mc Conkey as producing major work of a British Impressionist type. [Nevertheless, he has not yet received the critical attention he deserves] & has not been accorded a full-length study OxComArt p115, McConkey1989 p33
Wife: The fellow artist Agnes Webster from 1881 Chris Beetles Gallery site
..CLEMENTE, Francesco, 1952-, Italy:
Background: Born Naples into a titled family & his father was a judge Braun p429
Training: Architecture briefly in Rome, but he is largely self-taught Braun p430.
Influences: Cy Twombly, Alghero Boetti & Hindu imagery Braun p430, OxDicMod
Career: He spent much of the 1970s in India studying theosophy etc; visited New York during 1981-2; & in 1983 established a studio there OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Much of his work is watercolour with his first big oils in 1981-2. He also uses pastel, monotype, fresco & sculpts OxDicMod, Braun p430
Characteristics: His work is highly stylised, simplified, clearly defined but modulated,& mostly in bright colour. Sometimes there are curious & figures & animals, & he creates a dream-like atmosphere. Some of his work is sexually explicit. He is less overtly expressionistic than Chia & Cucchi’s, being more thinly painted & dependent on imagery for its force webimages, OxDicMod, Braun p430
Status: He was a leading e He Tran savant Garde figure OxDicMod
Features: He collaborated with Basquiat & Warhol, & on books with the Beat poet Alan Ginsburg OxDicMod
Clev & Cleef. See Van Cleve
*CLOSE, Chuck, 1940-, USA:
Background: He was born in Monroe, Washington OxDicMod
Training: At Yale until 1964 OxDicMod
Career: In 1988 he was partly paralysed but resumed painting OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings OxDicMod
Phases: Abstract Expressionism & then Superrealism, turning from black & white to colour around 1970 OxDicMod
Characteristics: His Superrealism works are huge frontal heads transferred from photos using a grid to create an image as seen through frosted glass OxDicMod
..CLOSTERMAN, John, 1656-1713, England (Germany); Baroque
Background: He was born in Osnabruck Grove7 p461
Training: His father and then spent 2 years in de Troy’s studio Grove7 p461
Influences: Van Dyck (group portraits); Maratti (whom he painted in Rome) W&M pp 189-90; latterly Kneller Waterhouse1953 p143
Career: At 19 he moved to Paris from 1681-3. Riley’s partner painting draperies. Around 1685 he then set up independently. By 1690s he was growing in reputation with wealthier clients. In 1698 went on a European tour with Earl Stanhope & future 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury. Had a commission to paint Queen Anne secured against Kneller & Richardson. Latter years he concentrated on picture dealing Grove7 pp 461-2
Oeuvre: Portraits of leading figures Grove7 p461
Speciality: Family group portraits Grove7 p461
Status: He became Kneller’s chief rival HookJ p185
Verdict: He lacked Riley’s delicacy but better at composition W&M p189
*CLOUGH, Prunella, 1919-99, England
Background: Born Chelsea, into an affluent upper-middle-class family. Her father was the daughter of a civil servant & the niece of an important modern designer OxDicMod, Wikip
Training: Chelsea School Art, 1938-9, & Camberwell School of Art F50s p57, OxDicMod
Career: She lived throughout in London & made trips to the fishing industry in Suffolk & the industrial Midlands. Her mother owned a house in Southwold & until 1966 this was an important base. She taught part-time at the Chelsea School of Art, 1956-69 & Wimbledon School of Art, 1966-97 OxDicMod, Wikip
Oeuvre: Paintings, prints & assemblages made from found objects Wikip
Phases: Her early paintings feature the Neo-Romantic spirit of the place together with the vivid depiction of working lives as in her series of fishermen as in Lowestoft Harbour, 1951 (Arts Council Collection). The human figure gradually disappeared from her works & from the late 1950s her work became increasingly abstract, featuring fragments of urban detritus & rubbish. [It was now of a customary & well-worn type.] OxDicMod, ArtUK, wikip, webimages
Characteristics/Technique: Her non-abstract works are stylised, clear cut & modulated using a restrained, atmospheric range of colours with dominant greys, telling touches of ochres & rusty browns. She used thick impasto & she daubed, scratched, scraped out & obliterated using wire wool, rollers & wallpaper scrapers OxDicMod, Wikip
Preoccupation: “the nature & structure of an object – that, & seeing it as if it were strange & unfamiliar” OxDicMod
Verdict: Her [non-abstract] work is recognizable & has a particular, sometimes quirky character, not conforming to a brand-image L&L.
Circle: The Neo-Romantics Colquhoun, Vaughan & Minton, & the left-wing Social Realists Greaves, Berger, & especially the sculptor Gisha Koenig OxDicMod
Promoters: Roland, Browse & Delbanco (Cork St art dealers) helped establish her reputation OxDicMod
Reception: Her work enjoyed increasing recognition from the 1970s Wikip
..COATES, Tom, 1941, England: British Impressionism
Background: Born 1941 ArtUk site
Training: At the Bounville College of Art, 1956-9; Birmingham College of Art, 1959-61; & the RA Schools, 1961-4 ArtUKsite
Career: He belonged to the new carder of painters who began exhibiting at NEAC in the mid-1970s after the doldrums of the late 1960s & he became its president in 2003. of He was President of the Royal Society of British Artists. In 1990 he was commissioned by the Royal Watercolour Society to paint the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday ceremonial procession, & he was the official artist with the English cricket team in South Africa McConkey2006 pp 223, 239-40, ArtUK site
Oeuvre: Works of all typed –genre, landscapes, townscapes, interiors, nudes’ portraits, etc- in oils, watercolours & pastel ArtUk site
Characteristics: He paints [en plein air] in a spontaneous impressionistic style & his works display an exuberance [which fits his character] ArtUK site, webimages
-COCKBURN, James, 1778/9-1847, England:
Background: Born New York Grove7 p501
Training: Paul Sandby taught him topographical drawing at the Woolwich Royal Military Academy, c1793-5 Grove7 p501
Career: He travelled & sketched on the Continent during 1810-20 & established a reputation with illustrations in picturesque travel books. In 1826, he went to Quebec City to command the Royal Artilley but had time to complete many drawings L&L, Grove7 p501
Oeuvre: Drawings in a somewhat meticulous style with firm pen & ink outlines using watercolour washes Grove7 p 501
Feature: He depicted the Niagara Falls Grove7 p501
Conegliano. See Cima
Coninxloo. See van Coninxloo
-CODAZZI, Viviano, 1604-70, Italy; Baroque:
Background: He was born in the Valsassina valley north of Bergamo but the family went to Rome Brigstocke, Wikip
Training: Almost certainly in Rome Grove7 p509
Career: He moved to Naples by 1633; undertook a major commission of paintings of ancient Roman scenes; went back to Rome,1647, where he lived until his death. In Rome he collaborated with the Bambocciante Wikip, Grove7 p509
Speciality: Architectural & landscape backgrounds for Artemisia Gentileschi, Spandaro etc. The figures in his works were all painted by specialists L&L, Wikip
Characteristics/Innovation: His new & imaginary Neapolitan views had a new intimacy & realism as in Tower of San Vincenzo (Fondazione R. Longhi, Florence) with its naturalistic & dramatic contrasts of light & dark & sombre colours. His townscapes with ruins painted in dark browns & greys with dramatic perspective form grandiose settings for lively street scenes Grove7 p509
Status: He was the most important 17th painter of architectural views & capricci Brigstocke
Followers/Influenced: Ascanio Luciano, Andrea di Michele, Vincenti Giner, Domenico Roberti, Alessandro Salucci; & in the north Wilhelm Van Ehrenberg, Jacobus Seay, Jacob Balthasar Peeters, Antoon Gheringh, & Jan Straeten. He was a forerunner of 18th veduta painting Wikip, Grove7 p509
Sons: Niccolo, 1642-93, & Antonio became painters Wikip
-CODDE, Pieter, 1599-1678, Netherlands=Amsterdam:
Background: He was born in Amsterdam Haak p300
Oeuvre: Merry Companies, biblical & mythological scenes, also portraits L&L
Speciality: Guardroom scenes L&L
Feature: His work, like Dyster’s, constitutes a transitional stage between Buytewech’s spirited interiors & those of Vermeer & Gerard Ter Borch Franits Franits pp57-8
Verdict: He had considerable technical skill & his heads are cleverly painted Haak p300
Status: Together with William Dyster he was the leading genre painter in Amsterdam during the 1620s & 30s Franits p 57.
Influenced: Teniers, David the Younger L&L
Coecke van Aelst. See Van Aelst
-Alonso Sanchez COELLO, 1531/2-88, Spain:
Teacher: Mor in Flanders L&L
Career: In about 1553 he became with Mor the court portraitist of Philip IV L&L
Characteristics: His works were precise & austere but sensitive L&L
Taught: Pantoja L&L
–Claudio COELLO, 1642-93, Spain; Baroque
Background: Of Portuguese descent L&L
Influences: The Venetian masters & the Titians in the royal collection OxDicArt
Career: Coello travelled to Italy when a young man OxDicArt. He was a protege of the dowager Queen Marina & her son Charles II but was displaced from favour by Luca Giordano L&L
Characteristics: His works are festive, colourful & crowded L&G
Last: great painter of the Madrid School L&L
Grouping : Late Baroque L&L
..COGNIET, Leon, 1794-1880, France:
Background: Born Paris Norman1977
Training: At the Ecole des Baux-Arts under Pierre Guerin from 1812 Norman1977, Grove7
Career: In 1817 he won the Rome Prize & in 1824 established his fame with Marius on the Ruins of Carthage. From 1849 one of the most conservative members of the Institute Norman1977, Grove7 pp528-29
Oeuvre: Historical, mythological & religious paintings Norman1977, Grove7 p529
Characteristics: Powerful brushwork, compositional simplicity & dramatic content Grove7 p529
Phases/Reception: After 1831 he painted work of a Juste-milieu nature & gained great recognition Grove7 p529
Circle: His friends at the Ecole were Gericault Delacroix, Ary & Henry Scheffer, Jean Alaux & Xavier Sialon Grove7 p528
Pupils: They were numerous, including Bonnat. He emphasized the freely painted preparatory compositional sketch Norman1977
Sister: Marie-Amelie, 1798-1869 specialised in portraiture & exhibited at the Salon from 1831 Wikip
– COHEN, Bernard 1933-, England:
Background: Born London of Polish-Russian parents & had an Orthodox Jewish upbringing OxDicMod, Grove7 p529
Training: At St Martin’s School of Art, 1950-1, & the Slade, 1951-4 OxDicMod
Career: Between 1954 & 1966 he was in France, Italy & France on a travelling scholarship. Cohen was a member of the Situation Group & became prominent in the early 1960s. He taught at various art schools from 1988 to 2000 OxDicMod, L&L
Characteristics: His work has been individual & varied. It consists of controlled geometrical abstracts. During the 1960s some paintings looked like highly coloured spaghetti but later work was less densely packed with galaxies of coloured patches & spots floating against a light background OxDicMod, L&L
Status: he is regarded as one of the leading British abstract artists of his time OxDicMod
Brother: Harold, 1928-2016 was also an abstract artist OxDicMod
..COKER, Peter, 1926-2004, England; Realist Movement
Background: Born London ArtUK
Training: Part-time & then full time at St Martin’s School of Art, 1947-50; the Royal College of Art, 1950-4 ArtUK
Career: Initially he worked at Oldham’s Press & during 1954-73 taught at St Martin’s. In 1972 he became an RA, had a serious stroke in 1990 but managed to continue working ArtUK
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic work & prints ArtUK, webimages
Phases: After being associated with the Kitchen Sink School he turned to landscape & his later work was more abstract ArtUK
Characteristics: Boldly painted work of a forceful type often featuring thick paintwork with an impact that is enhanced by concentration of the main features of the scene or subject & the absence of any preoccupation with what is customarily regarded as beauty OxDicMod, webimages
-COLANTONIO, Niccolo, c1420-60, Italy=Naples:
Background Born in Naples
Training: His artistic education was probably in Naples during the fertile period between 1438 and 1442 during reign of Rene d’Anjou Grove7 pp 542-44
Influences: Masters of the aix annunciation. A South Netherlandish artist; Jan van Eycy, whom he began to copy work around 1440
Career: First work was St Jerome in his Study Removing the Thorn from the Lion’s Paw’. Two remaining altar pieces, one found in a monastery museum and the other hangs in Museo di Capodimonte, more than likely commissioned by King Alfonso in Naples Grove7 pp 542-44
Oeuvre: Oil
Characteristics: Biblical figures and altar pieces Grove7 pp 542-44
Status: A leading Neapolitan painter during the period of Arogenes rule , 1440-70 Grove7 p542
Pupils: The Sicilian Antonello da Messina and important Spanish painter Pedro Berrugete Grove7 pp 542-44 Wikip
Grouping: Early Renaissance Wikip
-COLDSTREAM, Sir William, 1908-87, GB:
Background: Born Belford, Northumberland, the son of a doctor, but the family soon moved to London. In August 1936 Felicia Brown, a fellow student, was killed in action at the start of the Spanish Civil War Grove7 p54, M&R p31
Training: He studied privately for health reasons At the Slade, 1926-9, under Tonks & Steer G&S p107, Grove7 p547
Influences: Sickert towards end of 1930s, especially pub & cafe interiors Shone1988 p90; Grierson’s belief that artistic quality is always an involuntary by-product of painting for its own sake together with the meeting of social need because somebody is prepared to pay; & Cezanne’s commitment to a methodically objective Realism Shone1988 p90, G&S p10, Wilcox1990 p13
Career: He was caught between Tonks & his contemporaries such as Sickert & Grant,1926-7, & was unsure whether to pursue Realism or turn to Abstraction, 1932-3; joined the London Group & failed to contribute to the Objective Abstraction Exhibition to which he had been invited, 1934; encountered increasing financial difficulties & worked for the PO Film Unit under the socially committed John Grierson on a Coal Face documentary, 1934-7; & painted little until 1936; abandoned a modernist treatment believing that painting must be “humanly” interesting &, at the suggestion of Tom Harrison of Mass Observation, painted realistically with Graham Bell in Bolton & co-founded a school of drawing & painting which became known as the Euston Road School, 1938; & was an Official War Artist, 1943-7. He joined the Camberwell School of Art; & was a Professor at the Slade, 1949-75. His post-war official career was long, diverse & stunningly distinguished G&S pp 107-11, Grove7 pp 547-8, Spalding1986 pp 119, 121-2
Oeuvre: Town & cityscapes, landscapes, buildings, restrained non-erotic, anaemic nudes in studio settings, portraits, etc Grove7 pp547-8
Phases: During 1937-8 he painted portraits in which he abandoned the deliberate ennobling of features, & demonstrative & emphatic brushstrokes, in favour of regimented vertical strokes with a sable brush in thin strokes thereby reinvigorated portrait art. Later he made more complex horizontal & vertical marks Wilcox1990 p13
Characteristics: Extreme self-effacement employing an austere method & colour Wilcox1990 p13
Feature: His colours are extraordinarily muted but not muddy; dull brown, yellowish brown, yellow green, washed out blue, pinkish grey. They are paintings which display little or no interest in the play of light. His sunlight is of the palest type even in Italy G&S pp 49-72.
Beliefs: “I became convinced that art ought to be directed to a wider public; whereas all ideas which I had learned to regard as artistically revolutionary ran in the opposite direction. It seemed to me important that the broken communications between artists & the public should be built up again & that this most probably implied a movement towards realism” Shone177 p30. “I lose interest unless I let myself be ruled by what I see”, 1937 G&S p21
Verdict: He was outstanding & profoundly influential but disregarded by the Avant Garde L&L
Circle: Graham Bell was a close friend from around 1932; during the 1930s Auden -who, in turn, was a friend of Isherwood & Spender- whose 1937 poem to Claude says “Let’s start with perceiving/ Let me pretend I ‘married the impersonal eye of /the camera” G&S p108, Prendeville p141, OxCompEng
..George Vicat COLE, 1833-1893, Reginald’s father, England:
Background: Born Portsmouth, the son of the landscapist George Cole, 1810-33 Grove7 p548. Rural Surrey was a backward area for farming in the 1850s Barringer p82
Influences: Although not acquainted with the Pre-Raphaelites, he adopted some of their precision & foreground detail Barringer p81
Career: He began by working in his father’s studio making black & white copies of engravings by Turner, Constable & Cox, & made sketching tours with George, visiting the Moselle region in 1851. In 1852 the family moved to London & in 1853 two works were accepted by the RA. After marrying in 1856, he lived at Holmbury in Surrey from 1863 to 1867, but then moved to Kensington. During the 1870 he produced large landscapes on the river Arun, & in 1879 William Agnew commissioned 25 views of the Thames from source to sea. Although uncompleted one was commended by Gladstone & purchased by the Chantry Bequest. He became an RA in 1880 Grove7 p548
Oeuvre: Landscapes Grove7 p548
Speciality: Harvesting & river scenes in southern England Grove7 p548
Grouping: His landscapes provided a nostalgic evocation of Englishness which became increasingly popular in the late 19th century Barringer p82. He was a friend of Leader Treuherz1993 p190
Legacy: His son Rex, 1870-1940 was a landscape painter & educationalist Grove7 p548.
