Alina 2018-09-29 14:05:00 painters biographies
Born in 1748 in Paris, France, Jacques-Louis David became a painter of great renown as his style of history painting helped end the frivolity of the Rococo period, moving art back to the realm of classical austerity. One of David's most famous works, "The Death of Marat" (1793), portrays the famous French Revolutionary figure dead in his bath after an assassination. He died in Brussels, Belgium, in 1825.
Jacques-Louis David was born on August 30, 1748, in Paris, France. His father was killed in a duel in when David was 9 years old, and the boy was subsequently left by his mother to be raised by two uncles.
When David showed an interest in painting, his uncles sent him to François Boucher, a leading painter of the time and family friend. Boucher was a Rococo painter, but the Rococo era was giving way to a more classical style, so Boucher decided to send David to his friend Joseph-Marie Vien, a painter more in tune with the neoclassical reaction to Rococo.
By age 18, the gifted young artist was enrolled at the Académie Royale (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture). After several failures in competitions and finding more discouragement than support, during a period that included a suicide attempt (apparently by avoiding food), in 1774, he finally obtained the Prix de Rome, a government scholarship that ensured well-paid commissions in France. Also included in the scholarship was a trip to Italy, and in 1775, he and Vien went to Rome together, where David studied Italian masterpieces and the ruins of ancient Rome.
Before he left Paris, he proclaimed, "The art of antiquity will not seduce me, for it lacks liveliness," and the works of the great masters almost held him to his word, such was the pull of their genius. Instead, though, he became interested in the Neoclassical ideas originated in Rome by, among others, German painter Anton Raphael Mengs and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann.
Back in Paris in 1780, and to much acclaim, David exhibited "Belisarius Asking Alms," in which he combined his own approach to antiquity with a Neoclassical style reminiscent of Nicolas Poussin. In 1782, David married Marguerite Pécoul, whose father was an influential building contractor and the superintendent of construction at the Louvre. David began to prosper at this point, and he was elected to the Académie Royale in 1784 on the heels of his "Andromache Mourning Hector."
That same year, David returned to Rome to complete "Oath of the Horatii," whose austere visual treatment—somber color, frieze-like composition and clear lighting—was a sharp departure from the prevailing Rococo style of the time. Exhibited in the official Paris Salon of 1785, the painting created a sensation and was regarded as a declaration of an artistic movement (revival, in fact) that would put an end to the delicate frivolity of the Rococo period. It also came, before too long, to symbolize the end of aristocratic corruption and a return in France to the patriotic morals of republican Rome.
In 1787, David displayed "Death of Socrates." Two year later, in 1789, he unveiled "The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons." At this point, the French Revolution had begun, and, thusly, this portrayal of Brutus—the patriotic Roman consul who ordered the deaths of his traitorous sons to save the republic—took on political significance, as did David himself.
In the early years of the Revolution, Jacque-Louis David was a member of the extremist Jacobin group led by Maximilien de Robespierre, and he became an active, politically committed artist involved in a good deal of revolutionary propaganda. He produced such works as "Joseph Bara", the sketched "Oath of the Tennis Court" and "Death of Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau" during this period, all with revolutionary themes marked by martyrdom and heroics in the face of the establishment.
David's revolutionary inspiration is ultimately best represented by "The Death of Marat," painted in 1793, soon after the murder of revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat. This so-called "piet of the Revolution" is considered David's masterpiece. As one modern critic put it, the piece is "a moving testimony to what can be achieved when an artist's political convictions are directly manifested in his work." Marat became an instant political martyr while the painting became a symbol of sacrifice in the name of the republic.
Elected to the National Convention in 1792, David voted for the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. By 1793, David, having gained much power through his association with Robespierre, was effectively the art dictator of France. Once in this role, he promptly abolished the Académie Royale (whether out of spite for his struggles there years before, or by a desire for a complete overhaul of every system in place, remains unclear).
By 1794, Robespierre and his revolutionary allies had gone too far in silencing counter-revolutionary voices, and the people of France began to question his authority. In July of that year, it came to a head, and Robespierre was sent to the guillotine. David was arrested, remaining in prison until the amnesty of 1795.
Upon release, David devoted his time to teaching. With the same energy he had spent on revolutionary politics, he trained hundreds of young European painters, among them such future masters as Franois Gérard and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. (Some 60 years later, Eugene Delacroix would refer to David as the "father of the whole modern school.") He also became the official painter of Napoleon I.
David had admired Napoleon since their first meeting, and sketched him for the first time in 1797. After Napoleon's coup in 1799, he commissioned David to commemorate his crossing of the Alps: David painted "Napoleon Crossing the Saint-Bernard" (also known as "Napoleon Crossing the Alps"). Napoleon named David court painter in 1804.
