Pittura
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:
..YABLONSKAYA, Tatyana, 1917-2005, Russia:
Background: She was born at Smolensk Bown p249
Training: At the Kiev Technical College of Art, 1934; & the Kiev Institute of Art, 1935-41 Petrova p276.
Career: She contributed to exhibitions from 1937. During 1944-53 she taught at the Kiev Institute of Art Institute & during 1966-73, where she was a professor from 1967. She was a member of the USSR Academy of Arts & chaired the Ukrainian Union of Artists, 1949-56. In 1949 Before the Start was criticised as Impressionistic. Yablonskaya said that the criticism was justified & hoped that Corn would correct the fault. It won a Stalin prize in 1950, & she was awarded another in 1951 She was a member of the Communist Party from 1952 Petrova p276, Brown pp 212-3, 249.
Oeuvre: Portraits & landscapes Petrova p276.
Phases: After Stalin’s death her painting drew on Ukrainian folk art Brown p213.
Characteristics: Her later pictures are painted in an Impressionistic style in soft & warm colours as in Grain 1949 (Tretyakov Gallery). Her work is atmospheric producing a feeling of contentment, peace & joy, although she did paint the sorrows of the old Petrova pp 238-9, Wikip, Danusha Fine Arts.
-Y AGUDO, Jose Madrazo, 1781-1859, Spain:
Background: He was born at Santander Grove20 p57
Training: In Madrid & under David, becoming one of his favourite pupils L&L, Grove20 p57.
Influences: Canova L&L
Career: During 1806-18 he worked in Rome, & became a court painter when the Spanish monarch was restored. He settled in Madrid in 1819, taught at the Real Academia de S Fernando. In 1838 he became its director & introduced a programme of reform. Between 1838 & 1851 he was the innovative director of the Prado L&L, Grove20 p58,
Oeuvre: Portraits; historical as in The Death of Viriatus 1807 (Museo del Prado) religious & allegorical scenes Grove20 p58.
Characteristics: His portraits are restrained & elegant. Stylistically he evolved from strict Neoclassicism towards a form of Romantic classicism Grove20 p58.
Status: He was Spain’s leading Neoclassical painter L&L
Pupils: Bonnat Celebonovic p181.
Influence: His son Federico. 1815-94, also painted & directed the Prado L&L
..YAKOVLEV, Vasili, 1893-1953, Russia:
Background: He was born in Moscow into a wealthy merchant family Bown1991 p249, etc
Training: At the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture until 1917 Brown 1917 p249.
Career: From 1922 he belonged to AKhRR & during 1929-32 to the Union of Soviet Artists. He taught at State Free Artistic Studios, 1918-22; at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture, 1933-7; at Moscow Architectural Institute, 1934-6; & at the Moscow State Art Institute, 1948-51. He was chief restorer at the Pushkin Museum 1926-32, & chief artist at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibitions, 1938-9 & 1949-50. In 1943 & 1949 he won Stalin Prizes. He was a member of the USSR Academy of Arts Bown1991 pp 249-50.
Oeuvre: This includes early paintings of industrial scenes, glossy portraits of Soviet heroes as in Marshal Georgy Zhukov, 1944 (USSR Museum), unsubtle & celebratory works crowded with figures & cattle, still-life Images from web
-YAKULOV, Georgi, 1882-1928, Russia:
Training: The Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture L&L
Influences: He had a special interest in light due to a trip to Manchuria in 1904-5 L&L
Career: Although not a formal member of the Blue Rose he shared the group’s concerns & was invited to exhibit in the retrospective exhibition of 1920 OxDicMod. In 1913 he collaborated with Rodchenko etc in decorating the Cafe Pittoresque, Moscow L&L
Oeuvre: He was mainly active as a stage designer & in 1925 was in Paris working for Diaghilev L&L Lively works as in Cabaret 1912 (NG Armenia).
*YANEZ de la Almedina, active 1506-31, Spain:
Training: With his collaborator Fernando de los Llanos under Leonardo in Florence L&L
Influences: Leonardo, relying on his motifs throughout his career Brown1998 p10.
Career: By 1506 he & Llanos had returned to Spain where between 1507 & 1510 they painted the shutters for the altarpiece in Valencia cathedral. Although their collaboration then terminated they continued to share lodgings until 1513 when Yanez went to Barcelona & Cuenca where he decorated a chapel in the cathedral, 1525-31 Brown1998 pp 10, 12
Characteristics: Forceful illusion of space, monumental figures as in Head of Christ 1506 (The Met) & Leonardian sfumato. In his final works his self quotation had become almost compulsive L&L, Brown1998 p12.
Innovation: He & Llanos were the first foreign painters to use the Italian High Renaissance abroad Brown1998 p10.
Status: He has been seen as the foremost Spanish painter of the High Renaissance L&L
..YAROSHENKO, Nikolai, 1846-98, Russia; Russian Critical Movement
Background: He was born in Poltava into a family of a serviceman Lebedev Pl 109.
Training: At the Society for the Encouragement of Arts’ School of Drawing & during 1874-6 part-time at the Academy of Arts, St Petersburg Lebedev Pl 109
Career: He was an army engineer; 1876 joined Wanderers & after Kramskoi’s death became their ideological leader Lebedev Pl 109.
Innovation: The presentation of [non-agricultural] workers as the main subject Lebedev Pl 109.