*Thomas COLE, 1801-48, USA (England):
Background: His father was a small textile manufacturer in Bolton but he went to Philadelphia with his parents in 1818 Hughes1997 p141
Training: 1823 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Powell p139
Influences; Gilpin’s theories of the picturesque (by the time of his first Hudson landscapes) Powell p16
Career: His early education included reading from Milton, Spencer, Thomson & the Lake Poets Powell p12. He worked as a wood engraver in Philadelphia & in 1819 made a trip to the West Indies where he sketched & his strong interest in nature was strengthened. Between 1820 & 1823 he worked for his father in Ohio designing patterns for wallpaper etc Powell pp 12, 16, 139. After seeing works by Stuart & Sully, he decided to become a painter Hughes1997 p141. In 1825 he moved to New York, began sketching trips up the Hudson & painting a series of landscapes that were picturesque cum sublime. These attracted the attention of Trumbull, Dunlap & Durand, who were very important figures in the New York art world, & made his reputation. In 1826 he was elected a founder member of the National Academy of Design Powell Chs 2-3, pp 20-6, 39. He also began painting landscapes with an overtly religious element Powell 39-47. Between 1829 & 1832 he visited London, where he met Turner, & then Paris & Italy [where he painted Ideal Landscapes] Powell pp 52-7, 139. From 1833 to 1836 he painted a five-part series, The Course of Empire, of the evolution of humanity from savagery, through civilisation, to destruction & desolation; & then another series in four parts, The Voyage of Life, from childhood to old age, 1839-40 Grove7 pp 550-1, Powell pp 63, 65, 68, 69, 86, 91.
Oeuvre: Landscapes together with a few seascapes & townscapes in The Course of Empire & The Voyage of Life Powell Pls
Characteristics: Strong chiaroscuro with dramatic effects created by means of stormy skies & glowing patches of red almost always at the opening or closing of the day in a raking light Powell Plates. The only exception appears to be one of the paintings in his series The Course of Empire which is in broad & unclouded daylight Powell p65.
Beliefs: In 1835 he said that American painters were uniquely privileged in having primitive forests, virgin lakes & waterfalls to paint. These un-hackneyed scenes were a feast to the eye at once beautiful & magnificent. He regretted that “the sublimity of the wilderness” was now passing away as it had already done in Europe Honour1979 pp 113-5, Powell pp 66-7.
Personal: He was a voracious reader especially of poetry & literature of the Romantic era & writings about North America Powell p12
Status: He was the leading American Landscape painter during the first half of the 19th century Grove7 p549.
Grouping: Hudson River School Powell p11
Collections: New-York Historical Society
Coleman, Charles, c1897-1874.. See Compagna Romana School of Painting, Section 8
..COLEMAN, Glen, 1887-1932, USA; Ashcan
Training: Under Henri & Shinn Brown1955 p170
Influences: Cubism during his last years Brown1955 p171
Career: After working on a newspapere in Indianapolis, he went to New York in 1905. He worked on odd jobs & made drawings for The Masses. He haunted the older & more exotic downtown area Brown1955 p170
Characteristics: Unlike Sloan he was less concerned with people than with atmosphere & his art had a deep personal & lyrical romanticism often with a dark aura of mystery. From around 1925 his art was backward looking & began to lose its interest. During his last years skyscrapers almost completely displaced human beings in his paintings Brown1955 pp 171-2.
Personal: He was shy, sensitive & lacked vigour Brown1955 p170
..COLLET, John, 1725-80, England:
Career: He was not much favoured in fashionable circles. His prints were probably more popular than the originals Antal1962 p183
Speciality: Low life scenes Antal1962 p183
Verdict: He was a weakish imitator of Hogarth’s genre Antal1962 p183
Repute: Ther is no entry in the Grove dictioary & he is not mentioned by Ellis Waterhouse.
..COLLIER, John, 1708-86, England, Academic Painting from 1845:
Career: He was caricaturist known as the Lancashire Hogarth who worked under the pseudonym Tim Bobbin. The Human Passions Delineated, 1773, contains his engravings Antal1962 p183
Repute: There is no entry in the Grove dictionary & he is not mentioned by Ellis Waterhouse
..COLLINS, Charles Allston, 1828-73, William’s son, England; Romantic Picturesque Movement
Training: RA Schools WoodDic
Influences: the Pre-Raphaelites WoodDic
Career: He made painting expeditions with Millais but he gave up painting around 1858 for writing. Married to Dickens’ daughter WoodDic
Oeuvre: Historical genre WoodDic
..COLLINS, William, 1788-1847, father of Charles Allston Collins, England; Looking Backwards Movement
Training: Morland & then the RA Schools, 1807 Vaughan1999 p160, WoodDic
Oeuvre: Rural genre, landsacpes & coastal sceneds WoodDic
Career: He began exhibiting at the RA in 1807 & became an RA in 1820. He travelled in the Low Countries, 1828, in Italy during 1836-8. & in Germany, 1840 WoodDic
Characteristics: His landscapes are contived, his figures sentimental, his brushwork fluid & his colours fresh, though they are now ioften discolured due to experimental pigments Vaughan1999 p160
Friends: Wilkie Vaughan1999 p160
Grouping: He was one of a large body of Victorian artists who mainly catered for town dwellers that wanted contented-looking peasants. Others included William Shayer, Birket Foster Frederick Lee Wood1999 p85, WoodDic
Reception: His paintings were enormously popular WoodDic
Legacy: He established the tradition of picturesque rustic landscape WoodDic
Progeny: Wilkie Collins WoodDic
..COLLINSON, James, 1825-81, England:
Career: He was initilly a Pre-Raphaelite & in 1850 became the member to exhibit a modern-life painting at the RA. He left the Pre-Raphaelites & trained to be a Roman Catholic priest but in 1854 returnsed to painting Treuherz1993 p84, OxDicArt
Oeuvre: From 1854 he painted pretty & sentimental genre etc Treuherz1993 p84
Characteristics: His works are extremely pretty & he painted objects & surfaces wuth great dexterity WoodDic
Gossip: He loved Christina Rossetti & fell asleep at Pre-Raphaelite meetings Treuherz1993 p75, OxDicArt
-Angelo COLONNA, 1600-87, Italy:
Background: He was born at Ravenna Grove7 p622
Training: Girolamo Curti with whom he also worked Grove7 p622
Career/Oeuvre: He collaborated with Agostino Mitelli (1609-60) for 25 years painting figures in quadratura interiors throughout Italy & from 1657-8 in Spain. He returned to Bologna in 1662 Grove7 p622 & 21 p732.
Status: Colonna & Mitelli were the pre-eminent exponents of quadratura Grove21 p732.
Legacy:Their work, recognised as the Bolognese style, was imitated until the advent of Neo-Classicism Grove21 p732
–Gerolamo Mengozzi COLONNA, c1688-1772, Italy=Venice:
Background: Born Ferrara L&L
Career: He is best known for the architectural settings he painted for Govanni Tiepolo’s frescos L&L
Characteristics: He was a brilliant quadratura specialist OxDicArt
-COLQUHOUN, Robert, 1914-62, GB:
Background: Born in Kilmarnock OxDicMod
Training: at the Glasgow School of Art, 1933-8 OxDicMod
Influences: Jankel Adler OxDicMod
Career: He settled in London with MacBryde in 1941. Colquhoun was an ambulance driver but painted at night. He was soon regarded as an outstanding British painter. After he & MacBride were evicted in 1947, his fortunes began to decline & he died in relative obscurity OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic art & design OxDicMod
Speciality: His best work featured dark, sometimes strongly colourd figures in interiors whose forms & textures imply stress L&L
Characteristics/Phases: His art, like MacBryde’s, had to begin with some Neo-Romantic qualities, but then took on an international tone with elements of Expressionism & 1930s Picasso via Adler L&L
Circle: His studio soon became a meeting place for Rodrigo Moynihan & Keith Vaughan while Jankel Adler had a studio next door OxDicMod
Feature: Fellow student Robert MacBryde became his inseparable companion OxDicMod
Personal: He was fond of the bottle OxDicMod
-COLVILLE, Alexander, 1920-, Canada:
Background: He was born in Toronto OxDicMod
Training: At the Fine Art Department, Mount Allison University, 1938-42 OxDicMod
Career: He joined the army & in 1944 was commissioned as an Official War Artist. He went to Belsen where he recoded the mass graves. From 1946 to 1963 he taught at Mount Allison with little time for painting before 1950 OxDicMod, Reid p274.
Oeuvre: Paintings OxDicMod:
Characteristics: Most of his paintings show figures -usually in juxtaposition with inanimate objects, animals or other humans- carefully placed at a strategic point. This is an intense & detailed naturalism in which mundane situations are infused with a sense of haunting mystery. His precision suggests arrested action & the magic moment. The works produce an acute tactile sensation, & a desire to touch & become involved in the painting. However, this is discouraged by their distant quality & leads to a poignant ambiguity. His paintings have a close affinity to the images found in Alfred Hitchcock Reid pp 274-6, L&L, OxDicMod
Grouping/Status: He is regarded as a leading exponent of sharp-focus Magic Realism OxDicMod
.. COMERRE, Leon, 1850-1916, Albert Gleizes was his nephew, France;
Background: Born Trelon, Department du Nord, the son of a schoolmaster. The family moved to Lille in 1853 Wikip
Training: At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Lille, under Alphonse Colas, & from 1898 in Paris at the Ecole des Beax-Arts under Alexandre Cabanel Wikip.
Influences: Orientalism Wikip.
Career: He first exhibited at the Salon in 1871, won the Prix de Rome in 1875, & spent 187-79 at the French Academy in Rome. In 1884 he settled in the Parisian suburb of Vesinet. His wife Jacqueline-Comerre was a painter Wikip
Speciality: Beautiful young women often in Oriental settings with an emphasis on their elegant clothes in pink, yellow, gold & shining white web images.
-CONCA, Sebastiano, 1680-1764, Italy; Rococo
Background: Born Gaeta Brigstocke
Training: Solimano in Naples from about 1603 Grove p7
Influences: Michelangelo, Raphael, the Carracci & Morati’s classicism Grove7 p682, Brigstocke
Career: After painting frescoes with Solimena he went to Rome, 1706-7; produced Coronation of S. Celia frescoes on the vault of S. Celia, Transavere; moved to Naples around 1752 where he worked at S. Chiara, 1752-5 Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, smaller easel paintings & frescoes Grove7 p681
Characteristics: His work was lyrical, soft & decorative Brigstocke
Innovations: He developed a distinctive Roman Rococo style L&L
Status: He was one of the most successful painters in Rome during the first half of the 18th century Grove7 p681
Pupil: Batoni L&L
Brother: Francesco, 1698-, was also a painter Grove 7 p684
Cousin: Giovanni, around 1690- worked in Rome & Turin; & his son Tommaso, 1734-1822, was more distinguished Grove7 p684
-CONDER, Charles, 1868-1909, England:
Background: He was born in London Norman1977
Training: At the Academie Julian & with Cormon Norman1977
Influences: Whistler’s subtleties of tone & colour L&L
Career: At 15 he went to Australia where he worked for the Illustrated Sydney News, & as a surveyor. He went to Paris in 1890 & after 1894 he mainly lived in England. He exhibited at the New English Art Club Norman1977, L&L
Speciality: Watercolours on silk & painted fans in soft, slightly mysterious tones, sometimes with courtly Watteau-like scenes or disporting nymphs Norman1977. They are often tinged with a fin de siecle decadence reminiscent of Beardsley OxDicArt
Oeuvre: This included landscapes & portraits Norman1977
Circle in Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec & the Nabis L&L
Collections: Tate
Conegliano. See Cima
Coninxloo. See van Coninxloo
****CONSTABLE, John, 1776-1837, England:
Background: He was born & brought up at the village of East Bergholt, Suffolk, in the Stour valley the second son of Golding Constable a miller, merchant & gentleman farmer Grove 7 p 749.
Training: At the RA Schools from 1799 Grove7 p749
Influences: Claude, Girtin, Gainsborough (“I fancy I see Gainsborough in every hedge & hollow tree”) Langmuir p267. However, Constable said it was the scenes of his boyhood that made him a painter Leslie p1. He lived in an agriculturally advanced area, which had long been enclosed, & it was a time of unparaled agricultural prosperity. Moreover he was protected by his father’s prosperity from unwelcome familiarities. [He also seems to have been protected by his memories against the later agricultural distress.] Moreover the area was off the beaten track & even after the Napoleon War was, his brother reported, a peaceful place untroubled by beggars. In 1823, although regretting that he seemed doomed never to see the landscape of Wilson & Claude, he said that he was “born to paint a happier land, my own dear England” Helsinger pp 45-6, 51, HillD p43. . [He was influenced by the beauty of the Stour Valley, & his painting was a veritable act of love.] He said that he loved every stile & stump, referred to painting as his mistress &, while assuring his beloved future wife that he was living for her, arranged to paint for three months at Bergholt HillD p39, Helsinger pp 45-8, 51.
Career: Around 1795 he became acquainted with Sir George Beaumont, who advised Constable to study Girtin. Beaumont owned about 30 of his watercolours. In 1796 he met Dr Fisher who also to played a key part in his career, & Joseph Farringdon was helpful Parris p78, Leslie p5, HillD p36. In 1802 he first exhibited at the RA NCMH p219. He also said that for the last two years he had been following other painters & not dedicating himself to representing nature, but would do so that summer at Bergholt Leslie p15. In 1809 he fell in love with Maria Bicknell, the granddaughter of the rector of East Bergholt, but their union was opposed by both families. Only in 1816 was Constable able to marry Maria. After a long honeymoon in Dorset & Wiltshire, he moved permanently to London. With Maria he made a last long visit to East Bergholt in 1817. Maria had tuberculosis & during 1819 they began renting a house in Hampstead for the summer, to which they moved in 1827. Between 1824 & 1828 they made visits to Brighton. In 1828 Marie dies of tuberculosis after the birth of his seventh child. He became an RA in 1829 Grove7 pp750-2, L&L, Parris p78.
Oeuvre: Landscapes [usually with figures], & portraits. [His landscapes, although they include a few notable townscapes, have a narrow range.] With the exception of his works on his early trip to the Lake District they do feature mountainous scenery. Nor did he paint scenes with trees in winter. Although skies are often overcast in his later works, & he produced a few early evening pictures, the great bulk of his paintings are sun, cloud & shadow works HillD, Lyles, Parris (colour plates) .
Technique: He worked from nature all his life & made plein air oil sketches from an early stage. Around 1814 he began painting works for exhibition directly from nature but had to abandon it for large works during 1821-2. He now made full-scale studies based on previous drawings & oil sketches, which he did not see as finished works. He used the palette knife, especially from the 1820s Grove7 pp 756-7, Lyles p13.
Phases: To begin with he painted landscapes as an amateur often with John Dunthorne, an East Bergholt handyman Grove7 p749. From 1899 he spent the summers back in Suffolk painting, although he also explored the countryside around London L&L Around 1804 he developed a portrait practice & in 1818 was still practicing portraiture -at which he became extremely competent- in order to make money Grove7 pp 749-50, 752. He spent the autumn of 1806 in the Lakes, making over 70 sketches & later exhibiting related paintings HillD pp34-5, Leslie p19. From 1810 his paintings were more ambitious in scale & content. He was perhaps been influenced by Rubens’ Chateau de Steen. It had recently been acquired by Beaumont, & was a work Constable particularly admired NCMH9 p219, Leslie p299. In 1814 he began to paint finished pictures on the spot in Suffolk. Between 1819 & 1825 he exhibited a series of six-foot Stour paintings at the RA, beginning with The White & ending with The Leaping Horse Parris p78. From 1821 he also made a series of paintings of Hampstead Heath & Hampstead itself, amon which are some of his freshest & most beautiful paintings HillD pp 46-50. After 1828 Constable painted works in most of which the weather is at best unsettled & at worst stormy. [Some of scenes are not without hope for the future but others produce a feeling of apocoloptic despair.] Parris Pl 71-81. The big sketch for Salisbury from the Meadows is a scene of [unrelievedly gloom] whereasthe final picuture, though disquieting, has a rainbow Lyles pp 180-2
Characteristics: The elements are brought into harmony with the sky reflected in water in his six footers. His works depict a countryside that has been made by man, It has a non-Claudian structure without an overall pattern & with an equality of emphasis in which objects of interest are placed near the edges of paintings. However restlessness is avoided through harmonious colour & feeling Honour1979 pp 89, 93. There is a sense of immediacy with the familiar transformed by sunlight, dew & cloud-shadows, as in Stoke-by-Nayland NCMH9 p219.