After Napoleon fell in 1815, David was exiled to Brussels, Belgium, where he lost much of his old creative energy. Ten years into his exile, he was struck by a carriage, sustaining injuries from which he would never recover.
Jacques-Louis David died on December 29, 1825, in Brussels, Belgium. Because he had participated in the execution of King Louis XVI, David was not allowed to be buried in France, so he was buried at Evere Cemetery in Brussels. His heart, meanwhile, was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Alina 2018-09-24 14:05:21 painters biographies
French painter Robert Delaunay was one of the first artists to introduce vibrant color into Cubism, trend eventually known as Orphism. An important figure in 20th century art, Delaunay is often overshadowed by his contemporaries such as Picasso, Matisse and Barque. Delaunay and his wife, Sonia Terk Delaunay, worked on a large, impressive abstract mural together for the Paris Exposition in 1937.
Alina 2018-09-23 14:05:34 painters biographies
Jan van Eyck was born circa 1395. In 1425, he was employed under the service of Duke Philip, the Good of Burgundy. In 1432, van Eyck painted "Adoration of the Lamb," the altarpiece for the Church of St. Bavon, Ghent. In 1434, he created another masterpiece, "Arnolfini Wedding." Throughout his career, van Eyck used oil painting in his portraits and panel paintings. He died on July 9, 1441 in Bruges, Netherlands.
Alina 2018-09-22 14:05:22 painters biographies
Painter Thomas Gainsborough, baptized in Sudbury, England, on May 14, 1727, showed an early talent for drawing, which his weaver father encouraged him to pursue. Though famous painters like Hogarth and van Dyck were influences, he favored landscapes, becoming a master of light and brushwork, but when Gainsborough shifted to portraiture for income, his talent attracted the likes of King George III and other nobles, and made him a contender for the position of royal painter. When elected a founding member of the Royal Academy, he moved his studio to London. Perhaps his most famous work is a portrait known as The Blue Boy. Gainsborough died on August 2, 1788, in London.
Thomas Gainsborough was one of nine children born to John Gainsborough, a weaver and woolen merchant, in Sudbury, in Suffolk, England. He was born in the spring of 1727 and christened on May 14. Perhaps due to his mother's penchant for painting flowers and encouraging her son's talent with a pencil, Gainsborough assembled a rather impressive portfolio at a young age. By 10, he had drawn some local village landscapes, and added caricatures and other facial studies.
His father was sufficiently impressed with his work to allow him to go to London, England, where he studied at an academy in St. Martin's Lane under the renowned William Hogarth and other masters known for etching, historical painting and portraiture.
During this time he fell in love with Margaret Burr, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman, and her dowry allowed him to set up a studio in Ipswich by the time he was 20.
When his landscapes were not selling, Gainsborough turned to portraiture for money. He moved his wife and two daughters to Bath, where there was a more bustling influx of upscale clientele, and set to studying the painter Sir Anthony van Dyck for insight into technique.
His reputation began to grow. Sending his portraits to the Society of Arts exhibitions in London (his Ipswich friend Joshua Kirby was president), especially those of his more prominent sitters, helped attract attention to his work.
Gainsborough's increasing prosperity allowed him to indulge his passion for music. He learned to play the viol di gamba (a fretted string instrument), the harp and the hautboy (oboe), among other instruments, and employed a houseful of international musicians. Perhaps because of his lively nature, the tall, handsome and garrulous Gainsborough enjoyed spending time with theater folk. He painted celebrated actors such as David Garrick and Sarah Siddons, and also lesser known players, gifting his portraits to them, as well as sketches and landscapes.
By 1774, he had become so successful, it was silly not to be in London. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy, and not long after moving his family to the capital, he was summoned to the palace and began portraits of King George III and other nobles. Although the king was obliged to name his rival, Joshua Reynolds, as the official court painter, Gainsborough remained the favorite of the royal family.
Thomas Gainsborough died of cancer on August 2, 1788, at the age of 61. He requested to be buried at St. Anne's Church at Kew, which was the royal family's primary residence and known for its lush and varied landscape. It was a fitting locale, since Gainsborough had returned to his love of landscape painting in his waning years and become known for his simple settings, elegant brushwork and extraordinary use of light.
And yet, Gainsborough's most recognizable painting today is probably a portrait of the son of a wealthy merchant, known simply as The Blue Boy. Legend has it that Gainsborough tried to reconcile with Reynolds, his rival, at his deathbed. The two share a reputation as the most famous portraitists of the latter 18th century. Gainsborough is also known one of the originators of the 18th century British landscape school. A later painter with a similar reputation, John Constable, was a huge fan, saying of Gainsborough's landscapes, "On looking at them, we find tears in our eyes and know not what brings them."
