Biographies of Painters
BELLINI, GIOVANNI
c.
1430–1516
Giovanni Bellini began his career in the workshop of his
father, Jacopo. First mentioned in Venice in 1459, he
succeeded his brother Gentile as painter to the Republic
in 1483. Thereafter he was constantly employed by the
State, as well as by Venetian churches and private
patrons. He was one of the first Italian artists to
master the oil technique of the Northern European
painters.
Works in the Collection:
St. Francis in the Desert
BOUCHER, FRANÇOIS
1703–1770
The
son of a painter, Boucher was born in Paris and trained
first with his father, then briefly with François
Lemoine. In 1723 he won the Academy’s first prize for
painting but was denied the sojourn in Rome that
normally resulted from the competition. To earn his
living the young artist produced reproductive engravings
throughout the 1720s, notably after drawings and
paintings by Watteau. Returning from a prolonged stay in
Rome — where he went on his own — Boucher was accepted
into the Academy in 1731, and three years later he was
made a full member. Eventually he held the Academy posts
of Professor, Rector, and finally Director. Boucher’s
marriage in 1734 resulted in two daughters, who married
the artists Deshays and Baudouin, and a son, Juste-Nathan,
who would specialize in drawing architectural fantasies.
Boucher’s work appeared at the Salon of 1737 and
frequently thereafter. While his virtuoso productions
were much admired, the artist had his critical
detractors as well, particularly Diderot, who lamented
his lack of naturalness. Boucher was awarded many
commissions by the King (including the painting of his
Easter eggs) and by Madame de Pompadour. He also held
high posts at both the Beauvais and Gobelins tapestry
factories and was named “premier peintre” to Louis XV in
1765. Although the content and style of Boucher’s art
suggest a sybaritic character, the artist often worked
twelve hours a day. He died in his studio in the Louvre.
Among his many pupils were Deshays, Fragonard, Gabriel
de Saint-Aubin, and Ménageot.
Works in the Collection:
The
Arts and Sciences
Madame Boucher
The
Four Seasons
Drawing and Poetry (Boucher and
assistants)
Girl with Roses (shop of
Boucher)
BRONZINO, AGNOLO
1503–1572
Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano, called Bronzino, was court
painter to Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and became the
foremost portraitist of Florence. He also executed
religious and allegorical subjects as well as
decorations for Medici festivities.
Works in the Collection:
Lodovico Capponi
BRUEGEL THE ELDER, PIETER
active
1551–1569
Both the date and place of Bruegel’s birth are
uncertain. The earliest reference to him records his
entry into the Antwerp painters’ guild in 1551. He
traveled to Italy around 1552, but by 1555 he was back
in Antwerp. In 1563 he settled in Brussels, working
thereafter both for eminent private patrons and for the
city government. Bruegel’s landscape paintings and
peasant scenes had a powerful and lasting influence in
the Netherlands.
Works in the Collection:
The
Three Soldiers
CHARDIN, JEAN-SIMÉON
1699–1779
The
son of a cabinetmaker, Chardin was born in Paris and
never strayed far from the capital. Trained probably
under Cazes and Coypel, the young artist was associated
first with the Academy of St. Luke in 1724, but four
years later he was received into the Royal Academy as a
“painter of animals and fruits.” By his first wife,
Marguerite Saintard — who died in 1735, only four years
after their marriage — he had a son, Jean-Pierre, who
would develop as a painter and die under mysterious
circumstances in Venice in 1767; his second marriage, in
1744, was to Françoise-Marguerite Pouget. Chardin’s work
appeared at the Salon for the first time in 1737 and
thereafter regularly until the year of his death. The
artist participated actively in the affairs of the
Academy, occupying for nearly twenty years the post of
Treasurer, which entailed the delicate responsibility of
deciding how each Salon would be hung. Louis XV honored
him with commissions, pensions, and lodgings in the
Louvre. Chardin’s still lifes and domestic scenes were
esteemed equally by the general public and by
contemporary connoisseurs throughout Europe.