Paintings he admired: Those by Claude when he was between forty & sixty because of their brightness, which is independent of their colour. However, his later works were cold, heavy & dark, though stately, because he was no longer incessantly observing nature Leslie pp 307-9. He also liked the landscapes of Wilson, Gainsborough, Cozens & Girtin, together with those of Rubens. The latter had freshness, dewy light, joyousness & animation imparted to monotonous scenery. Rubens took delight in rainbows, stormy skies, bursts of sunshine & torrents Leslie p299
Paintings he disliked: Those by Both, Boucher (but not Watteau because of his exquisite colour), Loutherbourg, Vernet, Wooton, Wouvermans, Zucherelli etc: ”men who have lost sight of nature”. He disliked those who were self-worshipers & who preferred forms of their own imagination to those of nature Leslie pp 300-1, 311-2. Constable criticised a landscpe by Callcott (Landscape-Market Day) as being “too much a work of art & labour, not an effusion”. The trees were too rigid, not lose & waving. Unlike Wilson objects did not appear “floating in sunshine” Lyles p21.
Beliefs: Grand views make poor pictures. To make something out of nothing is to almost necessarily become poetical Honour1979 p68. He was hostile to mere naturalism: art pleases by reminding not deceiving Honour1979 p93. “Painting is for me another word for feeling”FR&J p157. It is essential for painters to become patient & humble pupils of nature, & seeing nature is almost as difficult as reading Egyptian hieroglyphics – the Chinese painted for 2000 years without discovering chirascuro Leslie pp 327-8. While attending lectures on anatomy (1802) he said its study called attention to the Divine Architect & the bodily machine which God has formed to accommodate the mind Leslie p12
Grouping: Rosenblum says that he was a Romantic Naturalist because he was not a mere observer of rural landscape due to the emotional element in his work R&J p157. However it is possible to take a contrary view. According to Newton, there is not a trace of Romanticism in Constable even in his most impulsive & private sketches. He was a rebel in a romantic period who protested against romanticism Newton1962 p116.
Links: He had no contact with Dahl despite their similar cloud studies Norman1987 p153. Wilkie was a friend Leslie p20
Innovation: He modified the idea of what constitutes beautiful landscape Honour 1979 pp69-70. According to Clark, what distinguishes Constable’s landscape from that of his contemporaries was his feeling for the freshnes of nature & his sense of dramatic unity Clark1949 p148. He painted in a higher tonal register than had been customary which led an RA juryman to describe one painting as a “nasty green thing” Gomb1960 pp 40-3. Although he did not manage to eliminate the distinction between light & the thing lit (like the Impressionists), he did give them equal value Novotny p183. Landscape painters had hitherto usually painted with the sun at their backs or to the right or left. Often, as in Claude & Cuyp, it was sinking & cast a dreamy mist & glow over the scene. Constable however loved to depict his subjects under the sun when it was high in the heavens & in front. This accounts for the glitter & sparkle of white lights on foliage which was laughed at by his critics & nicknamed Constable’s snow Redgrave pp 365-6. Around 1820-2 he painted a series of meterological cloud studies in oil unprecedented in art Grove7 p753. However, his six-footers were not the first large scale landscapes to be painted in Britain Lyles pp 20-1
Personal: He was ambitious Lyles p12. In 1802 he rejected a job as drawing-master as it would not further his goal of being a serious painter. He was opposed both to enthusiasm in religion & to adical politicians such as Brougham, wanting to defend the Church of England against their attacks. Prior to the Reform Bill he termed agitators, “the devil’s agents on earth” & thought the measure would put government into the hands of the rabble & dregs. After he could afford it, Constable frequently sent cothes & blankets to be distruibuted to the poor in East Berghold during the winter In his youth he was a good flute player but gave it up to devote more time to painting & he did not read novels Grove7 pp749, 753, 756, Leslie pp 198-9, 204, 264, 271.
Verdict & Status: The most celebrated painter of the British landscape whose works have become bound up with the identity of the nation Lyles p12.
Reception: Although he was noticed from 1807 it was not until around 1819 that he began to obtain any general critical approval. Even in the 1830s his reception was mixed & by the early 1840s his reputation was almost eclipsed. It was not until late in the century that it began to recover. By 1900 his paintings had become icons of Englishness. In the early 20th century he was enthusiastically but wrongly viewed as a forerunner of Impressionism Grove7 p756, Helsinger p41. In France the exhibition of the Hay-Wain at the 1824 Salon (bought in 1823 by an Anglo-French dealer after unsuccessful London exhibition) caused a sensation Langmuir pp 268, 276
Legacy: Constable founded no style in England & only a few painters, such as Lionel his son, Thomas Creswick, Frederick Lee & Frederick Watts, learned from his style. However, his works were influential in France Grove7 p757.
Influenced: Menzel, Delacroix Murrays1959, Langmuir p276
..CONSTANT, Benjamin, 1845-1902, France:
Background: born Paris Norman1977
Influences: Delacroix Norman1977
Career: he worked with Cabanel,1867, & travelled to Morocco. 1871 Norman1977
Oeuvre: Oriental pictures & became a fashionable portraitist Norman1977
..COOK, Beryl, 1926-2008, England
Background: Born in Surrey & grew up in Reading OxDicMod
Career: She ran a boarding house in Plymouth & began painting seriously in early middle age when she had ample spare time, bare walls, & driftwood to paint on. Soon she was painting compulsively & before long became a celebrity OxDic Mod
Characteristics: She was a naive painter & her works feature chubby, usually jolly characters & saucy humour with little background because it was boring to paint OxDicMod
Reception: It ranged from highly favourable to Brian Sewell’s condemnation, The Gallery of Contemporary Art, Glasgow bought three paintings OxDicMod
..COOKE, Edward, 1811-80, England:
Background: Born in London, the son of George, 1781 -1834, who was an engraver. He was raised in among artists Grove7 p789, Norman1977, wikip
Training: His father, George and lessons in oil painting from James Stark, 1834 WoodDic, Grove7 p789
Influences: David Roberts & the 17th century Dutch marine artists wikip
Career: He helped Clarkson Stanfield when aged 14 and published notable engravings when he was 18. Exhibited at the RA from 1835-70 then became an RA in 1863. he travelled to France, Holland, Scandinavia, Spain & Egypt. He was also a distinguished botanist Norman1977, Grove7 p789, wikip, WoodDic
Oeuvre: River & coastal scenes, including some landscapes, Venetian scenes & Orientalist works in oil & watercolour Norman1977, WoodDic, webimages
Characteristics: His paintings, which are always pleasing & highly accomplished, depict weather conditions of all types ranging from stormy as in A North Sea Breeze on the Dutch Coast, 1855 (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich) to calm, Luminist works as in On the Nile,1862 (City Art Gallery, Manchester) webimages, Grove 7 p789, Wilmerding p220
Gerald COOPER, 1898-1975, England:
Background: He was born in London E&L p72
Training: West Bromwich School of Art & the Royal College of Art, 1920-3
Influences: Dutch 17th century flower paintings E&L p72
Career: He taught at the Wimbledon School of Art, 1924-64 becoming its principal in 1930. He exhibited at the RA, 1930-70, & at NEAC E&L p72
Oeuvre: Mainly flower paintings but also landscapes, genre & portraits E&L p72, web images
Characteristics: His flower paintings are meticulous , very close up, almost always in pots standing on tables, & apparently never wild web images
Verdict: [His flower paintings are repetitive] web images
Wife: The painter Murial Minter, 1897-1983 E&L p72
*Samuel COOPER, 1609-72, England:
Training: John Hoskins who was his uncle L&L
Career: Before 1642 he travelled on the Continent & in the 1640s painted both Royalists & Parliamentarians Waterhouse1953 p121
Oeuvre: He made some miniature copies of Van Dyke but most of his work was from life. He chiefly painted chief Commonwealth figures & these are his best images & he painted most of the leading Restoration courtiers Waterhouse1953 pp 121-2
Status: He was the most widely cultivated post Van Dyke artist & his prices were at least equal to Lely’s Waterhouse1953 p121
Last distinguished British miniature painter L&L
Verdict: With Hilliard he was the greatest British miniature painter & better than Lelly when any refinement was required Waterhouse1953 pp 121-2
..Thomas COOPER, 1803-1902:
Training: At the RA Schools WoodDic
Influences: Verboeckhoven who was his friend & Dutch 17th century painting WoodDic
Career: In 1927 he became a teacher in Brussels & in 1831 he settled in London. He first exhibited at the RA in 1833 & went on exhibiting without a break until 1903 WoodDic
Oeuvre: Paintings of sheep & in landscapes sometimes by others WoodDic
Verdict: He painted endless competent & unimaginative animal paintings Treuherz1993 p64
..COPE, Charles, 1811-90, England; Troubadour Movement
Background: Born Leeds; father (Charles) landscape painter Grove7 p801
Training: From 1826 at Sass’ Academy, Bloomsbury; 1828- RA Schools
Career: 1830s travelled & painted in France & Italy; -1866 paintings for Palace of Westminster (Burial of Charles I, Embarkation of the Pilgrim Fathers, Prince Henry’s Submission to the Law); 1848 RA; stopped painting 1883 Grove7 pp 801-2, Wood1999 pp 28-9
Oeuvre: largely narrative works contemporary & history; domestic scenes of children etc Grove7 p801
Status: 1859 Times says chief painter of modern domestic life Grove7 p801
Circle: Leslie, Landseer, Mulready, Wilkie (at Sheepshanks’ dinners) Errington
-COORTE, Adraen, active c1683-1707, Netherlands= Middelburg:
Oeuvre: small still-life OxDicArt
Characteristics: humble objects: a few kinds of fruit, shells or a bunch of asparagus on a ledge against a dark background; his works contrast with the lavish pieces of his celebrated contemporaries; Coorte’s scrutiny is so intense that his works have an almost mystical quality L&L, OxDicArt
Verdict: one of the most original still-lfe paiters of his time OxDicArt
**COPLEY, John Singleton, 1738-1815, USA; British Golden Age
Background: He was born in Boston OxDicArt
Training: He was taught the rudiments of painting, & engraving by Peter Pelham his step-father but was virtually self-taught L&L, OxDicArt
Influences: Smibert & Feke; & West for modern-dress history paintings Bjelajac p109 OxDicArt
Career: He set up as a painter in his teens. In1774 he left American fearing to lose high earnings but wanting to shake off provincialism, & made an Italian study trip. Then in 1775 he settled in London & in 1779 became an RA. His history paintings were highly successful but went out of favour. He spent his final years in lonely ill-health & died in debt OxDicArt
Phases: His early works were forthright & vigorous but his English paintings were more fashionable & ornate. He began history painting in 1778 with Brook Watson & the Shark OxDicArt
Speciality: Heroic & magnificently executed multi-figured action pictures OxDicArt
Innovations: He selected history subjects simply because they were exciting anticipating the French Romantics by a generation OxDicArt
Patronage: For 20 years prior to the Revolution a Copley portrait was the ultimate status symbol for New Englanders 1001 p326
Status: He was the greatest 18th century American painter OxDicArt
-COQUES/COCKS/COX, Gonzales/Gonsalo, 1614-84, Rijckaert’s son-in-law, Belgium:
Background: Born Antwerp Grove7 p832
Training: Pieter Bruegel II & David Rijckaert II Grove7 p832
Career: He became a master in the painter’s guild in 1640-1, & probably travelled previously. Coques was twice deacon of the guild & a member of rhetoricians’ societies Grove7 p832
Oeuvre: Single & group portraits depict everyday activities in houses & gardens; mythological works Grove7 p832
Phases/Characteristics: His work developed from tentative compositions to well-organised dynamic scenes, & from garish colouring to more harmonious & well-lit compositions. In his early work figures are isolated, for instance being merely arranged around a table, without any suggestion of psychological bonds Grove7 p833, Vlieghe pp146-7.
Firsts: He was the first artist to paint Conversation Pieces in Belgium, though it was already popular in the Netherlands Grove7 p832, Vlieghe p146
Patrons: Charles I Archduke Leopold William John of Austria, the 6th Conde de Monterrey & members of the House of Orange, etc Grove7 p832
Pupils: Cornelis van den Bosch & Lenaert Verdussen Grove7 p832
..Matthew CORBET, 1850-1902, England:
Training: The Slade under Davis Cooper, & the RA Schools. He was the pupil of Giovanni Costa for three years in Rome WoodDic
Career: He was Watts’ assistant WoodDic, He exhibited at the RA 1875-1902 & from 1892 at the Grosvenor Galley. Morning Glory, RA 1894 & Val D’Arno 1901 were bought by the Chantry Bequest Treuherz1893 p189
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Elegiac, pastoral Italian landscapes, reflected in the title borrowed from Keats of his painting A Land of Fragrance, Quietness, Trees & Flowers Treuherz1893 p189, WoodDic
Wife, Edith, c1850-1920. Like her husband she painted many Italian views & genre scenes. She exhibited at the RA WoodDic
Grouping: The Etruscans Newall1989 p70
*CORINTH, Lovis, 1858-1925, Germany; German Impressionist
Background: He was born in Tapiau in East Prussia & grew up on the family farm & tannery OxDicMod, Grove7 p85
Training: After informal drawing lessons local carpenter & secondary education at Konigsberg/Kaliningrad living with an aunt he entered the Koningsburger Kunstakademie, 1876-80, mostly under the unconventional genre painter Otto Gunther, then after a summer at Franz Defoggers’ painting school to the Munchener Kunstakademie 1880-84 under Ludwig Von Lofftz, apart from a year’s military service; & in Paris at the Academie Julian under Bouguereau & Tony Robert-Fluery & then at the Academie Julian,1884-87, but having spent the summer of 1884 in Antwerp studying under Eugene George Grove7 p855, SVB pp 11-12
Influences: The demonic stories told by his aunt; Lofftz’s emphasis on chiaroscuro & unidealized depiction of the model; the painterly brushwork of Courbet & Manet, etc; together with the Old Masters including Hals, Rembrandt & Rubens together with the work of Wilhelm Leibl, Wilhelm Trubner who influenced his early work Grove7 p855, OxDicMod
Career: Early on he took to drinking heavily which seriously affected his health & art. He lived in Berlin, 1887-88; in Konigsberg, 1888-91; & then in Munich where he became a founder member of the Munich Secession but was soon expelled when he & helped found a separate & hopefully more worthwhile group. Unhappy in Munich he went to Berlin in 1901 & joined the Berlin Secession, later becoming its chairman & then President, 1915. In Berlin he established a very profitable art school for women & in 1903 married Charlotte Berend his former student who remained his favourite model. He had a serious stroke in 1911 which made brush control difficult. Nevertheless, he continued to be enormously productive & many masterpieces were produced thereafter. During the Great War he initially adopted a patriotic stance, but was shaken to the core on hearing that the USA had declared war on Germany Grove7 pp 855-56, SVB pp 13-15, 17, 33, 222,236; Dube, 208
Oeuvre: Literary, religious & mythological subjects, landscapes, portraits & still-life together with prints in the 1890s & set & costume design for the theatre & opera Grove7 pp 855-56, MET1981 p34
Speciality: Nude women in high spirits enjoying the pleasures of drunken sensuality or in the contrasting role of the femme fatale & her victim. Sometimes his female nudes were inelegant as in [his Wikimedia Commons] Sitting Female Nude, 1886 SVB pp 122-3, 126-8, 174, 203, 314-6, Grove7 p855.
Characteristics/Phases:
(i) At first at the Konigsberg Academy he was committed to history painting but under Gunther’s influence he then began working in a more realistic manner painting landscapes & portraits SVB pp 11-12. His work was now mostly of a highly realistic or naturalistic nature as in his Portrait of the Painter Paul Eugene Gorge (Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal), though sometimes with impressionistic but not broken brushwork as in Othello, both 1884 Neue Galerie der Stadt Limz SVB pp 98-107.