Alina 2018-09-21 14:05:00 painters biographies
Domecino Ghirlandaio's first major commissioned works were the two frescoes of scenes from the life of St. Fina. In 1481–82 Ghirlandaio received an important commission in the Vatican for a fresco, representing the calling of the first Apostles, Peter and Andrew, in the Sistine Chapel. Ghirlandaio is regarded as one of the most eloquent and elegant narrators of 15th-century Florentine society.
Alina 2018-09-20 14:05:00 painters biographies
Giorgione was born circa 1477 in Venice, Italy. In 1490, He became an apprentice to Giovanni Bellini. Circa 1495-1500, Giorgione produced his first two major works: "Trial of Moses" and "Judgment of Solomon." "The Tempest," painted in 1505, is his best-known work. During his brief career, Giorgione was also commissioned to paint half-length portraits. He died of the plague in Venice, Italy, circa 1510.
The High Renaissance style Venetian painter Giorgione was born circa 1477 in the small town of Castelfranco Veneto in the Republic of Venice, Italy. Though little is known of Giorgione's childhood, Italian painter and biographer Giorgio Vasari believed that Giorgione was born into humble circumstances. Giorgione, whose name translates to "Tall George," is also said to have begun showing artistic promise at an early age.
In 1490, Giorgione became an apprentice to master painter Giovanni Bellini. Under Bellini's tutelage, he developed an awareness of lighting, atmosphere, color and mood. During his time in Bellini's studio, Giorgione honed the techniques that he would use to express those qualities in his own paintings.
Fellow painters were not the only influences on Giorgione's work; he was also inspired by many Italian Renaissance writers and philosophers of the time. Giorgione's paintings depict writers Jacopo Sannazzaro and Pietro Bembo's poetic connection with nature, while also expressing the concept of naturalism espoused by humanist philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi.
Circa 1495-1500, Giorgione produced his first two major works, panels depicting the "Trial of Moses" and the "Judgment of Solomon." Although the paintings featured traditional religious subjects, his emphasis on the beautiful landscape background set Giorgione's work apart from other paintings of this genre. Among Giorgione's highly celebrated religious paintings are "The Holy Family" (circa 1500), "Castelfranco Madonna" (circa 1504) and "Adoration of the Shepherds" (1505/1510).
Giorgione's five surviving works include "The Tempest," "The Three Philosophers," "Boy with an Arrow," "Shepherd with a Flute" and "Sleeping Venus."
"The Tempest," painted in 1505, is Giorgione's best-known work. The painting shows figures in the context of a storm ready to break against an idyllic pastoral landscape. Unlike few paintings before it, "The Tempest" requires the viewer to determine the symbolic meaning of the work—a meaning that stemmed from Giorgione's own imagination, rather than traditional interpretations. He also distinguished himself as one of the first painters to paint people in a landscape setting.
During his brief artistic career, Giorgione was also commissioned to paint many half-length portraits, including "The Young Man," "The Laura" and "La Vecchia."
Giorgione died of the plague in Venice, Italy, circa 1510. He was roughly 33 years old at the time. Following Giorgione's death, young painter Titian completed the landscape in Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus."
Giorgione's muted lines, personal interpretation of subjects and emphasis on the beauty of nature went on to influence several successive generations of Venetian artists, including painters Dosso Dossi and Palma Vecchio.
Alina 2018-09-18 14:05:08 painters biographies
Artist R.C. Gorman descended from generations of Navajo craftsmen. After several years in the US Navy, his education, specifically a year at the Mexico City College, that fixed his desire to be an artist. From the 1970s, as his reputation spread throughout the USA and abroad. He is arguably the first Native American artist to be internationally recognized as a major American artist.
Artist R.C. Gorman was born in Chinle, Arizona, on July 26, 1931. Descended from generations of Navajo craftsmen, holy men, and tribal leaders, he was encouraged by a teacher at a mission school to develop his talent for art. After several years in the US Navy, he attended Arizona State College (now Northern Arizona University), but it was a visit to Mexico (1958) and then a year at the Mexico City College (now University of the Americas) that fixed his desire to be an artist.