Works in the Collection:
Still Life with Plums
Lady with a Bird-Organ
CLAUDE LORRAIN (CLAUDE GELLÉE)
1600–1682
Claude Gellée, who was called Lorrain after his native
province of Lorraine, settled in Rome perhaps as early
as 1613 and spent nearly all of his adult life there.
His early work was chiefly in fresco, of which little
remains, but his fame is based on landscape canvases,
often with biblical or mythological subjects. Patronized
principally by the Italian nobility, he also enjoyed an
international reputation. Among the many later painters
influenced by his work, the most vocal admirer was
Turner.
Works in the Collection:
The
Sermon on the Mount
CONSTABLE, JOHN
1776–1837
Constable left his native Suffolk in 1799 to study at
the Royal Academy, of which he became an associate in
1819 and a full member only in 1829. His landscapes,
which depict chiefly the Suffolk countryside, had a deep
influence on his contemporaries, particularly the
French. His elaborately finished exhibition pieces were
based on numerous sketches painted outdoors directly
from nature. The naturalism and simplicity of
Constable’s approach to the English landscape have been
compared to the poetry of his early Romantic
contemporaries, such as Wordsworth.
Works in the Collection:
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Garden
The
White Horse
COROT, JEAN-BAPTISTE-CAMILLE
1796–1875
Corot was born in Paris and studied there with the
classicizing painters Michallon and Bertin before
leaving in 1825 for the first of three visits he made to
Italy. His many oil studies painted outdoors provided
him with a library of landscape motifs that he often
incorporated into canvases with more traditional
classical or religious subjects intended for exhibition.
Corot traveled elsewhere in Europe and widely in France,
working in the vicinity of Rouen, in the forest of
Fontainebleau, and at Ville-d’Avray, near Paris, where
his father had a house. Though he exhibited frequently
in the Salons and won many honors, he remained a man of
great simplicity, remembered for his many benefactions
toward fellow artists.
Works in the Collection:
The
Arch of Constantine and the Forum, Rome
The
Boatman of Mortefontaine
The
Lake
The Pond
Ville-d’Avray
CUYP, AELBERT
1620–1691
Cuyp was born in Dordrecht and spent his entire life
there. His early pictures recall those of his father,
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, and of Jan van Goyen. In the
1640s, under the influence of the Italianized landscapes
of Jan Both and others, he developed the luminous style
that characterizes his best-known works. He produced
landscapes and occasional portraits until the mid 1660s,
when he appears to have ceased painting.
Works in the Collection:
Cows and Herdsman by a River
Dordrecht: Sunrise
River Scene
DAVID, GERARD
active
1484–1523
David was born at Oudewater, near Gouda. By 1484 he was
in Bruges, where in 1494 he came chief painter of the
city. While documents show him working in Antwerp in
1515, he returned a few years later to Bruges, where he
died.
Works in the Collection:
The
Deposition
DAVID, JACQUES-LOUIS
1748–1825
Born in Paris, David studied with Vien, whom he
accompanied to Italy after winning the Prix de Rome in
1774. The leading painter of France a decade later, he
played a major political role in the Revolution and set
down some of its greatest images. David served Napoleon
as his official painter. After the Emperor’s fall, he
went into exile in Brussels, where he died.
Works in the Collection:
The
Comtesse Daru
DEGAS, HILAIRE-GERMAIN-EDGAR
1834–1917
Born in Paris, Degas entered the École des Beaux-Arts in
1855 to work with Louis Lamothe, one of Ingres’ former
pupils. He visited Italy the following year, resettled
in Paris — where from 1865 until 1870 he exhibited at
the Salon — and in 1872 went to New Orleans to live with
relatives for several months. After his return to France
he exhibited for eight years with the Impressionists.
Degas’ varied subjects, motifs drawn largely from urban
life, encompassed dancers, working girls, women bathing,
and race horses, but also included occasional
landscapes. The artist experimented throughout his life
with a variety of media, including oil, pencil,
charcoal, pastel, watercolor, etching, lithography,
monotypes, photography, and sculpture. His last public
exhibition was held at Durand-Ruel’s in 1893. Degas made
occasional trips to Italy and England, and in 1880 he
visited Spain and Tangier. He died, solitary and almost
blind, in Paris.