(ii) The great bulk of his work from around 1890 is vigorous & emphatic &, some portraits & nudes excepted, crowded with subject matter, & painted in strong colour. This is true in particular of his [as in] a blood thirsty Salome, 1899 (Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts), & the literally bloody abattoir paintings as [in] Butcher’s Shop at Shaftlarn, 1897 (Kunsthalle, Bremen). Salome & other pictures are also notable because of their careful, exact facture SVB Plates from p105 onwards 1897
(iii) Around 1900 his subject matter became less intense & of a happier nature, including smiling faces as in Morning Sun, 1920 (Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt; women who were no longer menacing femme fatales but intentionally portrayed as feminine, pleasurable genre activities, family groups, a portrait of himself & a smiling & affectionate model; & a humorous ancient world scene SVB pp 138,140,145-46, 147-149, 151, 156-158, 160-61, 175, 178-80, 183, 186-88, 194, 197, 205, 210, 212-15, 220 On the other hand there were a few distressing religious scenes SVB pp 166-69, 202-3, 236-37.
(iv) After his stroke in 1911 he painted with great difficulty in a much looser & powerful Expressionist manner to which he had previously been strongly opposed. His stroke & obvious consciousness of his own mortality is displayed in his [as in] hyper-Expressionist [as in] work The Red Christ, 1922 (Pinakottek der Moderne, Munich). This had been anticipated by an extraordinarily dramatic watercolour The Crucified Christ, 1917 (Stadtische Gallerie, Lenbachhaus, Munich, which was presumably painted after President Woodrow Wilson, made a joint address to Congress on 2 April calling for war on Germany OxDicMod, Wikipedia. The oil painting is an Expressionist work in the fullest possible sense because it goes beyond & transcends the depiction of what can be observed. Corinth is here appealing to the viewer’s emotional understanding & empathy so that he or she shares, at least in part, the excruciating agony that Christ is experiencing.
It would however be quite wrong to give the impression that all his work was of such a nature. He mostly, even in his Expressionist period, painted colourful, vibrant landscapes, townscapes, seascapes & still-life SVB pp 216-17, 219, 246-56, 258-62, 270, 272-73, 276-77. 284-85, 290-99. Although these paintings were Expressionist in style, they are a world away from the emotional intensity of the Red Christ.
Reception/Patronage: During his Munich period he was hardly known elsewhere but after his move to Berlin his work began to sell & he signed a contract with Paul Cassirer’s Gallery. During the first decade of the century, he was very fashionable & was in 1918 hailed by the important art critic Julius Maier-Graefe as a very great painter SVB p87, Grove7 p856, OxDicMod, Wikip
Repute: When the Nazis came to power artists were classified as belonging or outside the German tradition. The artist Hans Buhler was the first to undertake this task. He organised exhibitions of what was called infamous art & Corinth was included. Nevertheless, he was not without defenders & the German nature of his work, acknowledged by critics of diverse types was difficult to ignore, however in the end he was judged heretical. That his later work had recently found favour with pro-Expressionist critics & that his widow was Jewish did not help. During the great purge of paintings from galleries, 15 of his works were sold abroad SVB p91, Hinz pp28,43.
Corinth continues to excite controversy & confusion, being categorised somewhere between Impressionism & Expressionism; an artist who produced conservative work that lacked innovation, whose work displayed an outdated commitment to subject matter, was uncouth, was too German, & was insufficiently international SVB pp 7, 87
..CORMON, Fernand, 1845-1924, France:
Training: Under Jean-Francoie Portaels in Brussels & then from 1863 under Cabanel & Fromentin in ParisTurnerMtoC p102
Career: In1868 he made his Salon debut. Around1875-7 he was in Tunisia & afterwards he exhibited regularly at the Salon TurnerMtoC p102
Oeuvre: Historical & religious subjects & a few portraits TurnerMtoC p102
Speciality: Pre-historic genre Nochlin1971 p250
Characteristics/Verdict: All his work was in an undistinguished academic style TurnerMtoc p102
-CORNEILLE, de Lyon, c1507-74, (France) Netherlands; Baroque
Background: He cane fron The Hague L&L
Career: He had settled in Lyon by 1534. In 1541 he became ourt painter to the future Henry II L&L
Speciality: Small thinly painted bust length portraits L&L
Legacy: His style was widely copied L&L
–CORNEILLE/Van BEVERLOO, Corneille,1922, Netherlands:
Background: Born Liege OxDicMod
Training: Drawing at the Amsterdam Academy, 1940-3; & self-taught in painting OxDicMod
Career: In 1948 he was an early member of Cobra & he moved to Paris in 1950 with Karel Appel L&L
Characteristics: Around 1950 his work was typical of the Cobra style: brilliant colour & vigorous brushwork, with child-like imagery suggesting mythical beings. During the 1950s he gradually abandoned figuration for swirling abstraction but during the 1960s reintroduced his Cobra imagery OxDicMod.
Style: His paintings are seen as being Art Informel L&L
Michael CORNEILLE the Younger, Michael the elder’s son & John-Baptist’s brother, 1642-1708, France:
Background: He was born in Paris Grove7 p863
Training: His father, & then Charles Lebrun & Pierre Mignard Grove7 p863
Influences: Mignard’s charming if bland style, & the Carracci & other Italian masters Grove7 p864
Career: In 1859 he won a prize from the Academy allowing him to visit Italy. He became a member of the Academy in 1663, an associte professor in 1673, professor in 1690, & coundellor in 1691. He helped decorate the royal residences at Meudon & Fontainbleeau, the Grand Trianon, & in the Salon des Nobles at Versailles Grove7 p864
Oeuvre: Religious & mytholgical decorative work Grove7 p864.
Characteristics/Verdict: His drawing was in elegant & his work somewhat pompous T&C p108
Status: He was Lebrun’s most notable pupil, a famous painter in his own day & the most esteemed member of the family L&L, Grove7 p864
Jean Baptiste CORNEILLE, 1649-95, Michael the Elder’s son & Michael the Younger’s brother, France:
Background: He was born in Paris Grove7 p864
Training: His father & Charles Erard the younger L&L, Grove7 p864
Influences: Charles Le Brun for his violent classical works Grove7 p864
Career: After winning an Academy Prize he went to Rome & entered the Academy in 1675. He sided with the colourists in the Academy Grove7 p864
Oeuvre: Paintings that were often religious but sometimes Classical. Also, engravings Grove7 p864
Characteristics/Verdict: Like his brother his drawing was inelegant & his work somewhat pompous but he produced some harmonious compositions T&C p108. His classical works were dramatic & theatrical & his history paintings have rightly been described as histrionic & stagey as in The Death of Cato of Utica, 1687 (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Dijon). However, his [as in] Charles Boromee caring for the Plague Victims (Saint Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, Paris) is a restrained & moving work Grove7 p 864, Allen pp 190-91
Grouping: He was only one of several painters whose work was adversely influenced by Le Brun’s reductions of expressions to a set of grimaces Allen p191
Patronage: He worked mainly for Parisian churches & convents Grove7 p864
Status: He was a minor painter Allen p191
Cornelisz. See Van Oostsanen
*CORINTH, Lovis, 1858-1925, Germany:
Background: Born in Tapiau in East Prussia OxDicMod
Career: Corinth joined the Berlin Secession & succeeded Liebermann as its President L&L
Training: At the Academies of Konigsberg & Munich, & then at the Academie Julian, 1884-7 OxDicMod
Influences: The painterly brushwork of Courbet & Manet, etc; together with the Old Masters including Hals, Rembrandt & Rubens OxDicMod
Career: From 1891 he lived in Munich & from 1901 in Berlin OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Literary, religious & mythological subjects, landscapes, portraits & still-life together with prints MET1981 p34
Speciality: Nude women in high spirits enjoying the pleasures of drunken sensuality or in the contrasting role of the femme fatale or her victim SVB pp 122-3, 126-8, 174, 202-3, 314-5
Phases: Early Realism following Courbet & Leibl but around 1900 his style lightened & freshened while his subjects became more everyday. After his stroke in 1911, which paralysed his painting arm, his work has an urgent Expressionist note L&L
Characteristics: His work was vigorous & energetic but graceless L&L. The great bulk of his paintings are broad brush works, often in strong colours & with litle or no empty space SVB
Grouping:: He was part of a German Impressionist trend L&L
Repute: During the first decade of the century he was very fashionable OxDicMod
..CORMON, Fernand, 1845-1924, France:
Training: Under Jean-Francoie Portaels in Brussels & then from 1863 under Cabanel & Fromentin in ParisTurnerMtoC p102
Career: In1868 he made his Salon debut. Around1875-7 he was in Tunisia & afterwards he exhibited regularly at the Salon TurnerMtoC p102
Oeuvre: Historical & religious subjects & a few portraits TurnerMtoC p102
Speciality: Pre-historic genre Nochlin1971 p250
Characteristics/Verdict: All his work was in an undistinguished academic style TurnerMtoc p102
-CORNEILLE, de Lyon, c1507-74, (France) Netherlands:
Background: He cane fron The Hague L&L
Career: He had settled in Lyon by 1534. In 1541 he became ourt painter to the future Henry II L&L
Speciality: Small thinly painted bust length portraits L&L
Legacy: His style was widely copied L&L
–CORNEILLE/VAN BEVERLOO, Corneille,1922, Netherlands:
Background: Born Liege OxDicMod
Training: Drawing at the Amsterdam Academy, 1940-3; & self-taught in painting OxDicMod
Career: In 1948 he was an early member of Cobra & he moved to Paris in 1950 with Karel Appel L&L
Characteristics: Around 1950 his work was typical of the Cobra style: brilliant colour & vigorous brushwork, with child-like imagery suggesting mythical beings. During the 1950s he gradually abandoned figuration for swirling abstraction but during the 1960s reintroduced his Cobra imagery OxDicMod.
Grouping: His paintings are seen as being Art Informel L&L
-Michel CORNEILLE, the Elder, 1642-1708, father of Michael the Younger & Jean-Baptiste, France:
Background: Born Orleans L&L
Training: Vouet (married niece) L&L
Influences: Poussin L&L
Career: In 1648 he was a founder member of the Academy, & in 1656 became Rector L&L
Speciality: Works for chapels & churches in Orleans & Paris L&L
Phases: initially he painted in an Italo-Dutch style derived from Lastman etc L&L
Verdict: A minor figure Blunt1954 p215
Cornelisz. See Van Oostsanen
*CORNELIUS, Peter von, 1783-1867, Germany; Nazarene Movement
Background: He was born in Dusseldorf where his father was superintendent of the gallery & professor of art at the Academy Grove7 p870, MET1981 p267
Training: At the Dusseldorf Academy OxDicArt
Influences: The muscular & vigorous work of Michelangelo, Signorelli & Mantega, but he was critical of Raphael Vaughan1984 p178.
Career: During the Wars of Liberation Cornelius was an ardent patriot. In 1811 he went to Rome & joined the Nazarenes. He became an expert frescoist. In 1819 he went to Munich at the invitation of Crown Prince Ludwig who became Ludwig I. Cornelius worked until 1830 on mythological frescoes at Ludwig’s new sculpture museum, the Glyuptothek. And from 1836 to 1839 he worked for Ludwig painting frescoes depicting scenes from Genesis & the Last Judgement at the Ludwigskirche. In 1821 he had become Director of the Dusseldorf Academy & in in 1825 director of the Munich Academy. At the latter he abolished the landscape professorship. In 1841 he went to Berlin having been invited by the Prussian King. He made cartoons for frescos in the Berlin Cathedral L&L, OxDicArt, Vaughan1980 pp 17-8 & 2004 pp 158, 161, MET1981 p267.
Phases: Until 1810 he produced academic classicism Grove7 p870
Characteristics: He used simplified forms & compositions based on 14th & 15th century frescos but gradually enriched them with Raphaelesque elements L&L.
Innovations: He was largely responsible for turning Nazarene painting from the naive to the didactic Vaughan1978 p116
Beliefs: Art must reflect the highest moral & artistic ideals with elevated subjects painted in a noble style L&L. Landscape painting was an inferior genre receiving over-attention in a revolution-ridden age with distorted values Vaughan2004 p161.
Aim: From an early stage his primary ambition was to become a monumental painter & his ambitions were also strongly nationalistic. Overbeck sought to purify but Cornelius sought to overwhelm to affirm the strength of the German tradition Vaughan1984 p177-8
Status: He led the international revival of freco painting L&L, OxDicArt
*COROT, Camille, 1796-1875, France:
Background: He was born in Paris & his father was a cloth merchant Champa1991 p114. It appears that due to family money he did not need to earn a living TurnerDtoI p67.
Training: Achille Michallon & Bertin, both of whom were pupils of Valenciennes TurnerDtoI p67.
Influences: He was a melomane. He especially loved Mozart & Beethoven. Every Sunday when in Paris he went to concerts where his eyes became bright & he was exalted with joy Champa1991 pp 114-5.
Career: After an unsuccessful drapery apprenticeships, he devoted himself to painting at the age of 26 using money that had been intended for a sister who had died. Between 1825 & 1828 Corot was in Italy where he explored the area around Rome & painted en plein air. The Salon exhibited two canvases in 1827. Throughout most of his career he toured France during the summer making sketches from which he produced exhibition pieces. He made further trips to Italy in 1834 & 1843, frequently visited Switzerland, & travelled elsewhere. His growing reputation mounted after 1846 when Baudelaire & Champfleury started writing warm reviews, & in 1849 he was elected to the Salon jury TurnerDtoI pp 67-8. Between 1855 & 1866 three paintings were bought at the Emperor’s request Champa1991 p68. Durand-Ruel & other dealers took his work, especially the plein air studies. The first of these was exhibited at the Salon in 1849 Turner DtoI p68.
Oeuvre: This included many portraits, although he did not exhibit them TurnerDtoI p68.
Phases: Prior to about 1850 he painted small plein air pictures together with large studio paintings with subjects from classical mythology, the Bible & poetry. From 1850 his subject matter became more limited & the difference between his plein air & studio pictures was reduced using softer & more diffused light. During the 1850s he experimented with more allegorical subjects TurnerDtoI pp 68-70.
Characteristics: (a) Plein air pictures: These have a creamy paint surface, rapid brushstrokes, & a limited colour range, mainly yellows & greens. Unity is achieved through atmosphere & tone TurnerDtoI. The paintings are calm & elegiac, have pure tonal values & were painted with love Vaughan1978 p211, R&J p178. (b) Later paintings: They feature still water, dimly visible hills & trees, a leaning tree with diaphanous foliage, & figures providing a touch of colour TurnerDtoI. (c) General: Although he did not, like the Impressionists, eliminate the distinction between light & the thing lit, he did give them equal value, so achieving a tranquil balance Novotny p183
Personal: Corot had no other passion except painting & music, & he sacrifices a woman whom he loved for art Hours pp 13, Champa1991 p214.
Verdict: No artist of his period better realised the ideal of achieving a world of beauty & the classical tranquility of forms: the ideal that remained after the end of Classicism Novotny pp 184-5. His work his characterised by a distinctive aesthetic refinement & is the product of a romantic melomane Champa1991 p114
Circle during his first Italian trip: That around Caruelle d’Aligny, a lifelong friend, Bertin & Fleury TurnerDtoI p67.
Grouping: Corot is often associated with the Barbizon School. However, much of his work is essentially in the classical tradition & his interest in architecture & geometrical compositions is non-Barbizon. However, when he painted in the Barbizon region his works are reminiscent of those of Rousseau & Diaz GroveDtoI p33.