-YAVLENSKY/JAWLENSKY, Alexei, 1864-1941, Russia:
Background: This was aristocratic L&L
Training: At the St Petersburg Academy & with Wrefkin in Munich L&L
Influences: Gauguin & Matisse L&L
Career: At 35 he turned from a military career to art. After Munich he went to Paris. In 1909 he was a founder member of Kunstlervereiningung, in 1914 to Switzerland where he produced a series of abstracted, iconic, symbolic heads as in Head of a Woman 1911 (ArtUK) From 1924 he lived at Wiesbaden L&L.
Characteristics: A calm, meditative sort of Expressionism with resonant colours often with religious connotations L&L
-YEATES, Jack Butler, 1871-1957, Ireland:
Background: He was born in London but spent much of his boyhood in Co. Sligo Grove33 p515. His father John Butler Yeats, 1839-1922, was an barrister who became a successful portraitist, & his brother J. B. Yates was the poet OxDicArt
Training: He sporadically attended various London art schools including the Westminster School of Art Grove33 p515
Influences: Impressionism & Daumier OxDicArt, Grove33 p545.
Career: Until about 1910 when he turned to oils he was largely a black & white illustrator mainly working for magazines & painting in watercolour as in A Rose Among Many Waters 1952 (Tate) OxDicArt, Grove33 p515. From 1910 he lived in Dublin L&L
Oeuvre: Paintings & drawings of contemporary life, & paintings featuring Celtic mythology L&L
Phases/Characteristics: Initially he was a semi-Impressionist & his style was conservative. However from the mid-1920s there was a profound change. He began using luminous moist-looking touches of thick paint in vivid colour using a palette knife to obtain a lively, & occasionally rather slapdash, effect. His last works are almost Abstract Impressionist, the subject matter almost obliterated by rich impasto, bravura brushwork & flame-like areas of colour Grove33 pp 515-6, L&L, OxDicArt, Murrays1959.
Feature: He exhibited at the Armory show Grove33 p516.
Friends: Kokoschka & many writers including Synge, Masefield & Beckett Murrays1959, Grove33 p516.
Grouping: He was an isolated modernist Grove33 p516.
Political: His work was taken up by Irish nationalists L&L
-YEAMES, William, 1835-1918, England; Nazarene Movement
Background: He was born in Southern Russia where his father was Consul WoodDic
Training: George Scharf (topographical artist); J.S. Westmacott (sculptor); Raffaelle Buonajuti & Enrico Pallastrini (Purist) in Florence; & life classes under John Philip (with Leighton, Stone, Hunt, Egg, Mulready) M&M pp 1-2
Career: He lived in Odessa & Dresden but returned to London in 1848 WoodDic. During 1852-9 he was mainly in Florence, where the family went to enable Yeames to study. In 1863 the Meeting of Sir Thomas More with his Daughter after His Sentence to Death at the RA established him primarily as a painter of 16th & 17th century British history. He married & moved to St John’s Wood in 1865 M&M pp 1-2.
Oeuvre: He also painted contemporary genre Wood1976 p36.
Speciality: The problem picture which poses the question of what is going to happen Treuherz1993 p165.
Characteristics: His tonal contrasts are emphatic Reynolds1966 p179.
Grouping: The St John’s Wood Clique WoodDic.
-YOSHIRA, Jiro, 1905-72, Japan:
Background: He was born in Osaka OxDicMod
Training: Self-taught OxDicMod
Career: He was a wealthy industrialist. In 1954 he founded & sustained the Gutai Group which specialised in Performance Art & produced Action Paintings OxDicMod
Characteristics: His later paintings are a sophisticated blend of eastern modes including Zen & Abstract Expressionism OxDicMod
Innovations: In the 1930s he pioneered abstraction in Japan OxDicArt
-Jack YOUNGMAN, 1926-2020, USA:
Background: He was born in a suburb of St Louis, the son of an insurance executive. The family soon moved to Louisville, Kentucky New York Times 20/2/2020
Training: At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, 1947-8 OxDicMod.
Influences: Arp, Matisse, Kandinsky OxDicMod, New York Times 20/2/2020
Career: After naval service & the completion of a degree in journalism at the University of Missouri he went to Paris under the GI Bill. He was in Europe until 1956 when he settled in New York. In 1959 he was included in the seminal Sixteen Americans exhibition at MoMA OxDicMod, New York Times 20/2/2020
Oeuvre: Paintings, graphic art, design & sculpture OxDicMod
Phases: Initially his work was Mondrian-like with precisely ordered, sharp-edged geometric shapes. However, he changed tack attracted by “the expressiveness of locked, meshed or tension-provoking shapes in opposition, a union in combat”. In the 1970s he began using circular & elliptical canvases, later he used fibre glass constructions, & finally he produced work in dazzling, kaleidoscopic colours that verged on Op Art Times 20/2/2020.
Characteristics: He was a profuse inventor of abstract organic shapes, vaguely floral or leafy in two & three dimensions that often leap forward, & are painted in bold primary colours New York Times 20/2/2020
Beliefs: “I am not trying to capture anything, but I am interested in the forms that living things take –the forms that come out of movement, that come out of heat expansion, that come out of growing things.” He aimed at an abstraction that, following the turmoil of Abstract Expressionism, was cooler & more analytic New York Times 20/2/2020
Grouping: Post-Painterly Abstraction New York Times 20/2/2020
..Nancy YOUNGMAN, 1906-87, England:
Background: She was born at Maidstone, the daughter of a corn merchant Peter Black, Independent 24/4/95
Training: 1924-27 at the Slade under Steer & Tonks (with fellow students Coldstream, Claude Rogers, Clive Branson, Felicia Browne) Peter Black, Independent 24/4/95, M&R p31, Wikip.