Works in the Collection:
The
Rehearsal
DROUAIS, FRANÇOIS-HUBERT
1727–1775
Drouais was of Norman extraction but spent all of his
life in and around Paris. After studying with his
father, a miniaturist, he worked in the studios of Carle
Vanloo, Natoire, and Boucher. In 1757 he executed his
first royal commission, and the following year he was
received as a full member in the Academy. Succeeding
Latour and Nattier, Drouais became the most prominent
French portraitist of the mid eighteenth century,
painting courtiers, foreign aristocrats, writers, and
fellow artists. Drouais’ son, Germain-Jean, was a
promising history painter who died at twenty-five.
Works in the Collection:
The
Comte and Chevalier de Choiseul as Savoyards
DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA
c.
1255–1319
Although Duccio was the leading Sienese master of his
time, little is known about his life. The earliest
record of the artist dates from 1278. In 1285 he
received the commission for a painting believed to be
the Rucellai Madonna now in the Uffizi. His
greatest work, however, is the Maestà, a large
altarpiece first mentioned in a document of 1308 and
finished by June 9, 1311, when it was carried
triumphantly through the city streets to the Duomo of
Siena.
Works in the Collection:
The
Temptation of Christ on the Mountain
DYCK, SIR ANTHONY VAN
1599–1641
Van
Dyck was born in Antwerp, where he served an
apprenticeship with Hendrik van Balen and was received
as a master into the Guild of St. Luke by 1618. He
visited London in 1620 and worked in Italy from 1621
until 1627, when he returned to Antwerp. From 1632 until
his death he was active chiefly as a portrait painter in
England.
Works in the Collection:
Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole Sale
Ottaviano Canevari
Marchesa Giovanna Cattaneo
The Countess of Clanbrassil
James, Seventh Earl of Derby, His Lady and Child
Frans Snyders
Margareta Snyders
Sir John Suckling
EYCK, JAN VAN
active
1422–1441
Born probably at Maaseyck in the province of Limburg,
Jan van Eyck is first recorded in 1422 working at The
Hague for John of Bavaria, the Count of Holland. In 1425
he was named court painter and “valet de chambre” to
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, for whom he also
undertook frequent diplomatic missions. Most of his
datable paintings were executed during the 1430s in
Bruges, where he spent the last decade or so of his
life.
Works in the Collection:
Virgin and Child, with Saints and Donor
FRAGONARD, JEAN-HONORÉ
1732–1806
Born in Grasse, Fragonard was still a child when his
family moved to Paris. He studied briefly with Chardin,
then entered the atelier of Boucher. In 1752 he won the
Prix de Rome, and after three years of preparation under
Carle Vanloo he left to study in Italy. His Coroesus
Slays Himself to Save Callirhoe, which was bought by
Louis XV in 1765, won the artist membership in the
Academy, a residence in the Louvre, and the title
“peintre du roi.” In 1773–74 he made a second trip to
Italy. His activity as an illustrator, etcher, and
painter of romantic subjects continued until the
Revolution. Because of ill health Fragonard retired to
Grasse in 1790, but a year later he was back in Paris.
Under the sponsorship of David he held various
administrative posts at the Muséum des Arts — the
present Musée du Louvre. His new eminence was
short-lived, however; he died poor and almost forgotten.
Works in the Collection:
The
Progress of Love
GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS
1727–1788
A
native of Suffolk, Gainsborough was trained in London in
the milieu of Hogarth and the popular French rococo. He
worked in Sudbury and Ipswich and rose to fame as a
portrait painter in the fashionable resort of Bath.
Gainsborough joined the Royal Academy as a founding
member and in 1774 returned to London, where he became
Reynolds’ major competitor. He later was patronized by
the royal family. Although he claimed to prefer
landscape painting to portraiture, Gainsborough excelled
at capturing the likenesses of Georgian society.
Works in the Collection:
Mrs. Peter William Baker
The
Hon. Frances Duncombe
Mrs. Elliott
Mrs. Charles Hatchett
Lady Innes
Richard Paul Jodrell
The
Mall in St. James Park
GENTILE DA FABRIANO
c.