Feature: Corot advised Guillemet not to exhibit with the Impressionists whom he regarded as a dirty gang. Monet called Corot a swine who had barred the door of the Salon Champa1991 p74
Influence: His dedication to light effects had a great impact on Pissaro, Morisot whom he taught, & Monet TurnerDtoI p71
***CORREGIO/ALLEGRI Antonio, c1494-1534, Italy=Parma; High Renaissance:
Background: He was born at Correggio, a small agricultural town in the Po Valley near Mantua. His uncle was the painter Lorenzo Allegri Brigstock, Grove7 p885
Training: He was almost certainly trained in nearby Mantua in the workshop of Mantegna, or Lorenzo Costa whose pearly colouring he adopted L&L, OxDicArt
Influences: They were numerous & included Andrea Mantegna, Leonardo’s sfumato & his distinctive smiling faces & dreamy introspection; Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione, Venetian painting, the bright enamel enamelled colours of the Bolognese school & Durer’s landscape Grove7 pp 885-86, Brigstocke, L&L, OxDicArt, HallM2011 p80
Career: In 1514 he was in Mantua, moved to Palma where he mainly worked; visited Rome during the late 1510s; & frescoed the domes of S Giovanni Evangelista & the Cathedral in Palma, 1520-30 for which his work is exuberant. He moved to Parma, 1523, & bought a farm & then other property at Correggio, 1530 & 1533 Grove7 p885-86, 888 OxDicArt, Forster p2
Oeuvre: Frescoes, oils, & tempera including small devotional works & altarpieces Grove7 pp 885, 891
Characteristics: Though he still worked with long & flowing lines he often complicated their course with flickering & dancing shadows & lights that de-emphasis their linearity. His works have a rhythmic flow; sensuous grace & highly charged sentiment as in the Martyrdom of SS Plascidus & Flavia, c1522 (Galleria Nazionale, Parma); & his paintings have soft harmonious colouring of grey-pink or blue with a gently Smokey quality as in Madonna of the Basket, c1524 (NG). Some of his works in oils have entrancing landscape backgrounds &/or erotic nudes as in Noli Me Tangere (The Prado), & in Jupiter & Antiope/Terrestrial Venus (Louvre), which is one of his erotic mythologies Wolfflin1915 p31, Shearman p51, Fry1926, p109, Grove7 pp 887, 888, Forster Pl VII, XIV, XVI, & p8, See NG at Madonna of the Basket,
Phases: His [as in] frescoes in S. Giovani Evangelista are essentially High Baroque while those in the Cathedral are Mannerist in concept Forster p5
Technique: He was one of the first painters to use a tinted ground, sometimes a light to midtone grey. This desaturated his colours, unified their tonal range & provided a soft sensuousness Hall2011 p80
Innovations & Anticipations: He was the first painter to use cast shadows with dramatic effect & was the first painter to use compositional & emotional devices that relate the spectator more directly to the action in the work than ever before. His Martyrdom with its dramatic staging anticipates the pathos of the Counter-Reformation Wolfflin1915 pp 211-2, Shearman p11, Forster p8
Status: Apart from his Venetian contemporaries he was one of the most important northern Italian painters of the first half of the 16th century Grove7 p884
Grouping: Proto-Baroque due to the ecstatic quality of his altarpieces & after his return to Correggio the anticipation of the Rococo due to the sensuality & abandon of his images Grove 7 p885, Wolfflin1915 p105, L&L, Fry1926 p109, Shearman p51
Patron: Federico II Gonzaga Forster p8
Influence: It was profound on the artists of Parama especially on Parmigianino but also Michangelo Anselmi & Francesco Boccaccio; the Campi in Cremona; Barocci; Annibale Carracci & later Lanfranco Grove7 p892; Friedlaender1925 p34; L&L
Reception: He was relatively unknown in his lifetime & his work in the Parma cathedral met with considerable criticism Grove7 p885, Forster p2
Repute: It continued to be high during the 18th century & he was emulated by Watteau, Raphael Mengs & Reynolds. During the 19th century critics were generally respectful although William Hazlitt, while praising his graceful & soulful faces, observed that they lacked muscles, bones or gusto, Ruskin fulminated & Berenson saw only irresistible frivolity. In the 20th century his reputation has been high among art historians but has declined among the general public Grove7 p893, Hazlitt p611
-COSSA Francesco, 1436-78, Italy:
Influences: Mantegna; Piero della Francesca OxDicArt
Career: -1470 fresco for Duke Borso d’Este at Ferrara Webb p107; 1470 disappointed by low payments abandoned work & settled Bologna executing altarpieces L&L
Characteristics: Precise line & metallic colours against elaborately fanciful ornamentation OxDicArt p426
Status: With Roberti & Tura he was the leading artist in Ferrara during the period OxDicArt
..Giovanni / NINO COSTA, 1826-1903, Italy; Aestheticism:
Background: He was born in Rome where his father had opened a wool-spinning factory & become wealthy, when he was 12 Nino met the portrait & history painter Baron Vencenzo Camuccini who advised him to work from nature Wikip
Training: After studying drawing, he worked for a short time in Camuccini’s studio, 1845, & then at the Academy in Rome under Francesco Coghetti etc Wikip, Newall1989 p70
Influences: Claude, Poussin, & Charles Coleman, c1807-74, who believed that observation from nature was the best education for an artist Grove10 p641, Wikip
Career: In 1849 & 1859 he fought under Garibaldi; having meanwhile virtually lived in hiding from the invading French. In 1852 he had met George Heming Mason & later Leighton who became his firm friends. He moved to Florence & frequented the Cafe Michealangelo, becoming the friend & adviser of the Macchiaoli 1859-69.
Around 1863 he visited Paris, London,& the Fontainebleau colony. He became a Professor at the Academy in Florence; went to London & Staffordshire, 1876; & founded the Etruscan School in Rome, 1878 Newall1989 pp 70-1, Grove10 p641
Feature: Between 1849 & 59, when he frequented the Campagna, an artists’ colony flourished at Aricia, which is between Albano & Nemi. It centred on the Pensione Martorelli. While in the Campagna he spent weeks & months working alone directly from nature, & camping in the woods or on the coast, never missing a dawn or sunset Broude pp 83-84
Beliefs: Landscape should reflect artists’ love for their native land; & il sentimeto, or feeling, “must always be the first, all pervading, & the ultimate object of the artist” Broude p84, Grove10 p641
Oeuvre: Landscapes, tree portraits & coastal & river scenes Broude
Characteristics: Tonal woks with muted & sometimes washed-out colours, including over-boiled cabbage green. His work ranges from paintings which are sad & sombre to dawn & sunset paintings in subtle glowing colour featuring yellow orange & enhanced with vibrant chiaroscuro as in [the Wiki Art] Sunset on the Arno Castle Howard paintings, Broude following p84
Influence/Legacy: He opened Leighton’s eyes to landscape’s expressive possibilities. When George Hemming Mason was severely depressed around 1860, he helped him see the beauty of the Staffordshire countryside Newall1989 p71
Grouping: Like contemporary artists in Britain & France he painted female farm workers as in his Women Loading Wood at Porto d’ Anzio, 1852 (NG of Modern Art, Rome)
Reception: His paintings were in particular well received in Britain. From its inception in 1877 until 1888 the Grosvenor Gallery was the principal exhibition forum for Costa & the Etruscan School. Sir Coutts Lindsay was a friend of George Howard & Costa’s work was of the type that Lindsay most favoured. In 1882 there was a notable & highly successful exhibition of his work at the Fine Art Society organised among others by Howard; Stopford Brook, a cultivated clergyman, who knew Costa & had long admired his work. A background factor was the admiration hy British liberals for Garibaldi & the Risorgimento Newall1987 pp 33-35
Repute: He is not itemised in the Oxford Companion or the Yale Dictionary
Collections: Castle Howard
-Lorenzo COSTA, c1460-1535, Italy:
Background: He was from Ferrara L&L
Training: Probably by Ecole Roberti L&L
Influences: Tura; Francia’s soft & luminous manner; & in portraits the meticulous realism of Netherlandish artists L&L, OxDicArt
Career: During 1483-1506 he worked for the Bentiviglio court in Bologna & entered into partnership with Francia. Then, following Mategna, he became court painter for the Gonzaga at Mantua L&L, OxDicArt
Characteristics: His gracefulness, frequent Peruginesque sweetness, & delicate feeling for landscape L&L, OxDicArt
Influenced: Corregio & possibly Giorgione L&L, OxDicArt
–COSWAY, Richard, 1742-1821, England:
Career: He was the most fashionable miniaturist of his day, a friend of the future Prince Regent, & a fop. In 1781 he married the miniaturist Maria Hadfield, 1759-1838 OxDicArt
Oeuvre: This included large portraits OxDicArt
Characteristics: He gave his sitters great elegance OxDicArt
Innovation: He revived the popularity of miniature painting L&L
*Sanchez COTAN, Juan, 1560-1627, Spain; Baroque and Spanish Eloquent
Teacher: Probably Blas de Prado Brown1998 p87
Influences: Probably Italian still lifes as painted by the Milanese painters Galizia, Figino etc Brown1998 p87
Career: Between about 1585 & 1603 he had a thriving practice in Toledo L&L. In 1603 he became a Carthusian & virtually stoped painting still lifes Brown1998 p87
Oeuvre: Still life & bland mainly devotional figurative works L&L
Characteristics: His still lifes are on a ledge within painted recesses, have dark backgrounds, & use strong chirascuro. Objects are powerfully lit thus enhancing surfaces & textures & creating a mysterious super-realism in which the light fials to illuminate the background. He reused images L&L; Brown1998 p87, L&L
Innovation: Spanish still-life painting L&L
Verdict: His still-lifes are now regarded as among greatest ever Brown1998 p87
Influence: Zurbaran & many copyists & imitators of his still-life OxDicArt
– COTES, Francis, 1726-70, England; British Golden Age
Background: He was born in London, the son of an apothecary. Rosalba Carriera had popularised portraiture [in pastel] among Grand Tourists in Venice Grove8 p26
Teacher: He was apprenticed to George Knapton who taught him to paint in oil & pastel Grove8 p26, Hayes1991 p100
Influences: Carriera & the continental pastelists Vaughan1999 p84
Career: In 1763 he acquired a handsome studio in Cavendish Square; & was a founder member of the RA which he helped to establish having presented the case to George III after painting two exceptional royal double portraits of which the most interesting is the [as in] Princess Louisa & Queen Carolina Matilda of Denmark, 1767 (Buckingham Palace) Hayes1991 p100, Grove8 p26,
Oeuvre: Portraits in pastels & oils webimages
Characteristics: His work is easy to recognise: he depicted charming, vivacious, unintellectual, untroubled, healthy & youthful figures in fine clothes, a strong likeness & no nonsense. The faces are usually of a milk & roses nature. He used Peter Toms for drapery from around 1764, Waterhouse1953 p265, Waterhouse1941 p13, Grove8 p26. Some of his works have a fine intimacy as in his Portrait of Paul Sandby, 1761 (Tate). He is half leaning out of a window Vaughan1999 p84. Intimate proximity & relaxed informality was a feature of his work as in Lady Hoare Spinning, 1766-70 (National Trust, Stourhead, Wiltshire) Shaw-Taylor p16.
Phases: At first & he used pastels but around 1753 he also used oils. Around 1750 his work changed from Knapton-like & he became a leading exponent of the new lively style of portraiture as in his pastel of Sir Richard Hoare, 1757, Stourhead). Here the sitter is completely at ease & the work a little more vivacious than most contemporary Reynolds’s & considerably in advance of Gainsborough’s commissioned portraits, though he was in general an innovator L&L, Waterhouse1953 pp 265-66,
Status: He was the most fashionable portraitist in the 1760s after Reynolds & Gainsborough L&L
Pupil: The pastelist John Russell Grove8 p26
Repute: He sank into relative oblivion & he is not itemised in the Oxford Companion Waterhouse1953 p265, Brigstocke
Brother: Samuel, 1734-1818, was a painter in miniature Grove8 p26
*COTMAN, John Snell, 1782-1842, England:
Background: He was born at Norwich Norman1977
Training: Dr Thomas Monro’s informal academy Norman1977
Influences: Girtin Norman1977
Career: From about 1798 he was a colourist for Ackerman. He toured Wales & Yorkshire making watercolours & sketches. In 1806 he returned to Norwich & he lived in Yarmouth during 1812-23. Cotman became drawing master at King’s College, London, in 1834 Norman1977, L&L
Oeuvre: Watercolours & etchings of architectural antiquities for publication Norman1977
Characteristics: Initially his works had a geometric clarity with flat panes of coloured wash, but he later mixed in paste to achieve a rich & colourful impasto Norman1977, L&L
Grouping: The Norwich School L&L
Legacy: His sons Miles & John Joseph were also members of the Norwich School L&L
***COURBET, Gustave, 1819-77, France:
Background: He was born at Ornans, near Besacon, into a well-off landowning family L&L
Career: In 1839 he went to Paris, worked in various studios, & copied the old masters, Gericault & Delacroix etc. His first exhibit at the Salon was in 1844. In 1848 he was sympathetic towards but did not join the Revolution, art & ideas were his sphere. At the 1849 Salon he exhibited After Dinner at Ornans, which was purchased by the state, & had six other works at the Salon. In 1850 Berial at Ornans was exhibited at the Salon. His work was rejected by the Paris World Exhibition of 1855 & nearby he set up a one-man exhibition, but it did not receive much publicity. He then sought recognition abroad & exhibited in the Low Countries, Germany, & London. In 1857 he showed his first hunting scene at the Salon. At the end of 1860 he opened a short-lived studio School but refused to teach to avoid damaging anybody’s individuality. In 1863 his anti-clerical Return from the Conference was rejected by both the Salon & the Salon des Refuses. At the Paris World Exhibition of 1867 four works were exhibited & a further 137 at his own gallery nearby. In 1869 he had a solo show within the Munich international art exhibition & he was knighted by the King of Bavaria. When at last he was nominated for the Legion of Honour in 1870, he refused. He was elected to Paris Commune & imprisoned until 1872 but allowed to paint. In 1873 he faced renewed prosecution & fled to Switzerland. Here he was unhappy, drank excessively, deteriorated in mind & body, & died from dropsy L&L
Phases: During the 1840s he painted self-portraits & portraits. Between 1849 & 1855 he produced peasant & modern history pictures, but also nudes Grove8 pp 51-2. From 1855 landscape became an important part of his output, but he had already painted significant works in the genre around 1848-9 Fried1990 pp 120-4. During the late 1850s & 1860s he painted leisure & private life subjects, portraits, landscapes &, from 1857, hunting scenes Grove8 p54, L&L
Characteristics: The leading feature of Courbet’s work is what Novotny refers to as the organ-notes of his chromatic music & “the urge towards the colossal”. His paintings possess drama & action even when his aim is to show how they can be mastered by the strength of pictorial structure Novotny p250. [This he achieved in various ways.] Compositional egalitarianism Nochlin1971 p48
Subsersiveness of (truthful & large depictions of lower class subjects) Nochlin1971 pp 46-8. Courbet’s work has tactility in contrast to the smoothed-out form & waxen surface of academic nudes, though they usually appeared in woodlands & other conventional surroundings Clark1956 pp 163-4
Feature: [It might be expected that Courbet would as a Realist have painted numerous pictures of modern urban life.] However the nearest he seems to have come -unless his lesbian paintings are to be treated as depicting the modern world- was Firemen Rushing to a Fire, 1850-51, which he abandoned See Fried1990 p146. Indeed with a few exceptions he did not paint pictures of ordinary workers at work. The most notable are The Stonebrakers & The Wheat Sifters, both of which are early, 1849 & 1853-4, & set in the countryside See illustrations in Fried1990 & Nochlin2007.
Grouping: It is authoritatively believed that he was the creator & leader of Realism eg L&L, OxDicArt, Grove8 p50
| Was Courbet Really a Realist? |
Circle: He appears to have only found companionship in Bohemian circles such as Brasserie Andler where he met Bausdelaire, Prudhon , Champleury, Corot & later Monet TurnerDtoI p83, Musee d’Orsay web, Daumier was in his circle L&L
Hates: Manet Zeldin2 p473
Critics: These can be divided into two groups:
(a) Those who were hostile: Gautier, Meimee, Dumas fils, etc against democratising art & painting peasants, labourers & wrestlers, crude style. [Huysmans called him an animal Brookner p160]
(b) Defenders: Champfleury , Castletagnary, Thore; largely unsuccessful until the mid-1860s & only then when Castletnagary stressed Courbet’s colourful charm/liveliness, even saying that he was not really a Realist; avant-garde German enthusiasm from 1851 Munich exhibition, & in Britain from 1856 &1862 exhibitions; Champfleury & Thore become hostile for political reasons; Courbet’s reputation rose from the 1880s TurnerDtoI p83
Patrons: He was protected during the early Second Emperor by the powerful Charles Duc de Morny. The Montpellier banker’s son, Alfred Bruyas, commissioned Bonjour Monsieur Courbet (1854) Grove8 p53.
Innovations: [He revived the realistic female nude & took in new directions.] Hitherto lesbianism had [with few exceptions] only been treated in small-scale graphic work but in The Sleepers the figures are large [& the subject explicit] TurnerDtoI p77. [ Prior to Courbet the vulva had been merely indicated but in the Origin of the World the whole pubic area was accorded portrait treatment.]
Verdict: According to Pevsner, Courbet was an interesting & rare case of a great painter without taste NCMH 10 p149
Beliefs: “I am the first & only artist of this century” NCMH 10 p148. He made a public declaration in 1851 that he was a republican, a socialist & above all a Realist L&L. In 1861 he declared, “painting is an essentially concrete art & can only consist of the presentation of real & existing things. It is a completely physical language, the words of which consist of all visible objects; an object which is abstract, not visible, non-existent, is not within the realm of painting” Nochlin1971 p25
Personal: He was a big fat man with a roaring laugh who used to beat the table to show approval or disapproval. Courbet consumed innumerable chopes of beer while painting & was proud of never having any intentions to women except to enjoy them NCMH 10 p148. He repeatedly described himself as a savage In 1854 in a letter to Bruyas he said, “Behind the laughing mask that you see I conceal inside me suffering, bitterness & sadness thatr clingfs to my heart like a vampire”. He had bouts of depression & a fear of persecution TurnerDtoI p83.