Influences: She met Fry who aroused her interest in children’s art Peter Black, Independent 24/4/95
Career: She was educated at Wycombe Abbey Wikip. Between 1929-44 she painted & taught, including lecturing for the LCC & holding practical art classes for teachers. She was ; evacuated to Huntington with the children at the school where she taught, & lived in Cambridge with the sculptor Betty Rea lifelong partner. From 1944 she was an excellent art advisor to Cambridgeshire under Henry Morris, & in 1945 became Chair of the Society for Education Through Art. Between 1947 & 1969 she held exhibitions for the sale of paintings to education authorities. From the 1950s she devoted more time to painting & during 1950-60 made frequent visits to Wales. In the mid-1960s she moved to the fens & her landscapes became more subtle, often focusing on something odd or puzzling Peter Black, Independent 24/4/95, Wikip.
Politics: She was horrified by Browne’s death in the Spanish Civil War in August 1936. Hither to a political innocent she immediately joined the Artists International Association, & arranged an exhibition of Browne’s work (with Elizabeth Watson). She also briefly joined the Communist Party’s Hogarth Group & briefly the Party itself M&R pp 23, 31
Personal: She made everybody laugh Peter Black, Independent 24/4/95.
Gossip: She asked a man in the street to open the 1939 AIA exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery M&R p53
Ysenbrandt. See Isenbrandt
..YUON, Konstantin, 1875-1958, Russia:
Background: He was born in Moscow, the son of a bank clerk. His brother was a noted composer Wikip.
Training: At the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture under Savitsky & Korvin, 1894-8; & in Serov’s studio. 1899-1900 RARev p326, Wikip.
Career: In 1900 he established an art school in Moscow. Yuon made several trips to Western Europe & especially Paris. From 1917 to 1921 he lived at the Lavra Monastery/Zagorsk where he painted scenes, although the Bolsheviks had closed the cathedral before he left. He also published a series of lithographs dealing with Lavra & its surroundings which celebrated Old Russia. He taught at the Leningrad Academy of Arts & the Surikov Art Institute. Moscow. In 1922 he joined AKhRR/Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia & he received a Stalin Prize in 1943. He directed the Research Institute of the Academy of Arts, 1948-50; & was the first secretary of the Union of artists, 1956-8 RARev p326, Wikip.
Oeuvre: Paintings & the design of sets for the Moscow Art Theatre etc Wikip.
Characteristics: Both before & after the Revolution he painted Old Russia with its old towns, onion domed churches monasteries & bustling markets. His paintings are often enlivened by human activity, birds & animals Leek p155. He generally used bright, cheerful colours & painted in a crisp lively style as in The Monastery at Zagorsk c.1911 (Tate) Wikip, Leek pp 155-6.
Circle: He was associated with Mir Iskusstva/World of Art Wikip. Yuon belonged to an intellectual group which during the 1920s coexisted with the avant-garde & proto-Socialist Realists who wanted to retain Orthodox beliefs & preserve churches as part of Russian culture RARev p209.
Pupils: Popova, Kuprin, Stepanova RARev p326, Grove18 p528
-ZABALETA, Zuloaga y, 1870-1945, Spain:
Training: He was largely self-taught Norman1977
Influences: Copying in the Prado Norman1977
Career: He moved early to Paris & divided his time between Spain & France Norman1977
Oeuvre: Spanish peasant life, bullfights & witches Norman1977
Characteristics: A sombre perception of pain & hardship like Goya with a technique echoing Manet & the Impressionists as in The Cardinal 1912 (Bilbao Museum)Norman1977
Friends: Gauguin, Degas & Mallarme Norman1977
..ZAHRTMANN, Peder, 1843-1917, Denmark:
Background: He was born at Ronne Norman1977
Training: 1863-4 at the Copenhagen Academy under Marstrand Norman1977
Career: During 1875-8 he was in Italy where he painted many genre scenes. He travelled widely & taught at Rhode’s anti-academic free school Norman1977
Oeuvre: Histories etc Norman1977
Speciality: Scenes from the life of Eleonora Christiana, daughter of Christian IV as in Leonora Christina in the Garden of Frederiksborg Palace, 1887 Norman1977
Characteristics: Intimate & reflective scenes painted in bright, pure colours Norman1977
Influences: He was the teacher of the Funen school of Danish Impressionists Norman1977
..ZAIS, Giuseppe, 1709-84, Italy=Venice:
Influences: Zuccarelli, Dutch landscape, Marco Ricci Steer p199
Oeuvre: Landscape Levey1959 p67
Characteristics: His work was more vigorous than that of Zuccarelli & it was more firmly constructed & painted. It has something of Ricci’s dash as in Landscape with a Group of Figures Fishing 1770 (NG) He often shows those out for the day enjoying the country Levey1959 p68
Influenced: Wilson Hayes p3
Zampieri. See Domenichino
..ZANCHI, Antonio, 1631-1722=Venice:
Background: Born in Este Wikip
Training: Trained by Francesco Ruschi Wikip
Influences: Giordano via Langetti Wittkower1958 p347
Career: He was mainly active in Venice Wikip
Grouping: Baroque Wikip
Pupils: Trevisani and Antonio Molinari Wikip