1370–1427
Gentile was born in Fabriano, near Urbino. Nothing is
known of his youth or education, which may have been as
peripatetic as his subsequent career. He is first
recorded in 1408 in Venice, and he also worked in
Brescia and probably in other North Italian towns. About
1420 he moved to Tuscany, receiving important
commissions from churches and great families of Siena,
Florence, and Orvieto. By 1427 he had left for Rome,
where he worked for Pope Martin V and members of the
papal court.
Works in the Collection:
Madonna and Child, with Sts. Lawrence and Julian
GOYA Y LUCIENTES, FRANCISCO DE
1746–1828
Born in Fuendetodos, Goya served his apprenticeship in
nearby Saragossa and then studied with Francisco Bayeu
in Madrid. He was in Italy in 1770/71, and in 1774 he
became a designer for the Royal Tapestry Factory.
Appointed court painter to Charles III in 1786, he
continued to hold that post under Charles IV and
Ferdinand VII. In addition to portraits, Goya painted
historical, religious, and genre subjects, bitter
satires, and demonological fantasies; he also was a
brilliant graphic artist. In 1824, out of favor with the
court, he left Spain and settled in Bordeaux, where he
died.
Works in the Collection:
The
Forge
An Officer (Conde de Tepa?)
Don
Pedro, Duque de Osuna
Doña María Martínez de Puga
GRECO, EL (DOMENIKOS THEOTOKOPOULOS)
1541–1614
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco, was born in
Crete, then a Venetian dependency. He reputedly studied
with Titian in Venice, then moved to Rome in 1570. By
1577 he had settled in Toledo, where he spent his
remaining years. His extensive production consisted
almost exclusively of religious subjects and portraits.
Works in the Collection:
Vincenzo Anastagi
St.
Jerome
The
Purification of the Temple
GREUZE, JEAN-BAPTISTE
1725–1805
Greuze left his native Burgundy for Paris about 1750 and
studied with Natoire at the Academy. Named an associate
member in 1755, he first exhibited at the Salon that
same year and a few months afterward began a long
sojourn in Italy. He was made a full Academy member in
1769, but only in the category of genre painters,
despite his efforts to be recognized as a history
painter. Stung by this incident, Greuze dissociated
himself from the Academy and its exhibitions until 1800.
The artist’s dramatic and often moralizing genre scenes,
his brilliant drawings, and his incisive portraits won
him wealth, great popular acclaim, and the enthusiastic
support of Diderot.
Works in the Collection:
The
Wool Winder
HALS, FRANS
1582/83–1666
Documents show that Hals was born in Antwerp, probably
in 1582 or 1583. He had moved to Haarlem with his
parents (his father was a clothworker) by 1591, and at
some time before 1603 he is thought to have studied with
Carel van Mander. In 1610 he joined the Haarlem
painters’ guild; his first known dated work, a portrait,
is from the following year. Hals worked in Haarlem until
his death, chiefly painting portraits, including several
group portraits of militia officers and governors of
charitable institutions. His younger brother Dirck also
was a painter, as were three of his sons.
Works in the Collection:
Portrait of an Elderly Man
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Painter
Portrait of a Woman
HOBBEMA, MEYNDERT
1638–1709
In
1657 Hobbema was apprenticed in his native Amsterdam to
Jacob van Ruisdael, whose style and subject matter had a
profound influence on him. Hobbema painted landscapes
prolifically until 1668, when he was appointed municipal
assessor of wine-measures. Relatively few works appear
to date from his last forty years.
Works in the Collection:
Village among Trees
Village with Water Mill among Trees
HOGARTH, WILLIAM
1697–1764
A
lifelong resident of London, Hogarth was apprenticed to
an engraver of silver plate at fifteen and later studied
drawing with Thornhill. His fame among his
contemporaries derived chiefly from the series of moral
satires that he engraved after his own oil paintings and
disseminated to a wide public. Hogarth was a leading
figure at the St. Martin’s Lane Academy and the author
of an autobiography and a treatise on aesthetics.