Influence: Around 1855 the German exhibition encouraged a Realist movement by Leibl & Thoma etc L&L
-Guillaum COURTOIS/CORTESE/IL BORGOGNONE, 1628-79, brother of Jacques/Giacomo, France; Baroque
Background: He was born at St Hippolyte, Franche-Comte Grove7 p902
Training: Pietro da Cortona L&L
Influences: Pier Mola & Mattia Preti Grove7 p902
Career: It was entirely spent in Italy where he was active in Rome. He worked under Pietro da Cortona during 1656. His masterpiece is the Martyrdom of S. Andrew, 1668 Blunt1954 p215, L&L, Grove7 p902, Waterhouse 1962 p76
Oeuvre: Altarpieces, religious frescoes. genre, & a few portraits Grove7 pp902-3
Phases: Grove7 p902
Characteristics: His early frescoes are dramatic & have more naturalistic figures than in his mature work. He was increasingly influenced by the classicizing manner of Maratta. His colour was almost Venetian Grove7 p902, L&L,Waterhouse1962 p76
Patrons: Nicolo Saredo, the Venetian ambassador in Rome, & Bernini Grove7 p902
Grouping: Baroque Waterhouse1962 p76
– Jacques/Giacomo COURTOIS/CORTESE/IL BORGOGNONE, 1621-76, brother of Guillaum, France; Baroque
Background: He was born at St Hippolyte, France-Comte Grove7 p902
Training: His father Jean Pierre & Pietro da Cortona Grove7 p902, L&L
Career: He moved to Italy in 1636 & spent three years on military campaigns, lived in Rome & during the 1650s travelled throughout northern Italy fulfilling commissions. In 1657 he joined the Jesuit order but continued to paint battle scenes Grove7 p902, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Battle paintings some of which were in frescoes & a few religious works L&L, Grove7 p902
Characteristics: Baroque drama, deft touch & evocative atmosphere in his battle scenes which ranged from small works to brutally realistic scenes set in vast panoramic landscapes with huge numbers if well-controlled figures, although his figure drawing was weak Brigstocke, Grove7 p902
Pupil: Jacques Parrocel L&L
Patronage: Initially the Sacchetti, Pamphili & other noble Roman families Grove7 p902
Legacy: He popularised battle paintings in 17th century Italy inspiring Francesco Simonini & Ciccio Napoletana, etc Grove7 p902
–Jean COUSIN the Elder, recorded c1490-1660=France:
Background: From Sens L&L
Influences: Rosso, engravings from Italy & by Durer, Leonardo’s use of light, & Jan van Scorel L&L, Grove8 p67
Career: Cousin moved to Paris in 1538 & gained considerable renown Lucie-S1971 pp 39-40.
Oeuvre: Paintings, engravings, tapestry & stained glass design L&L, Grove8 p67
Feature: He was one of the few important painters to work independenly of the School of Fontainebleau L&L
-Jean COUSIN the Younger, 1522-c94, France:
Background: From Sens L&L
Influences: Florentine Mannerism & the Flemish figure style L&L
Career: Cousin was a student at the University of Paris in 1542 7 he was mainly active in the city L&L, Grove8 p68
-COUTURE, Thomas, 1815-79, France:
Background: His father was a master cobbler L&L
Training: Gros & Delaroche L&L, R&Z p124
Career: In 1826 his family moved from Senlis to Paris. His 1840 first Salon exhibition; 1847 climax with Romans of the Decadence L&L. Between 1847 & 63 he ran an atelier; then he taught privately Lindey p97. Around 1860 he wrote a book advocating painting in broken colour to obtain greater brilliancy Charteris p125
Technique: He used a reddish-brown ground topped with unmodulated local hues kept apart by the brownish base. This gave an impression of colouristic richness but without the need to confront (like Delacroix) the stimulating problem of how colours interacted. He generously heightened his paintings in chalky white which produced an impression of brilliance R&Z pp 124-5
Characteristics: These included strong pictorial effects which attracted attention to the painted surface & summary draftsmanship. The thick continuous black contour of the drawings was retained in the paintings giving a superficial impression of vigour R&Z p124
Innovations: He stressed spontaneity, expression, freshness & colour in his teaching & discouraged laborious, methodical academic practices L&L
Verdict: According to Albert Boime in Thomas Couture & the Eclectic Vision, he determined the diection of the modern movement through his pupils R&Z p125
Pupils: Manet & Puvis, although his favourite was Willaim Morris Hunt L&L, NGArtinP p247
Legacy: Some early Manets are Couture-like but none after 1850s; though he continued periodically continued to use Couture’s, such as the stressing a dark conour. Puvis was profoundly marked by Couture’s ideas & ambitions, as his early works show, but he later painted works that were very different. Couture’s opposition to the Academy provided Manet, Puvis, etc were initial moral support to Manet& Puvis etc R&Zpp 125, 128-9
COWIE, James, 1886-1956, Scotland:
Background: He was born on a farm in Aberdeenshire OxDicMod
Training: After abandoning English literature at Aberdeen University & qualifying as a teacher, he studied at the Glasgow School of Art, 1912-14 OxDicMod
Career: During the War he was a conscientious objector & worked on road-digging etc. He taught at Bellshill Academy, near Glasgow, from 1918 to 1935, when he became Head of Painting at Gray’s School of Art, In 1937 Cowie became warden at Hospitalfield Art College, Arbroath. His students included Colquhoun, MacBryde & Eardley E&L p73. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy & Royal Glasgow Institute, & periodically at the RA E&L p73. In 1948 he moved to Edinburgh as secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Portraits, figure compositions, landscapes & still-life OxDicMod
Characteristics: A strong, hard, predominantly linear style which was highly disciplined rather than intuitive & based on many drawings. Though inspired by the Old Masters he took his subjects from what he saw around him. Like John Nash, whom he greatly admired, he infused the ordinary with a sense of the mysterious OxDicMod. Indeed much of his work has a surreal quality, though he never joined any of their groupings E&L p73
Status: One of the most original Scottish painters of the 20th century OxDicMod
Personal: He was rather introverted (unlike his outgoing second wife, Alice) E&L p74
Influenced Allison Watt OxDicMod
–David COX, the Elder, 1783-1859, England:
Background: He was born in a Birmingham suburb the son of a blacksmith DIA p212
Training: After taking drawing lessons he was briefly apprenticed to a painter of lockets & snuff boxes. He was self-taught apart from a few lessons from Varley in London. These were however crucially important because Varley’s broad wash technique, deep clear colour & solid composition influenced his early style. In the late 1830s he took lessons in oil painting from William Muller,an adventurous artist who in at least some of his paintings used a sketchy & somewhat adventurous technique Grove8 pp 83-84, 22 pp 274-5, web images
Career: After working as a scene painter at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, he went to London, 1804; devoted himself to becoming an artist; began exhibiting at the RA, 1805; was elected to the Old Water Colour Society, 1812, where he exhibited copiously; was appointed drawing master at the Military Academy, Farnham, 1813, but soon resigned; went to Hereford, 1815, & taught at a local academy; returned to London, 1829; & settled at Harborne near Birmingham,1841,from which he made summer sketching trips to the Welsh mountains WoodDic, Grove8 p83, DIA p213, OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Landscapes, coastal scenes & rustic genre mainly in watercolour but also oils from about 1839 WoodDic, OxDicArt
Characteristics/Phases/Technique/Innovation: He painted in a broad & vigorous style which loosened from the 1830s following the example of Bonnington . This was facilitated by his discovery that rapid paint strokes on rough textured wrapping paper produced a distinctive effect well suited to the depiction of his speciality: windswept landscapes under cloudy skies. Later when Cox made serious use of oils his bold style enhanced by Muller, & due to a lack of conventional experience in oil paintings, led to a series of softly atmospheric paintings not only unparalleled in British art but also in advance of the French Impressionist Movement as in his On the Sands, c1850 (Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery) & Rhyl Sands, c1854 (Manchester City Art Galleries). With their breezy, open-air freshness achieved by loose dabs of paint & radical simplification they anticipate Boudin & the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874 OxDicArt, L&L, WoodDic, DIA p214, Treuherz1993 p65, webimages. [However heretical it may sound it is therefore clear that Impressionism was a British & not a French development: an innovation for which Cox was responsible.] Unfortunately, Cox had difficulty getting his oils accepted in London & they were only exhibited in the provinces [& appear to have had little impact]. When British Impressionism arrived in the late 1880s it was imported from France Grove8 p84, See Impressionism British & Irish, Section 9.
Repute: His work has had a mixed reception from the critics. He is not itemised in the Oxford Companion to Western Art, & Christopher Hussey remarked that, although it suggests the fresh air his work is a monotonous shorthand for catching the play of lights on rank grass & gnarled trees Hussey p274
Progeny: His son David the Younger, 1805-85, worked in his father’s manner in a competent & attractive way L&L
..Kenyon COX, 1856-1919, USA; Academic; Academic Movement
Background: Born Warren, Ohio, into a prominent family who imparted a strong moral responsibilty. There was a contemporary artists to which Cox belonged who sought to professionalise their image & incorporate themselve into modern American society. This was how the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was seen by Cox’s friend Will Low: something larger & finer than individual work in a joint effort backed by the solid men of the city of Chicago Grove8 p85, Burns pp 30-4.
Training: The McMicken School, Cincinnati; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1876-7; in Paris with Carolus-Duran & at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, under Cabanel & Gerome, 1877-82 Grove8 p85
Influences: The Italian Renaissance when in northern Italy,1878; & Puvis de Chevannes Grove8 p85
Career: He visited Grez in 1878 & painted outside, exhibited at the Salon between 1879 & 1882, returned to America & moved to New York in 1883. Cox made his living illustrating books & magazines, & through occasional art criticism. In 1892 he began mural painting &, after work at the Library of Congress, receieved commissions for others at public buildings & producing four murals for the Chicago exhibition. Between 1884 & 1909 he taught at the art Students League. He vogourously opposed modernism & was sceptical regarding Impressionism, though he approved the new empasis on colour Morgan p15, Grove8 p85
Oeuvre: Paintings & portaits, murals & illustrations Grove8 p85, I&C p480
Characteristics: He was a strong colourist & his best work is beautifully crafted Grove8 p85
Beliefs: He believed that art is a unifying force in society & painted idealised female figures etc to symbolise Truth & Beauty, etc Grove8 p85
Innovations: He was almost the onlyAmerican artist of his time to paint easel nudes of the European type I&C p480
Beliefs: He believed that art is a unifying force & feared that abstraction would limit its general appeal Grove8 p85.
Status/Grouping: More than almost anyone else in Ameerica he represented the academic tradition I&C p480
..COXON, Raymond, 1896-1997, England; British Impressionism:
Background: He was born in Hanley, Staffordshire Chamot p109
Training: The Leeds School of Art, 1919-21, the Royal College of Art, 1921-5, under Sir William Rothenstein, & with Leon Underwood Chamot p109, Spalding2022 p204, Wikip
Influences: Cezanne & Segonzac Chamot p109
Career: Fought in Egypt & Palestine during the war. In 1922 he visited France with his friend Henry Moore & met Pierre Bannard & Aristide Maillo, etc. From 1925 he taught at the Richmond School of Art. In 1927 he Moore, Underwood, etc, formed the short-lived British Independent Society. He joined the London Group in 1931 & the Chiswick Group in 1938. The War Artists’ Advisory Committee commissioned him to paint army subjects in Britain & he also painted for the Royal Navy & Army Wikip, Chamot p109
Oeuvre: Landscape, still-life, church murals, portraiture & nudes Wikip, ArtUk
Characteristics/Phases: He had a bold, loose, impressionistic style & his work became more abstract after 1945 Wikip, ArtUk.
Wife: Edna Ginesi was also an artist Wikip
*Antoine COYPEL, 1661-1722, Charles-Antoine’s father & Noel-Nicholas’ half-brother, France; Baroque
Background: Born Paris, the son of the painter Noel Coypel, 1628-1707 Grove8 pp 88-89
Training: At the College d’Harcourt; his father’s studio, & the Academie Royal Grove8 p89
Influences: Bernini, Titian, Veronese, Corregio, Albani, Charles Le Brun & later Rubens Grove8 pp 89-90, Wakefiekld p16, L&L
Career: He was a child prodigy; accompanied Noel when he became Director of the Academie de France in Rome, benefiting from the tuition to its students, 1672; went to North Italy; returned to Paris, 1876; concluded his studies at the Academie Royale; was received into the Academie 1681, becoming an assistant professor, 1684; its director, 1714; & Premier Paeintre du Roi, 1716 L&L; Grove1716 p89
Oeuvre: Religious, mythological & historical works in oils, fresco & pastel, & also engravings & tapestry designs. He was responsible for two outstanding French baroque decorative schemes: the gallery of Aneas in the Palais Royal & the chapel ceiling -though not the apse- at Versailles. Although the former no longer exists there is a [as in] sketch at the Musee de Beaux-Arts Angers L&L, T&C p143, Allen p198
Beliefs: “The most perfect type of painting is that which, moulded in the artist’s mind & imagination& wrought by his hand is able to represent the figures of things & all the objects of nature. The hand, however, is what contributes least to the excellence of this art: the hand should only obey the mind & is, so to speak, its slave”. He believed that in composition it was necessary to avoid “anything dry, sharp, hard or abrupt” & advocated “the undulating form” which gave contours “elegance & truthfulness”. In the colour versus drawing controversy of the 1690s he was a strong admirer of Rubens T&C p143, Brigstocke.
Characteristics: His work features sumptuous &, splendid colour, chiaroscuro, animation, theatrical gestures & drama as in Susanna Accused of Adultery,1695 (Prado); The Swooning of Esther, 1696 (Louvre); Venus Bringing Weapons to Aeneas, 1699 (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rennes); The Death of Dido, 1704 (Musee Fabre, Montpellier), & Aeneas & Anchises, 1716 (Musee Fabre, Montpellier). [His work is life enhancing]
Patrons & Phases: He became Peintre Ordinaire to Philippe I Duc d’Orleans, the King’s brother, & thereafter received commissions from this family. During 1689-99 there no commissions from the monarch & he turned for a time from painting in the Grand style to cabinet pictures of smiling nymphs. etc, as in Bachus & Ariadne, 1693 (Museum of Art, Philadelphia)
Friends: de Piles was a close friend & knew Boileau, La Fontaine & Racine who were the leading poets & dramatists Wakefield p16
Innovations: His pictures were influenced by literature & the theatre. Henceforth they exerted a constant influence on French 18th century art Wakefield p18
Status: He was the most distinguished member of the family Grove8 p88
Legacy: His work dominated the first quarter of the eighteenth-century T&C p143
Repute: His work has been condemned as awkward, sentimental, backward looking, melodramatic & marred by simpering figures with affected expressions & theatrical gestures: an artist who despite his historical importance does not rank high among the artists of his own generation. Even the vault of the chapel at Versailles, though described as ingenious, is written off as a bemusing welter of arms & legs Allen p196, Wakefield p18, Blunt1954 p275, T&C p144. The Oxford Companion to Western Art appears to be the only place in which his work is regarded more highly Brigstocke p160
Half-Brother: Noel-Nicolas, 1690-1734, was also a painter who was initially overshadowed by Antoine but went on to produce works that were graceful, harmonious & well-lit. His Rape of Europa, 1727 (Private) foreshadows Boucher Grove8 pp 91-2
Son: Charles-Antoine, 1694-1752, was the weakest member of the family OxDicArt
-Charles-Antoine COYPEL, 1694-1752, Antoine’s son & Noel-Nicholas’ half-brother, France:
Career: Trained at Academy in 1715 and by 1744 had become the King’s first painter FrA L&L
Innovations: Pre-Academy training, involved in discussions during lectures at FrA L&L
Oeuvre: Decorative History paintings and also portraits, sometimes using pastels. Known for his fancy pictures. Also wrote art theory and poetry. L&L
Characteristics: Similar to Italy’s Marcantoni Franceschini’s NGArt1986p450
Verdict: Versatile and prolific but the weakest family member OxDicArt
-Noel COYPEL, 1661-1722, Antoine & Noel-Nicholas’s father, France:
Influences: Poussin L&L
Career: Lebrun’s protege; 1673-5 director France Academy in Rome, & (1695) Academy L&L
Style: Classical L&L
-Alexander COZENS, c1717-86, John’s father, England:
Background: He was born in Russia, the son of a master shipbuilder to Peter the Great Grove 8 pp 95, Brigstocke
Training: In London, 1735, & in Rome, 1746-8, in Claude Verne’s studio where he studied oil painting Brigstocke, Grove8 p95
Career: He became drawing master at Christ’s Hospital, 1750, & give lessons at Eton from around 1763. Between 1772 & 1782 he exhibited at the RA. In his later years he taught the royal family L&L, Grove8 pp 95-6, Wikip
Oeuvre: Landscapes in various media including pen & ink drawings, washed views, watercolour & oils Grove 8 p95, Wikip
Characteristics: The Poetical & atmospheric depiction of Italian & Swiss mountain scenery, British hill country, etc, as in Setting Sun (The Whitworth, Manchester) L&L, Grove8 p95, Wikip, ArtUK
Beliefs: That besides their intrinsic artistic value landscape works would be morally improving due to their spirituality Grove8 pp 95-6
Innovation/Influence: Use of inkblots by amateurs when commencing a watercolour, & the classification of clouds which influenced Constable, as advocated in A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing original compositions of Landscape, 1785. His imaginary landscapes played a large part in popularising the concept of the Sublime L&L, Grove8 p95
Circle: Sir George Beaumont, & William Beckford a pupil from around 1775 & lifelong friend & patron L&L, Grove8 p95
Grouping: He founded the Southern School of watercolour painting L&L
Collection: The British Museum
-John Robert COZENS, 1752-97, Alexander’s son, England:
Background: He was born in London Grove8 p96
Training: His father Grove8 p96
Career: He sketched directly from nature, visited the Continent with Richard Payne Knight, 1776-9, & with Beckford, 1781-3. He stopped painting in 1792 & became insane Grove8 p96, L&L
Oeuvre: Landscapes in watercolour using soft harmonious tones with radiant light effects employing transparent washes Brigstocke
Characteristics: His work was poetical & atmospheric for the depiction of Italian & Swiss mountain scenery featuring transient light effects L&L
Grouping: With his father he founded the so-called Southern School of watercolour painting L&L
Influenced Girtin, Turner & Constable Brigstocke
..COZZA, Francesco, 1605-1682, Italy:
Background: Born Stillo di Calabria Grove8 p99
Training: Domenichino Grove8 p99
Influences: Annibale Carracci & Pacecco, & in his later work Mattia Preti & Gaspard Dughet with whom he worked Grove8 p99
Career: He probably moved to Rome at the end of the 1620s & went to Naples during the 1630s where his art was well received Grove8 pp 99-100.