..ZANDOMENEGHI, Federico, 1841-1917, Italy:
Background: He was born in Venice Norman1977
Training: At the Venice Academy Norman1977
Influences: The Impressionists from 1874 Norman1977
Career: He fought with Garibaldi in 1861, settled in Florence in 1862, painted plein air with the Macchiaoli but moved to Paris in 1874 Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscape & genre painter as in Woman in Red Hat 1876 (Madden Museum of Art) Norman1977
*ZAO, Wou-Ki, 1921-2013, China/France:
Background: He was born in Beijing OxDicMod
Training: Hangchou Art School L&L
Influences: Klee & da Silva etc in the Ecole de Paris OxDicMod
Career: He was a professor of drawing at Hangchou University but settled in France in 1948. His work caught the attention of Michaux & he thereby gained a contract & regular exhibitions with a Paris dealer. He provided images for Michaux’s poems. On a trip to New York he worked alongside Gotlieb & Kline etc, & began working on a larger scale without an easel OxDicMod, L&L
Oeuvre: Lithographs & paintings OxDicMod, L&L
Characteristics: He had a distinctively Chinese calligraphic manner & tones suggesting vistas of mist & marsh as in Before the Storm 1955 (Tate) OxDicMod. His later larger paintings are sometimes lyrical or epic paintings of abstract & often apparently random forms & colours L&L
Verdict: He is a brilliant technician L&L
Zauffaly. See Zoffany
-ZEITBLOM, Bartholomaus, c1457-1521, Germany:
Background: He was born at Nordlingen Grove33 p629
Career: From about 1482 he ran a large workshop in Ulm mainly producing altarpieces & portraits. Stringel worked with him L&L
Oeuvre: Altarpieces & portraits Grove33 pp629-30.
Characteristics: Saints & biblical figures have a perfect, almost rigid calm & later become more dainty & intricate as in The Annunciation 1496 (Public domain). His works have a late Gothic lyricism Grove33 p629, OxDicArt
Status: He was Ulm’s leading painter of day OxDicArt
Influence: His distinctive altarpieces were a model for Swabian painting in the early 16th century Grove33 p629
Repute: He was called a Germany Perugino by the German Romantics OxDicArt
-ZELOTTI, Antonio, c1639-1707, Italy:
Career: He shared decorative commissions with Veronese L&L
Speciality: Frescos on Veneto mansions & Vicenca facades L&L
Characteristics: His work was Veronese-like L&L
Zelotti, Giovanni. See Veronese
..ZICHY, Mihaly, 1827-1906, Hungary:
Background: He was born in Zala Wikip
Training: After private courses while studying law, he trained under Waldmulller in 1844 Galerie Ary Jan
Career: Through Waldmulller he became drawing master for the imperial family in St Petersburg in 1848. Unhappy with mundane work he turned to portraiture. During the 1850s his renown developed & in 1859 he became court painter . In 1871 he travelled around Europe, settled in Paris in 1874 but returned to St Petersburg in 1881 Galerie Ary Jan, etc
Oeuvre: Paintings & graphics Galerie Ary Jan
Speciality: His erotic pencil drawings made in France. They include copulation in various positions, fellatio, cunnilingus, mutual masturbation between same sex couples, & sex between centaurs. In these works there seems to be equality between the partners Pinterest, Wikip
Friends: Theophile Gautier Galerie Ary Jan
Status: He was regarded in his lifetime as Hungary’s greatest designer & illustrator Galerie Ary Jan
Politics: As in The Victory of the Genius of Destruction which he painted for the Paris Exhibition of 1878 was banned as anti-militarist Wikip.
–ZICK, Januarius, 1730-1797, Germany; Rococo
Background: His father, Johann 1702-62, specialised in church frescos L&L
Training: His father L&L
Career: After peripatetic years in Paris etc, he settled in 1762 near Koblenz where he served in the Electoral court L&L
Oeuvre: Mainly altarpieces and ceiling frescos for churches in Upper Swabia but also genre scenes & Rembrandt-like portraits as in Portrait of Franz Ludwig von Fichtel 1750 (Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg) L&L
Characteristics: He tried to reconcile illusionistic ceiling painting with Neoclassicism L&L
..ZIEGLER, Adolf, 1892-1959, Germany=Munich:
Background: He was born in Bremen, the son of an architect Wikip
Training: At the Weimar Academy from 1910 & at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich Wikip.:
Career: After the war in which he settled in Munich continued his studies at the Academy, joined the Nazi party in the early 1920s, met Hitler in 1925, & became an advisor on artistic matters. In 1933 he became a professor at the Academy, & in 1936 was appointed head of the Nazi Chamber of Fine Arts. Ziegler selected the paintings for the 1937 exhibition of Degenerate Art, making a series of lightening raids with colleagues although some museum directors tried to prevaricate. In just over a fortnight over 700 works were assembled. Ziegler & his team continued their purge of German museums. During the war he publicly expressed doubts about its conduct. He was on Hitler’s orders arrested, imprisoned for six weeks at Dachau concentration camp, but allowed to retire. After the war he was unable to revive his career Wikip, Dunlop pp 224, 235. 238-9, 255.