After spending several years in San Francisco developing as a painter, he moved to Taos, NM. In 1965 he received a one-man exhibition in the Manchester Gallery there, and by 1968 his work was enjoying enough success that he bought the gallery, changed its name to Navajo Gallery, and began to exhibit and sell his own and other artists' work. The gallery was the first in the United States to be owned by a Native American. It remained for many years as his residence, studio, and gallery, where he was often present to deal personally with the growing numbers of other artists and the public who came by. From the 1970s, as his reputation spread throughout the USA and abroad, he moved on from working with oil, acrylic, and pastel to lithographs, ceramics, and occasional sculptures. Although he usually drew on SW Native American themes, he transformed them by his art into more universally significant, and aesthetic, subjects.
Reputed to be a genial, accessible man, known to be interested in food and cooking, and someone at home in the worlds of both his ancestors and international museums and academies, he is arguably the first Native American to be internationally recognized as a major American artist. Gorman died November 4, 2005, at a hospital in Albuquerque.
Alina 2018-09-17 14:05:00 painters biographies
A famed painter in his own lifetime, Francisco de Goya was born on March 30, 1746, in Fuendetodos, Spain. He began his art studies as a teenager and even spent time in Rome, Italy, to advance his skills. In 1770s, Goya began to work for Spanish royal court. In addition to his commissioned portraits of the nobility, he created works that criticized the social and political problems of his era.
The son of a guilder, Goya spent some of his youth in Saragossa. There he began studying painting around the age of fourteen. He was a student of José Luzán Martínez. At first, Goya learned by imitation. He copied the works of great masters, finding inspiration in the works of such artists as Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez and Rembrandt van Rijn.
Later, Goya moved to Madrid, where he went to work with brothers Francisco and Ramón Bayeu y Subías in their studio. He sought to further his art education in 1770 or 1771 by traveling to Italy. In Rome, Goya studied the classic works there. He submitted a painting to a competition held by the Academy of Fine Arts at Parma. While the judges liked his work, he failed to win the top prize.
Through the German artist Anton Raphael Mengs, Goya started to create works for Spain's royal family. He first painted tapestry cartoons, which were artworks that served as models for woven tapestries, for a factory in Madrid. These works featured scenes from everyday life, such as "The Parasol" (1777) and "The Pottery Vendor" (1779).
In 1779, Goya won an appointment as a painter to the royal court. He continued to rise in status, receiving admission into the Royal Academy of San Fernando the following year. Goya began to establish a reputation as a portrait artist, winning commissions from many in royal circles. Works, such as "The Duke and Duchess of Osuna and their Children" (1787-1788), illustrate Goya's eye for detail. He skillfully captured the tiniest elements of their faces and clothes.
In 1792, Goya became completely deaf after suffering from an unknown malady. He started to work on non-commissioned paintings during his recovery, including portraits of women from all walks of life. His style changed somewhat as well.
Continuing to thrive professionally, Goya was named the director of the Royal Academy in 1795. He may have been part of the royal establishment, but he did not ignore the plight of the Spanish people in his work. Turning to etchings, Goya created a series of images called "Los Caprichos" in 1799, which has been viewed his commentary on political and social events. The 80 prints explored the corruption, greed, and repression that was rampant in the country.
Even in his official work, Goya is thought to have cast a critical eye on his subjects. He painted the family of King Charles IV around 1800, which remains one of his most famous works. Some critics have commented that this portrait seemed to be more a caricature than a realist portrait.
Goya also used his art record moments of the country's history. In 1808, France, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, invaded Spain. Napoleon installed his brother Joseph as the country's new leader. While he remained a court painter under Napoleon, Goya created a series of etchings depicting the horrors of war. After Spanish royalty regained the throne in 1814, he then painted "The Third of May," which showed to the true human costs of war. The work depicted the uprising in Madrid against French forces.
With Ferdinand VII now in power, Goya kept his position in the Spanish court despite having worked for Joseph Bonaparte. Ferdinand reportedly once told Goya that "You deserve to be garroted, but you are a great artist so we forgive you." Others in Spain were not so lucky as the king sought to crackdown on liberals who sought to make the country a constitutional state.
Despite the personal risks, Goya expressed his dissatisfaction with the Ferdinand's rule in a series of etchings called "Los disparates." These works featured a carnival theme and explored folly, lust, old age, suffering and death among other issues. With his grotesque imagery, Goya seemed to illustrate the absurdity of the times.
The political climate subsequently became so tense that Goya willingly went into exile in 1824. Despite his poor health, Goya thought he might be safer outside of Spain. Goya moved to Bordeaux, France, where he spent the remainder of his life. During this time, he continued to paint. Some of his later works included portraits of friends also living in exile. Goya died on April 16, 1828, in Bordeaux, France.
Goya married Josefa Bayeu y Subías, the sister of his art teachers Francisco and Ramón Bayeu y Subías. The couple had one child who lived to be an adult, their son Xavier.