Oeuvre: Religious paintings, mythological frescoes, & a few classical landscapes & etchings Grove8 pp 99-100
Characteristics: He remained aloof from the dense & dramatic art of Lanfranco & painted in a classical style of exceptional purity & restraint with an emphasis on clear gesture & expression Wittkower p321, Grove8 p99
Grouping: He was among the rank & file of artists born between 1600 & 1620 whose work stems mainly from Domenichino. Others were Andrea Comassi, Sassoferrato & Giovanni Cerrini Wittkower p321
CRAIG, James Humbert, 1877-1944, Ireland:
Background: Born Belfast. His father was a tea merchant & his Swiss mother was from a family with a painting tradition. They were married in a Presbyterian church. The family was wealthy & he was privately tutored Wikip
Training: After abandoning a career in business he briefly attended the Belfast School of Art but was mainly self-taught Wikip
Feature: He did not paint for money & only painted when he felt inspired Wikip
Career: He was raised in County Down in Ulster, went to America, worked on small jobs including helping paint the Brooklyn Bridge, witnessed a suicide from it, returned to Ireland, exhibited first at the Royal Hibernian Academy; had a studio County Antrim in Ulster, & was elected to the Royal Ulster & Royal Hibernian Academies, 1928. Although he travelled all over Europe his favourite place to paint was Ireland Wikip
Oeuvre: Landscapes especially of a dramatic, wild & mountainous nature in County Donegal, Connemara in the far west & the Glens of Antrim, He also painted coastal & harbour scenes, genre works & cottage interiors Wikip
Beliefs: “never try to improve on nature” Ross’s on we
Characteristics: He was a dedicated plein air artist & his & his works depict the play of light sometimes with a clear or tranquil sky but more often with dramatic cloud effects on a windy day featuring marked chiaroscuro as in The Kerry Coast, 1928 (Ulster Museum, Belfast). Small cottages & farm buildings are often in evidence & rocks & the carting of turf are also to be seen. This is a rural, peasant, & national romantic Ireland. There is no hint or whiff of the Belfast shipyards, the Protestant Ascendancy, the Easter Rising, the post-1918 troubles or the Catholic hegemony in the Irish Free State Wikip, webimages
***Lucas CRANACH the elder 1472-1553, father of Lucas the Younger & Hans, Germany:
Background: He was born at Kronach, near Bamberg, south Germany OxDicArt, L&L
Training: Probably his father. Hans L&L
Influences: Flemish pictorial modes after his 1509 trip to the Netherlands. The need to evolve court style & provide pictures that were readily reproducible by assistants L&L
Career: Around 1500-4 he was in Vienna where he mixed in humanist circles at the University of Vienna circles & painting some of his finest & most original works. During 1504-50 he was at Wittenberg where he was court painter to Frederick III, the Wise, of Saxony. In 1550 he followed John Frederick, the Unfortnate, into exile in Augsberg. Later at Wittenburg he became becomes very wealthy & burgomaster. Despite his Protestantism he continued to work for Catholic patrons. In later years he was a bookseller & printer OxDicArt, L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings, etchings & woodcuts L&L
Speciality: The nudes which he began painting during the late 1520s Clark1956 p332.
Characteristics/Phases: He employed landscape as a formal & expressive element in his early portraits & religious pictures but naturalism & romanticism were replaced by a more ornamental & calligraphic style better suited to court paintings. His court portraits have elongated bodies but realistic heads. However he used painted in a consistent realist manner when he painted private individuals L&L. His late nudes are of the northern type with long slender legs, slender waists & erotic intent. They have manneristic elements Clark1956 pp 332, 334
Firsts/Feature: His nudes contined erotic innovations including necklaces, waistbands, big hats, filmy draperies & seductive poses) Clark1956 p334. In 1507 he invented the chirascuro woodcut. His full-length & life-size portraits against monochrome grounds were a secular version of the portraits on the wings of altarpieces L&L. Around 1529 he was commissioned by Luther to make a Lutheran altarpiece The Law & the Gospel HallM2011 p34
Grouping: His early work belongs to the Danube School & his nudes are Late Gothic in origin L&L
Circle: Luther. He painted several portraits of him & Luther was the godfather of a child; The Elector of Saxony was Luther’s protector L&L
Patrons: Frederick the Wise of Saxony for whom he did not paint nudes) & John Frederick for whom he did Clark1956 p332
Workshop: It was large & quasi-industrial, producing replicas, especially nudes & official portraits OxDicArt, L&L
Progeny: His sons Hans who died in 1537 & Lucas the Younger, 1515-76 carried on the tradition of their father’s workshop OxDicArt, L&L
-Lucas CRANACH the Younger, Hans’ brother 1515-86, Germany:
*CRANE, Walter, 1845-1915, England:
Background: Crane was born in Liverpool, the son of Thomas Crane (1808-59), portraitist & miniaturist Grove8 p121
Training: Crane was apprenticed to the engraver William Linton in 1859 Grove8 p121
Influences: The Pre-Raphaelites & Burne-Jones on his early landscapes & figurative subjects Grove8 p121
Career: Throughout his career an illustrator. During the mid-1860s he evolved his own style of book illustration introducing a new sophistication & after about 1870 used flat areas of colour & asymmetrical composition under the influence of Japanese prints. However, his principal ambition was painting. In 1871 Crane arrived in Rome with his bride & was introduced by Leighton to Costa. He was spellbound by his landscapes & impressed by his part in the struggle for Italinan unity. Crane organised an informal sketching club among the English-speaking artists in Rome (Barclay, Elihu Vedder & Charles Coleman). In 1884 he joined the Art Workers’Guild & was Master during 1888-9. During the 1890s he worked with Morris at the Kelmscott Press. He only exhibited two works at the RA & depended on the Dudley, Grosvenor & New galleries Newall1989 p21, Grove8 pp 121-2.
Oeuvre: Paintings including landscapes & allegorical works, illustrations & design Grove8 pp 121-2
Phases: During his Italian trip in the early 1870s he produced water & body colour paintings of the Campagna on the spot. In these he reduced the colour range & simplified the forms to convey the sun-baked but luxuriant countryside in which all picturesque detail was excluded. Many of his allegorical works of the 1880s were sombre & banal with crude figures Newall1989 pp 21, 47, Grove8 pp 121-2.
Grouping: He has been regarded as an Etruscan, a late Pre-Raphaelite & a Symbolist Newall1989 p21, Lucie-S1972 p194, Gibson p75.
Politics/Personal: Crane was an an indefatigable Socialist campaigner Grove9 p122. However it is notable that, although they differed profoundly on most questions, he had a friendly relationship with Leighten whom he greatly admired as an artist & a man Barrington2 pp 7-9. He insisted that a son should break of his engagement to Leighton’s cockney model, Dorothy Dene WoodC1999 p174
..CRAWHALL, Joseph, 1861-1913, Scotland; Rural Naturalist Movement
Background: He was born at Morpeth. His father, 1821-96, was an amateur artist who worked in the family rope business in Newcastle WoodDic
Training: His father & very briefly in Paris Billcliffe p21
Influences: The Impressionists Wikip
Career: In 1879 he spent the summer working with Guthrie & Walton at Rosneath on the Clyde coast, he became a close friend of E. A. Walton, & during 1881 Crawhall spent the summer painting with Guthrie in Northumberland & then at Brig o’Turk in the Trossacks, where they were joined by George Henry. The following year he Guthrie & Walton painted at Crowland, a small village in Lincolnshire, & in 1884 he painted with Walton, Guthrie, Arthur Melville & others. He settled at Brandsbury in Yorkshire, visited Tangier in 1887-8, & during the 1880s travelled through Morocco & Spain Billcliffe pp 19-20, 42, 45, 107WoodDic, Wikip
Oeuvre/Phases: Landscapes & animals, particularly horses, dogs & birds, in oils, pastel & watercolour: the latter became his exclusive medium from around 1885. He discovered that if painted on Holland linen it provided many of the qualities of oil paint. At the same time he turned away from the realism of landscapes with cattle & painted more straightforward images of animals in which the rendering of feathers & fur is immaculate. They are not zoological studies but the celebration of a form of life with which he perhaps felt more at ease than than with hi own species WoodDic, Wikip, Billcliffe pp 124-5, 270, 274-5.279
Characteristics: His work was often highly impressionistic & during the later 1880s & 90s was painted with a seemingly effortless virtuoso technique & composed with startling economy derived from a knowledge of Japanese prints Billcliffe pp 70, 134, 138 , 274-5, 279.Treuherz1993 p207.
Personal: He was a keen huntsman & jockey, appears too have had difficulty in relationships except with the his very closest friends & family, & perhaps found animals more conducive Billcliffe p209.
Grouping: He was closely associated with the Glasgow Boys Wikip
Collections: Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum
Crayer. See de Crayer
Credi. See di Credi
..CRAXTON, John, 1922-2009, England:
Background: Born in London, the son of a Professor of Pianoforte at the Royal College of Music OxDicMod
Training: Briefly in Paris, 1939, & then for three years at the Westminster & Central Schools of Art Goldsmiths College OxDicMod,
Influences: Sutherland, Palmer, Blake Spalding1986 p131
Career: He shared a studio with Lucian Freud, 1942-4, sketched with Sutherland in Pembroke in 1943 & 1944 , visited Greece in 1946, & then spent much of his time in the Aegean OxDicMod, Yorke pp 310-12
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic work & theatre design OxDicMod
Characteristics: His Neo-Romantic works are visionary landscapes peopled by solitary poets & shepherds, & his portraits feature clear drawing with mild Cubist stylization, subtle low-key colouring, & sensitive characterisation OxDicMod
Aim: He said his Neo-Romantic works a means of escape into a world of private mystery OxDicMod
Links: Andrews, Auerbach, Bacon, Burra, Freud, Minton, Vaughan used to meet at Colony Room, a private club in Dean Street Spalding1986 pp 143-5
Crespi, Giovanni Battista. See Cerano
Crespi, Giuseppe Maria. See Lo Spagnuolo
CREMONA, Tranquillo, 1837-1878, Italy:
Background: He was born at Pavia Norman1977
Training: Pavia & then the Venice Academy & the Brera, 1860-3 Norman1977
Influences: Negatively by the careful draftsmanship of Bertini & Hayez at the Accademia di Brera but positively by the Scapigliatura poets Rovani & Praga Norman1977
Career: He moved to Milan in 1860 Norman1977
Phases: His early work was academic but his mature style evolved from around 1866-8 Norman1977
Characteristics: The abandonment of outline with figures that virtually dissolve into their background & into a vibrant chromatic haze. Cremona painted beautiful women that embody the poetic suggestion of Loving, Melody & other such titles Norman1977
Status: He was a leader of the Scapigliatura group Norman1977
Legacy: He attracted young artists who were alienated by academic traditionalism & he had an important influence on his Milanese contemporaries Norman1977
*CRESPI, Daniele, 1598-1630 (confusable with Giovanni Crespi called Cerano, & Giuseppe Crespi called Lo Spagnuolo), Italy=Milan; Baroque, Rococo and Mannerist Movement
Influences: Michelangelo; Rubens; Van Dyck; Procaccini; Il Cerano (kinsman) in whose painting class he briefly enroled in 1621 L&L, OxDicArt, Waterhouse1962 p138, C-B p75
Phases: many = early & late rugged Realism with c1624 brief period of delicat&cool/semi-Classical Realist painting & c1625 morbid softness L&L; C-B p78
Oeuvre: large (despite early plague death) OxDicArt
Style: Counter Reformation simplicity/emotional directness OxDicArt; early rugged Rismin & deeply saturated colour, contrast sharply with former Milan painters C-B p75
Crespi, Giovanni Battista. See Cerano
Crespi, Giuseppe Maria. See Lo Spagnuolo
..CRISTALL, Joshua, c1768-1847, England:
Background: He was born at Camborne & his father was a sailmaker Grove8 p163
Training: At the RA School, 1792, & Dr Monro’s Drawing Academy Grove8 p163
Career: He spent his early years in Rotherhide & initially worked painting China. By 1795he was a professional artist. In 1802-3 he sketched in Wales with the Varleys & in 1805 founded the Society of Painters in Watercolours with them. During 1816-9 & 1821-31 he was the President. He made a precarious living sometimes subsisting on potatoes & went on sketching tours to the Isle of Wight, Scotland, Wales. In 1823 he moved to the Wye Valley but in 1841 went back to London where he painted portraits for a living Grove8 p163
Characteristics/Verdict: Neat draftsman ship & a stylised & Classical treatment of form Grove8 p163. Like other early stars of the Society of Painters in Watercolours (Varley, Barret & Glover) he displayed a certain fossilization of the British landscape tradition & saw landscape through Old Master eyes, particularly those of Dughet. Nevertheless, he was the most original Reynolds1971 p99
Grouping: He belonged to the neo-Classical movement that climaxed in Adam’s architecture & Flaxman’s sculpture Reynolds1971 pp 99-100
Critz. See de Critz
*Carlo CRIVELLI, Vittore’ brother, 1430-95, Italy=the Marche:
Training: Probably Squarcione L&L
Influences: Flemish art, especially Rogier van der Weyden L&L
Career: After imprisonment for an adulterous relationship, he left Venice & never returned. Around 1461 he settled at Zara in Dalmatia. By 1468 he was working in the Marches with a base in Ascoli Piceno L&L, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: His paintings are exclusively religious OxDicArt
Phases: Only late on did he replace the polyptych format with the sacra conversazione Brigstocke
Characteristics/Verdict: His densely worked & exquisitely ornamental panels have the linearity & sharp detail of Paduan painting . The use of line is expressive, his detail is inventive , & his perspective & foreshortening is daring. He employed brilliant metallic colour. Only late on did he replace the polyptych format with the sacra conversazione . Despite his old-fashioned style he is a great artist with a rich vein of fantasy & a superlative sense of design Brigstocke, L&L, OxDicArt
Repute: He was rediscover by 19th century admirers of the Pre-Raphaelites L&L
Collections: National Gallery
Brother: Vittore, c1481-1501-2 was a faithful but pedestrian follower of Carlo OxDicArt
-John CROME, 1768-1821, Old Crome, John’s father, England:
Background: He was born at Norwich into a humble family OxDicArt
Training: Apprenticed to a coach & sign painter OxDicArt
Influences: Ruisdel, Hobbema, Gainsborough, & Wilson as seen when befriended by Thomas Harvey of Catton, an amateur painter & collector OxDicArt, Brigstocke
Oeuvre: Watercolours, oils & etchings L&L
Career: In 1803 he was a founder member of the Norwich Society of Artists, & exhibited intermittently at the RA. He worked at Norwich & earned the major part of his income as a drawing master. In 1814 he visited Paris OxDicArt
Characteristics: His best work has a finely controlled simplicity with a broad handling of paint. He produced a unity of mood which anticipates the Romantics & a bold spaciousness together with a keen appreciation of locality L&L, OxDicArt
Aim: This is evident from his advice to his disciple Janes Stark: “do not distress us with accidental trifles in nature but keep the masses large in good & beautiful lines, & give the sky, which plays so important part in all landscape.[a] supreme a one in our low-level lines of distance Brigstocke
Style: Like Wilson he was a transitional figure between 18th century picturesque & Romanticism OxDicArt
Status: With Cotman he was the leading artist of the Norwich School OxDicArt
Progeny: His son John Bernay, 1794-1842, painted like his father but was inferior OxDicArt
–CROPSEY, Jaspar, 1823-1910, USA:
Training: During 1847-50 he studied in Europe L&L
Career: During 1857-63 he was in Europe, mainly London, & in 1866 he helped found the American Watercolour Society L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings & architecture L&L
Characteristics: Fine naturalistic & light filled watercolours L&L
Grouping : The Hudson River School L&L
-CROSATO, Giovanni, 1685-1758, Italy=Venice:
Career: In 1733 he painted extensive frescos at the hunting palace of the Duke of Savoy near Turin which made his name. After returning to Venice in 1736 he joined the painters ‘guild & decorated churches. From 1740 he worked in & around Turin decorating churches & homes but from 1746 he probably remained in Venice. Here he decorated churches, palaces & nearby villas. A notable work during the 1750s was the ceiling fresco in the ballroom of Ca’Rezzonico. In 1755 he was invited to join the Venetian Academy Grove8 p193, L&L
Oeuvre: Fresco painting & stage design Grove9 pp192-3.