Oeuvre: Female nudes, portraits, genre, allegorical paintings, & floral compositions Wikip
Phases: His early work, none of which survives, was modernist & he appears to have admired Franz Marc. During the 1920s his paintings became realist & representational Wikip.
Characteristics: His women were painted in a coolly, classical, photographic style: marble-like yet erotic as in Girls with Two Fruit Baskets 1930 (Private) Grove22 p711, Dunlop p235.
Feature: He was sometimes called the master of the pubic hair Dunlop p255. He wrote to Schmidt-Rottluff forbidding him to even engage in amateur art Wikip
Repute: He was Hitler’s favourite artist & one of his paintings hung above the mantelpiece in Hitler’s Munich house Wikip, Dunlop p235
..ZIEM, Felix, 1821-1911, France:
Background: He was born at Beuame Norman1977
Training: The Dijon Ecole d’Architecture Norman1977
Influences: Initially the Barbizon School Norman1977
Career: He moved to Marseilles & in 1841 to Italy. Ziem spent 1842-3 in Russia, moved to Paris in 1848 & first exhibited at the Salon in 1849. He travelled constantly Norman1977
Oeuvre: Paintings of sea & ports, especially Venice as in Canal Grande 1845 (Musée Ziem Collection) & Constantinople Norman1977
Characteristics: He developed an individual style, a misty treatment with a riot of rich colour Norman1977
..ZIESENIS, Johann Georg, 1716-77, Germany:
Background: He was born in Copenhagen, the son of a painter from Hanover Hempel p280
Training: He was taught drawing by his father & had training at Dusseldorf Wikip
Influences: The art treasures of the elector of the Palatine Hempel p280
Career: He lived at Frankfurt from 1740, at Mannheim form 1750 & at Zweibrucken from 1757. He was painter to the court in Hanover form 1764. In 1768 he went to the Netherlands where he painted royal portraits. He also worked at the courts of Brunswig & Berlin Hempel p280, Wikip.
Oeuvre: Portraiture Hempel p280
Characteristics: Some of his work is superior to formal portraiture as in Charles William Ferdinand 1735 National Trust, Hatchlands) (Hempel p280
Beliefs: He belonged to the Moravian Brotherhood Hempel p280
-Dominikus ZIMMERMANN, 1685-1766, Johann’s brother, Germany:
Career: He decorated churches in Bavaria & Swabia; & also palaces L&L
Oeuvre: Frescos & stucco sculpture L&L
Status: He was a key figure in the creation of the south German Rococo style L&L
-Johann ZIMMERMANN, 1680-1758, Dominikus’ brother, Germany; Rococo
Career: He decorated churches in Bavaria & Swabia; & also palaces L&L
Oeuvre: Frescos as in Kuppelfresko der Wieskirche 1758 (Wies Church) & stucco sculpture L&L
Status: He was a key figure in the creation of the south German Rococo style L&L
.. ZINKEISEN, Doris, 1897-1991, England (Scotland)
Background: She was born in Roseneath, Argyll. Her parents were Welsh born & her father was a shipper, manufacturer, yarn merchant & amateur artist. The family moved to Pinner, near Harrow, 1909. She was educated by private tutors Wikip, Suffolk Artists site
Training: Harrow School for Art for four years, & at the RA Schools, 1917 Wikip
Career: She exhibited at the RA between 1918 & 1940, & also at the Paris Salon; shared a studio with her artist sister, Anna, during the 1920s & 30s; married Grahame Johnstone, a naval officer, 1927; painted murals, which survive, in the Queen Mary, with her sister, 1935; worked as a nurse during the war & painted what she had seen; was commissioned by the War Artists ‘Advisory Committee, 1945; painted post-war relief work in north west Europe; spent three days at the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; painted [as in] Human Laundry showing German orderlies; washing & delousing emaciated camp inmates before they entered hospital Wikip, Suffolk Artists site, Imperial War Museum
Oeuvre: Paintings, commercial art including railway posters, & highly successful theatrical & film costume design. She specialised in portraits of actors & society figures, equestrian works & paintings of ballerinas Wikip, Suffolk Artists site, webimages
Feature: She was a fine horsewoman, winning a cup at the International Horse Show, 1934 Suffolk Artists site
Characteristics/Phases: Her works feature clean, clear-cut draftsmanship & are both pre & post-war of a vibrant & striking nature with the subject matter often close to the picture plane & seemingly advancing towards the viewer. He palette darkened from the often-striking colouring of the pre-war work & in her war paintings she employed muted greys, browns & ores Suffolk Artists site, web images, ArtUK comment, Wikip
Verdict: [Human Laundry is due to its calm perhaps the greatest & most moving Holocaust painting ever produced.]
**ZOFFANY/ZAUFFALY/ZAUFFELIJ, Johann, 1744-1810, England (Germany); 18th Century Realism
Background: He was born near Frankfurt. His father was a court cabinet maker & architect L&L
Training: He was apprenticed in Regensburg L&L
Influences: Frankfurt middle-class painting & Hogarth Antal1962 p178
Career: In 1750 he visited Rome where he was a protege of Mengs & was befriended by Piranesi. In 1760 he settled in England. He undertook hack work until Garrick became his patron & he made his reputation through theatrical pictures & Conversations, including some for the Queen as in The Lavie Children 1770 (NG). During 1772-9 he was in Florence & Palma painting life sized court portraits for the Duke of Tuscany as well as genre pictures of Italian low life for pleasure. In 1779-83 he was back in England but had lost favour as a fashionable portraitist. From 1783-9 in India he made his fortune painting princes & expats in India as in Colonel Blair with his Family and an Indian Child 1786 (Tate) From 1792 he produced savage satires on horrors of the French revolution L&L, OxDicArt
Innovations: The informal royal Conversation & he reinvigorated the Conversation L&L, OxDicArt
Verdict: He was the most Realist & bourgeois-minded of fashionable English artists but though some pictures have whimsical & striking Realism of detail, he is weaker & shallower than Hogarth. His figures are often doll-like & his colouring is cruder & dryer. He moved to a sober & prosaic middle class Realism Antal1962 p178
-ZOPPO, Marco, 1432-78, Italy=Bologna:
Background: He was born at Cento near Bologna L&L
Training: From about 1453 to 1453 under Squarcione in Padua OxDicArt
Career: In 1455 he moved to Venice & in 1461-2 to Bologna L&L
Oeuvre: Polyptych, single-field altarpieces & small devotional works L&L
Characteristics: He had a hard, linear style like Mantagna but softened by that of Giovanni Bellini as in as The Dead Christ supported by Saints c1465 (NG)L&L, OxDicArt
*ZORN, Anders, 1860-1920, Sweden; Rural Naturalism Movement
Background: He was born in Mora in rural Dalarna RA1900 p435
Training: At the Kungliga Akademi in Stockholm (at15) L&L, RA1900 p435
Career: He rebelled against the Academy’s conventional teaching & fled abroad to study RA1900 p435. Between 1881 & 1896 he was mainly in Paris but he travelled to Iberia, London (1882-5), St Ives (1887-8), Hungary, Greece, & Turkey. From 1896 he lived in Sweden L&L
Specialities: Vibrant light effects on nude bodies OxDicArt
Phases: He originally painted almost exclusively in watercolour but from around 1889 in oils as in Frieda Schiff (1876–1958), Later Mrs. Felix M. Warburg (The Met) OxDicArt. His work concentrated on realistic themes of Scandinavian life & increasingly on nude girls. They were unashamedly healthy & voluptuous in landscape settings L&L, OxDicArt
Characteristics: His brushwork was lush, like that of Liebermann (who was his friend) OxDicArt
Patrons: His commissions for portraits came from big business, diplomacy & politics, including American presidents RA1900 p435
Grouping: a modernist by drawing 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, Boldini, & other society portraitists Bretell pp 89-90
Collections: National Museum, Stockholm
-ZUCCARELLI, Francesco, 1702-88, Italy=Venice; Byzantine Movement
Background: He was born near Urbino L&L.
Career: He settled in Venice, but during 1752-62 & 1765-71 he worked in England. In 1768 he was a foundation member of the RA OxDicArt
Oeuvre: Pastoral landscapes OxDicArt
Characteristics: Nature softened & diluted with skies always blue & foliage green, with the whole scene bathed in pinkish light as in Landscape with Peasants at a Fountain 1674 (the Met) Levey1959 pp 60, 62
Style: A delicate Rococo OxDicArt
Clientele: Joseph Smith who sold many of Zuccarell’s paintings to George III OxDicArt. He received commissions from Algarotti L&L
Friends: Richard Wilson Levey1959 p62
Innovations: He brought pastoral landscape to Venice Steer p198
Grouping: Rococo L&L
Influenced: Zais Steer p199; Wilson Hayes p3
*Federico ZUCCARO/ZUCCARI, c1542-1609, Taddeo’s brother, Barocci’s cousin, Italy:
Background: He was born near Urbino L&L
Training: Taddeo L&L
Influences: These were numerous but especially the Roman & Venetian traditions Blunt1940 p138
Career: Between 1555 & 1563 he worked with Taddeo in Rome. He went to Venice in 1565, to Florence, to Rome to assist Taddeo, where he completed his commissions, & then to Orvietto in 1570. In 1574 he went to France, Antwerp & England. In 1580 he was back in Rome but he was banished during 1581-3 & then worked for the Duke of Urbino & in Venice. During 1585-8 he was in Madrid, & then returned to Rome. In 1593, after 15 years of effort, he succeeded in establishing the Academy of St Luke in Rome & became its president. His last year were mainly spent in Lombardy & the Piedmont where he give much thought to art theory & disegno. He produced Lamento della Pittura, 1605, which criticised Tintoretto, & L’Idea de’ Scultori, Pittori e Architetti, 1607 Grove33 pp 718-20, L&L, Murrays1959.
Phases: His works approach counter-Mannerist naturalism L&L
Characteristics: His work was highly self-conscious academic Mannerism with [repousoir] figures & double contrapposto with obscure allegorical allusions. Nevertheless he avoided extremes & made a partial return to Classical composition Blunt1940 pp 137-8. Here he was adopting the Counter-Reformation & Counter-Maniera approach which appealed to his taste for clarity, realism & devotional stimulation Grove33 p719. However he now substituted accuracy for aesthetic & intellectual appeal as in A Standing Angel and two Cherubs 1566 (The Met)Hall2011 p132.