Characteristics: He was a master of illusionism who at least in his secular works used vibrant colours to create dramatic scenes which are set in vast expanses of blue sky. His work was a complex blend of styles & his frescoes were always sprightly Grove8 p193, Levey1986 p22
Status: He was easily the most accomplished Venetian fresco painter of his period apart from Tiepolo Levey1986 p22
Grouping: Rococo. He belonged to the generation of Venetian painters, such as Jacopo Amigoni, Sebastiano Ricci & Antonio Pelligrini, who developed the lighter more colourful Rococo style L&L, Grove8 p192.
*CROSS, Henri-Edmond, formerly Delacroix, 1856-1910, France:
Background: Born Douai. The son of a failed businessman & adventurer His mother was English. He suffered from ill health & had a smallish output Grove8 p204, Norman1977
Training: Instruction in drawing under Carolus-Duran, 1866; for a short time in Paris with Francois Bonvin, 1875; at the Ecole Academiques de Dessin et d’Architecture, Lille, for three years under Alphonse Colas; & in Paris with Emile Dupont-Zipcy from 1878 Grove8 p204, Norman1977
Influences: Manet, then Monet & Pissarro, followed in 1891 by Seurat & Signac Grove8 p204, Norman1977
Career: In 1881 he moved to Paris. He helped found the Salon des Independents, 1884 . From 1891 he lived in the south of France. He was widely read & thoughtful L&L, Grove8 p204,Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscapes, seascapes, tree portraits, genre, still-life & portraits in oils & watercolour, Webimages, Wikip
Characteristics: His work of an emotional type & he painted colour rather than light. They are joyous & life-enhancing as in Village Dance, 1896 (Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio) & Cypresses at Cagnas, 1908 (Musee d’Orsay) Denvir pp 16-17, Webimages
Phases: Initially academic realism. However, he then turned to landscape in the Divisionism manner as in The Excursionists, 1894 (Musee du Petit Palais, Geneva). He gradually abandoned the dot of earlier Neo-Impressionism & employed large blocky strokes creating intense colour contrasts & decorative mosaic-like surfaces. His colour has been described as a hymn of praise to colour & sunlight Denvir p 14, Grove8 p204, L&L
Personal: He was widely read & thoughtful L&L
Politics: He was a committed Socialist with anarchist leanings, & his works have a Utopian quality Denvir p200
Friends: Many Neo-Impressionists Grove8 p204
Verdict: Cross was one of the most gifted Neo-Impressionist painters Whitfield p45
Reception: In his final years the critical response was enthusiastic Grove8 p204
Legacy: With Signac, his friend & neighbour, he led Neo-Impressionism into its later much broader manner becoming a forerunner of Fauvism. He influenced Matisse significantly together with numerous others L&L, Whitfield p45, Wikip
-CRUIKSHANK, George, 1792-1878, GB:
Background: His father Isaac, 1764-1811, was a caricaturist OxDicArt
Career: He was bribed to moderate his lampoons of the Prince Regent & his circle L&L. Cruikshank began turning to book illustration in the 1820s & in later life took up the cause of temperance producing moral narratives in woodcut (The Bottle, 1847; & The Drunkard’s Children, 1848 OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Paintings, caricatures & illustrations of Dickens, Harrison Ainsworth & Grimm, etc L&L, OxDicArt
Status: He quickly became the most eminent political cartoonist of his day OxDicArt
Cruz. See de la Cruz
..CSOK, Istvan, 1865-1961, Hungary; Rural Naturalist Movement
Background: He was born at Saregres Grove8 p225
Training: At the Academy of Fine Art, Budapest, 1886-7; at the Academie, Munich, 1886-7; & at the Academie Julian, Paris Grove8 p225
Influences: Jugendstil Grove8 p225
Career: In 1890 he returned to Munich. From 1897 he spent three summers at the Nagybanya Colony. During 1903-10 he was in Paris but Hungary each summer & returned permanently in 1910. From 1923-1932 he was a professor at the Academy Grove8 p225
Oeuvre: Genre, interiors, history & symbolic painting, still life, landscapes, nudes & portraits Grove8 p225, Fine Arts in Hungary site
Phases/Characteristics: Initially his work was Bastian-Lepage-like & from around 1913 his brushwork was vigourous & his colours brilliant Grove8 p22
Grouping: Impressionism Wikip
..CUCCHI, Enzo, 1949-, Italy:
Background: Born Morro d’ Alba in the Marches, the son of poor farmers OxDicMod, Braun p431
Training: Occasionally at the Academia di Belle Arti, Macerata Braun p431
Influences: The landscape around Ancona where he grew up & largely worked; early Etruscan art & biblical images. Malevich, Arthur Rimbaud, Pier Paolo Pasolini & Joseph Beuys OxDicMod, 1001 p863, Braun p431
Career: After expulsion from school he lived as a black marketeer, land surveyor & briefly helping a Florentine picture restorer. He read widely, wrote poetry, composed songs & began to draw. Since 1975 he has lived in Ancona Braun p431
Oeuvre: Paintings, drawings with collage elements & sculpture. His early work was Conceptual but in the late 1970s he returned to painting OxDicMod
Characteristics: Dark burning colours & visionary figures, maritime subjects & hill-top towns. His paintings have densely worked surfaces using impasto & dripped paint OxDicMod,1001 p863, Braun p431
Verdict: Turgid & apocalyptic visions invoking rituals ancient & modern, full of animals, cemeteries, watchtowers & huge dreaming heads Hughes1991 pp 399-400
Status: He is a leading Italian Neo-Expressionist OxDicMod
..CUNDALL, Charles, 1890-1971, England; British Impressionist Movement
Background: He was born at Stretford, Lancashire Chamot p109
Training: Manchester Art School; the Slade.1919-20; & in Paris Chamot p109,Wikip
Career: He was severely wounded during the war & had to learn to paint with his right arm. In 1921 & 1923 he travelled throughout Italy, & visited Sweden, Russia & Spain. He joined NEAC in 1924 & he became known for his panoramic pictures. In the 1930s he lent his name & work to the Artists International Association During the war he worked on contracts for the War Artists Advisory Committee, & painted for the Admiralty, & the Air Ministry. In 1940 he painted The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, a much-discussed work, for which he had to rely on secondary sources Chamot p109, Wikip, M&R pp 15, 29
Oeuvre: Landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, crowd scenes, & war paintings. He captured urban events such as the demolition of Waterloo Bridge & the building, day & night, of Berkeley Square House Chamot p109, Spalding2022 p73:
Characteristics: His work is so various in mood & subject matter that it defies summary generalisation ranging as it does from tranquil landscape to dramatic war scenes. However, he is never dull, seemingly incapable of producing a bad picture, & obviously fascinated with recording the varied scenes with which he came in contact or actively sought out, & then painted in a realist manner ArtUk images, etc
Feature: When in 1940 his Dunkirk painting was exhibited at the National Gallery alongside one by Richard Eurich their respective merits were debated. Kenneth Clark preferred Eurich but Cundall’s work appeared more authentic Wikip
Collections: The Imperial War Museum
..CURRAN, Charles Courtney, 1861-1942, USA: American Impressionism:
Background: Born Hartford, Kentucky where his father was a school teacher AinP p237, Wikip
Training: In Cincinnati at what became the Fine Arts Academy, & at the Arts Students’ League & National Academy of Design, New York. Finally, at the Academie Julian for two years AinP p237
Influences: Initially Battien-Lepage Gerdts1980 p97
Career: Soon after the beginning of the family went to Ohio & settled at Sandusky. In the 1888 he went to Paris, exhibited at the Salons des Artistes Francais, 1889-90, painted end plein air, returned to America, &, after visits to France, settled in New York, taught at the National Academy of Design & the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn but from 1903 was mostly at the Cragsmoor artists’ colony in the Catskill mountains. He was secretary of the National Academy of Design for 15 years AinP p237, Wikip.
Oeuvre: Paintings often featuring inactive women in white or pastel shade frocks, out of doors in summer scenes, but also including genre works, landscapes, townscapes, night scenes & portraits Wikip, Bjelajac p229
Phases: After his return to America, he used a more colourful palette & more broken tones Gerdts1980 p97
Characteristics: His figures, frequently of healthy young women & girls, are carefully drawn. At Cragsmoor he positioned them high up, silhouetted against the brilliant blue sky, isolated from all other concerns, in an unchanging, sun-drenched summertime Gerdts1980 p97, Wikip
Grouping/Verdict: American Impressionism being one of a number of turns of the century artists in lovely girls are placed in suitable surroundings, although his range of subjects was wider than that of the others & his draftsman ship was, if possible, surer & more unwearied Gerdts1980 p97, I&C p429
..John CURRIE, c1884-1914, England:
Background: Neo-Primatives = modernist coterie at Slade (Nevinson, Gertler, Roberts, Wadsworth, Spencer) wore semi-uniforms/roamed Soho looking for trouble, inspired by Ruskin/early Italians & Pre-Raphaelites (still regarded as ongoing movement) Harrison p65, Rothenstein p366; RASpencer p20
Training: c1903 Newcastle & Hanley schools of Art, 1911 Slade (part time) etc Tate
Career: ceramic artist; Master of Life Painting Bristol; moved to London; 1911 to Newlyn, having left wife; 1912 NEAC member; 1914 shot himself & mistress=jealousy Tate
..Ken CURRIE, 1960-, SCOTLAND:
Background: He was born in North Shields OxDicMod
Training: 1978-83 at the Glasgow School of Art under Sandy Moffat who encouraged a return to figurative art OxDicMod
Influences: Dix, Grosz, Rivera OxDicMod
Career: In 1987 he made a series of murals on the history of workers struggle in Glasgow for the People’s Palace, Glasgow OxDicMod.
Oeuvre: His work is about working class solidarity, self-improvement & despair at contemporary conditions in a vividly graphic style. His single figures are more direct & without rhetorical symbolism. More recently his work has been about bodily decay in a somewhat photographic manner OxDicMod, Macmillan1990 p406
Characteristics: Dramatic, large-scale figurative paintings
Grouping: The Glasgow School OxDicMod
..CURRY, John Stuart, 1897-1946, USA:
Background: He was born in Kansas on a farm OxDicMod
Training: Kansas City Art Institute, 1916; & at the Art Institute, Chicago, 1916-18 OxDicMod. Basil Schoukaieff, who was a Russian academic émigré, in Paris Hughes1997 p442
Career: During 1916-26 he was an illustrator for pulp magazines. He spent a year in Europe & then settled in New York where he was helped by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. In 1936 he became artist in residence at the College of Agriculture, the University of WisconsinOxDicMod
Characteristics: He had an anecdotal, rather melodramatic style often showing the violence of nature. His draftsmanship was sometimes weak but he was always vigorous & sincere in his subjects from his beloved Midwest OxDicMod
Oeuvre: Paintings & murals, including those in the Department of Justice, Washington & the state capitol at Topeka, Kansas, 1938-40 OxDicMod
Verdict: According to Hughes, he was a semi-competent illustrator but an inept & incoherent painter Hughes1997 p443. [However, this is too harsh.]
Beliefs: He thought that art should spring from everyday life & be motivated by affection OxDicMod
Grouping: Along with Benton & Wood he was a leading Regionalist OxDicMod
..CUSTODIS, Hieronimus, -d1593, England (Belgium):
Background: He was born in Antwerp Grove8 p282
Influences: Probably Hilliard & George Gower Grove8 p282
Career: He probably went to England for religious reasons soon after1585 when the Duke of Alba captured Antwerp Grove8 p282
Characteristics: The elaboration of dress, cool colours & meticulous delineation of jewellery are reminiscent of Hilliard’s work Grove8 p282
-Aelbert CUYP, 1620-91, Jacob’s son, Netherlands; Baroque Classical
Background: He was born at Dordrecht OxDicArt
Influences: Van Goyen; then Both after both’s return from Italy in 1641 Fuchs pp 136-8
Career: He travelled widely, in 1658 he married a rich widow, & during the 1660s virtually abandoned painting OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Landscapes of all types including moonlight scenes, storms, distant panoramas; & also portraits Haak p417
Speciality: Serene landscapes & river scenes with placid & dignified cows using glowing light, usually in the early morning or evening sun OxDicArt
Phases: His early paintings were monochromatic but in the early 1840s he changed his style under the influence of the Dutch Italianate landscape painters. His colouristic differentiation became stronger & he adopted a soft & golden light Fuchs pp 136-8, Langmuir p187
Characteristics: He used warm colour L&L. Cuyp had a refined sensitivity to depth & atmosphere, which he possessed to the highest degree among Dutch painters but his human figures are generally less convincing than his animals & landscapes Haak p415. He approached Claude in spirit OxDicArt
Grouping: The heroic motifs of his mature style are those of the classical phase of Dutch landscape in combination with all pervading Italian light L&L
Patrons: His later work was commissioned by Dordrecht patricians for specific locations in their townhouses Langmuir p187
Repute: He virtually forgotten but was purchased by late 18th century English collectors OxDicArt
..Benjamin Gerritsz CUYP, c1612-1652, Jacob’s half brother, Netherlands=Dordrecht:
Background: He was born at Dordrecht TurnerRtoV p80
Training: With Jacob (Houbraken) TurnerRtoV p80
Influences: Rembrandt in his later work Haak p341.
Career: He entered the Guild of St Luke in 1631 TurnerRtoV p80
Speciality: Biblical & also genre scenes often with low-life figures Haak p34, OxDicArt
Characteristics/Technique: He applied very liquid paint with rapid, sometimes wild brushstrokes, using a limited palette of brown, yellow-brown, dull green tints & occasional rusty red. However his modelling was weak & despite virtuoso painting he never achieved great results. His later works feature strong chiaroscuro Haak p341.
..Benjamin Gerritsz CUYP, c1612-1652, Jacob’s half brother, Netherlands=Dordrecht:
Background: Born at Dordrecht TurnerRtoV p80
Training: With Jacob (Houbraken) TurnerRtoV p80
Influences: Rembrandt in his later work Haak p341.
Career: He entered the Guild of St Luke in 1631 TurnerRtoV p80
Speciality: Biblical & also genre scenes often with low-life figures Haak p34, OxDicArt
Characteristics/Technique: Cuyp applied very liquid paint with rapid, sometimes wild brushstrokes, using a limited palette of brown, yellow-brown, dull green tints & occasional rusty red. However his modelling was weak & despite virtuoso painting he never achieved great results. His later works feature strong chiaroscuro Haak p341
–Jacob Gerritsz CUYP, 1594-1652, Albert’s father & Benjamin’s half brother, Netherlands=Dordrecht :
Background: His father was a glassmaker OxDicArt
Training: Bloemaert in Utrecht (Houbraken) Haak p330
Oeuvre: History paintings & portraits Haak p339
Speciality: Children OxDicArt
Characteristics: His careful portraits have plasticity using thinly applied paint & a vivid palette. Family pictures are often enlivened with animals Haak p340
Status: Cuyp was the first 17th century painter in Dordrecht of any real interest Haak p339