Beliefs: He thought that correct theory would produce good art & following St Thomas Aquinas, who thought that God designs internally & externally, Zuccaro believed that the artist’s original idea was put into his mind by God Grove33 p720.
Personal: He tended to be combative & arrogant Grove33 p720
Grouping: He was an arch Mannerist Wittkower1958 p26
Status: He had a European reputation & for a period was probably the most famous living painter OxDicArt
Verdict: His work has been regarded as insipid & pretentious & his Counter-maniera paintings have been considered to do little more than picturialise the scriptural text & renounce art in favour of illustration Friedlaender1925 p51, Hall2011 p132.
Influence: It was wide L&L
-Taddeo ZUCCARO, 1529-66, Federico’s brother, Barocci’s cousin, Italy:
Background: He was born near Urbino L&L
Training: He was virtually self-taught L&L
Influences: Michelangelo, Raphael, del Piombo, & Northern painting with its naturalism, especially its landscape & still-life details OxDicArt, Bailey p27
Career: At 14 he went to Rome where he performed menial tasks for various minor painters. He nearly starved & was forced to return home but around 1548 he went back. From about 1557 until his death he worked on the Frangipane Chapel in Rome, the Sala Regia in the Vatican, & the Villa Farnese at Caparola. Nearly all his major works were completed by Federico L&L, Hall1999 pp184-5.
Characteristics: His work has a retrospective classicism & a realist input; & at times it anticipates Annibale Carracci L&L. Despite eliminating Maniera’s extreme artificiality & ostentation, he never abandoned its aristocratic grace & fluidity, juxtaposing cruder, more expressive faces in the lower figures with idealised angelic faces above. His works have deep shading, balanced colours, & are crowded with a pageantry of figures as in Saint Paul Restoring Eutychus to Life 1529 (The Met) Bailey p27 Murrays1959
Friends: Barocci when they were together in Rome L&L
Verdict: Opinions differ: on the one hand his works have been seen as dry with a wooden tendency, while on the other he has been described as one of the most formally inventive decorative artists of time; & more gifted than Federico OxDicArt, L&L
Status: He was the leading Mannerist of the mid 16th century style Murrays1959
Grouping: His works are a compromise & bridge between the Maniera & Counter-Maniera, & can properly be called late Maniera Hall1999 p xv
–Antonio ZUCCHI, 1726-95, Italy:
Background: He was born in Venice into a family of artists Grove 33 p721.
Training: With Francesco Fontebasso & then Jacob Amigoni who was a great influence Grove33 p721
Influences: Guardi Grove33 p721.
Career: In 1756 he joined the Accademia di Pittura e Scultora He made study trips to Rome & Naples with Adam at whose invitation he went from Rome to London in 1766. Here in 1773 he painted frescos for Ham House. He worked at other large houses, married Angelica Kauffman in 1781, became an RA in 1784, but moved back to Rome where he did little painting Grove33 p 721.
Oeuvre: Paintings & frescos Grove33 p721.
Characteristics/Phases: His early works were in Amigoni’s hazy style of colouring but from 1759 his work became more academic as in Artist Among the Ruins 18th Century (MET) & his figures had more plasticity Grove33 p 721.
Circle: He belonged along with Kauffmann to Robert Adam’s team of artists who decorated great houses 1000BH pp 890, 931-2
Gossip: Reputedly he fell in love with Kauffmann while painting the Rape of Europa on the ceiling at Kenwood 1000BH p500.
-Jacopo ZUCCHI, 1541-90, Italy=Florence & Rome; Late Mannerism:
Background: He was born in Florence Grove33 p721
Training: He was a pupil & assistant of Vasari Grove33 p721, L&L
Career: He accompanied Vasari to Pisa , 1561; was in Florence, 1563-65, working with Vasari, etc. In 1572 he settled in Rome as an independent artist & was appointed artist-in-residence at the Medici court by Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici. At a late stage he returned to Florence Grove33 pp 721-22, L&L
Oeuvre : He was a Mannerist but his smaller easel works display Flemish Realist influence in their still-life details. He worked in oils & fresco; & engaged in artisan activities L&L, Grove33 p722
Characteristics/Phases: Initially his style owed much to Vasari but later he displayed considerable originality as in his Allegory of the Creation, c1585 (Galleria Borghese, Rome): a truly impressive work which was more spirited & opulent than that of his Roman contemporaries due to the combination of a striking diagonal design, marked chiaroscuro & rich & diverse, contrasted colouring in bands of deep olive green & bright yellow green, surmounted by a sky of varying vibrant blues & milky tones. The sky gives the painting great depth & the vision of God in a halo of light invites comparison with Michangelo’s Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel, c1508. More could be said but enough, except to note that this masterpiece by Zucchi was almost matched by his [as in] Golden Age, c1587 (The Uffizi) Grove33 p722, Freedberg p449, webimages
Repute: He is itemised in the Oxford Companion, recognised as an important painter in the Pelican History of Art, but passed over in OxDicCon, 1001, & only accorded grudging recognition in The Yale Dictionary
Verdict: Although Zucchi has not been entirely ignored [he deserves to be recognised as an all-time great].
Brother: Francesco -1621, was a noted mosaicist Wikip
..ZUGEL, Heinrich von, 1850-1941, Germany; German Impressionism Movement
Background: Born Murrhardt Norman1977
Training: Stuttgart 1867-9 & then Munich `Norman1977
Influences: Braith Norman1977
Career: In 1888 he joined the Munich Academy & in 1889 became a professor. In 1892 he helped found the Munich Secession Norman1977
Oeuvre: He painted sheep & cows in their pastures as in Shepherd and Sheep 1878 (Brooklyn Museum) Norman1977
Phases/Characteristics: At first he painted with a Barbizon-orientated Realism & then with a bright almost Impressionist palette Norman1977.
Grouping: The Munich School Norman1977
Repute: He was highly regarded around 1900 but is not itemised in the Grove Dictionary Norman1977.
–ZUGNO, Francesco, 1709-87, confusable with Francesco Zugno, 1574-1621=Venice; Rococo:
Background: He was born in Venice & belonged to an ancient Venetian family which include artists. Wikip
Training: The Venetian Academy & the workshop of Giovanni Tiepolo from around 1730 L&L, Wikip
Career: He collaborated with Giovanni Tiepolo, notably the frescoes in the Palazzo Labia but some independent canvases are known. Zugno was a founding member of the Accademia & appears to have ceased painting by 1762 L&L, NG
Oeuvre/Characteristics: Religious & mythological of works in pleasing pastel colours & of a lively nature as in The Apotheosis of St Zeno (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)
Circle: Alessandro Longhi Wikip
Zuloga. See Zabaleta
..ZUND, Robert, 1827-1909, Switzerland:
Background: He was born at Lucerne Norman1977
Training: In Geneva with Diday & Calame Norman1977
Career: 1851 in Munich & 1852 in Paris with later visits . He lived a withdrawn life in his country house near Lucerne & rarely exhibited Norman1977
Oeuvre: Landscapes Norman1977
Characteristics: carefully composed landscapes in the tradition of Claude & Poussin but full of sparkling colour as in Cornfield with Oaks 1875 (Private). They combine realist & idealist tendencies Norman1977
Circle: Koller, a lifelong friend; Troyon & the Barbizon School Norman1977
**Francisco de ZURBARAN, 1598-1664, Spain=Seville; Spanish Eloquence Movement
Background: He was born in an agricultural village in Extremadura, where his father kept a shop BrownJ p132
Training: 1614-7 in Seville with a craftsman-painter of devotional images Murrays1959, OxDicArt
Influences: Early on he became familiar with polychrome sculpture. He, like Velazquez, knew Caravaggio’s style manly through copies & the work of imitators. Many of his late works of the 1620s were obviously inspired by Caravaggio Grove 33 p728, H&P p177
Career: After his training he moved to the Extremaduran market town of Llerena, but returned to Seville in 1629 after a decisive commission, in 1626, to paint 21 paintings for a new Dominican friary. In 1627 he painted Christ on the Cross & became famous. It led to numerous commissions from other religious orders. In 1629 the Seville council passed a motion to ask Zurbaran not to leave. During 1634-5 he was in Madrid working for Philip IV on a series on the Labours of Hercules etc. In the 1650s he continued to rely on the export market, but in 1656-7 the retuning Indies fleets were destroyed by the English & Zurbaran was ruined. The English had taken his money & younger painters had stolen his fame. In 1658 he went to Madrid & made a living painting reflecting the change in artistic taste & devotional practice L&L, OxDicArt, Brown1998 pp 133, 135, 205-6, Grove33 p729
Oeuvre: This was almost entirely religious except for his pictures for Philip IV & a few portraits & still life OxDicArt
Phases: In the late 1620s & 1630s he painted a series of altarpieces for Sevillian orders. During 1630 he appears to have first adopted the archaic scheme of two zones with clouds supporting the celestial upper section. In the mid-1640s he was displaced by Murillo & turned to speculative works for Spanish America. Later on he reduced the power & simplicity of his work in an effort to emulate him. The lighting in his paintings became more even without startling chiaroscuro effects, faces became more delicate, & the colours slightly muted. His works from 1658 were small & intended for private devotion L&L, Grove33 pp 730, 732-3 OxDicArt,
Characteristics: His forms are simple & monumental, & his works feature dramatic stillness, although he did produce some fine open-air effects. The format is geometric. He used graduated browns, black, grey & white, though his altarpieces were richly coloured. His faces have a pronounced oval shape, drapery has heavy folds as in Saint Margaret of Antioch 1630 (NG) & there is a pronounced attention to still-life & other accessories L&L, Grove33 pp 729, 731, 733.
Status: During the 1630s he became the pre-eminent painter in Seville Brown1998 p135
Grouping: Baroque Conti pp 50-1
Workshop: This appears to have been large & to have been responsible for many of the paintings sent to Mexico & South America Grove33 p732
Repute: He only became well known after 1848 when the Gallerie Espagnole opened at the Louvre Moffitt p126
..Juan ZURBERAN, 1620-49; son of Francisco, Spain
Background: He was born in Llerena in his father’s prosperous household Grove33 p733
Influences: Naturalistic Italian works & possibly Luca Forte Grove33 p733
Training: His father in Seville Grove33 p733
Career: He died of plague Grove33 p733
Oeuvre & Characteristics: Fine still-life. Only three paintings are known but they display firm draughtsmanship, a sensuous effect, balanced composition, strong highlights & dramatic illumination as in Still Life of Lemons 1643 (NG) They are far removed from his father’s sobriety Murrays1959, Grove33 p733