Works in the Collection:
Miss Mary Edwards
HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER, HANS
1497/98–1543
Son
of the Augsburg painter Hans Holbein the Elder, who
probably gave him his first training, Holbein was
working by 1515 in Basel, where he achieved great
success and was part of the humanist circle of Erasmus.
It is probable that about 1519 he traveled to Italy,
where the art of the Italian Renaissance may have
inspired the classic monumentality of his own style. In
1524 Holbein visited France, and from 1526 to 1528 he
worked in England. Four years later he returned to
settle there, eventually becoming court painter to Henry
VIII. A remarkably realistic yet decorative series of
portraits of Henry’s court and family is Holbein’s great
legacy. He died of the plague in London.
Works in the Collection:
Thomas Cromwell
Sir
Thomas More
INGRES, JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE
1780–1867
Born in Montauban, Ingres studied first in nearby
Toulouse and then with David in Paris. He won the Prix
de Rome in 1801 and was in Italy from 1806 until 1824,
when his Vow of Louis XIII was exhibited with
great success at the Salon. He spent the following
decade in Paris, where he received official honors and
attracted many pupils, but his work was severely
criticized in 1834. He then returned to Rome for seven
years as Director of the French Academy. His final years
were spent in Paris.
Works in the Collection:
The
Comtesse d’Haussonville
LA
TOUR, ÉTIENNE DE
b.
1621
Little is known of Étienne de La Tour, son of the
illustrious Georges de La Tour (1593-1652), except the
date of his baptism in Lunéville — March 2, 1621 — and
the references that are made to him as “painter” in 1646
and “master painter” in 1652. He appears to have moved
to Vic-sur-Seille soon after his father’s death.
Works in the Collection:
The
Education of the Virgin
(Étienne or George de La Tour)
LA
TOUR, GEORGES DE LA
1593–1652
Born in Lorraine, Georges de La Tour had settled in
Lunéville by 1620. A document of 1639 describes him as
“Peintre ordinaire du Roy.” He visited Paris, and his
style suggests that he may have traveled to Holland and
Rome.
Works in the Collection:
The
Education of the Virgin
(Étienne or George de La Tour)
LAWRENCE, SIR THOMAS
1769–1830
Born in Bristol, Lawrence spent his childhood in Devizes,
Oxford, Weymouth, and Bath. His remarkable artistic
talent was recognized when he was only ten. In 1787 he
moved to London and entered the Royal Academy Schools,
where he received great encouragement from Sir Joshua
Reynolds. Upon Reynolds’ death Lawrence was appointed
Painter to the King, George III, and in 1820 he became
President of the Royal Academy. Lawrence was also
patronized by the King’s son, the Prince Regent — the
future King George IV — who commissioned an important
series of portraits of sovereigns, statesmen, and
generals that hangs in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor
Castle. From 1790 to 1830, Lawrence received a steady
stream of commissions, and his portraits earned him a
reputation on the Continent unequaled by any earlier
British painter.
Works in the Collection:
Miss Louisa Murray
Lady Peel
LIPPI,
FRA FILIPPO
c.
1406–1469
Florentine by birth, Fra Filippo took the vows of a
Carmelite monk at about the age of fifteen. He was in
Padua in 1434, but three years later he returned to
Florence, where he was employed by the Medici and other
prominent families. In 1452 he was invited to execute
the choir frescoes for the Duomo in Prato. His last two
years were spent in Spoleto painting frescoes in the
Cathedral. Fra Filippo’s son, Filippino, also became a
noted painter.
Works in the Collection:
The
Annunciation
MARIS, JACOBUS HENDRIKUS
1837–1899
Maris was born in The Hague and received his first
training there. He studied in Antwerp, then went back to
The Hague in 1857. During the late 1860s he worked in
Paris, where he was influenced by the landscapes of the
Barbizon painters. He returned to his native city in
1871, and subsequently became a leading figure in the
Hague School of painting, as were his younger brothers
Matthijs and Willem.
Works in the Collection:
The
Bridge
MANET,
ÉDOUARD
1832–1883
Born into a prosperous Parisian household, Manet studied
with Couture between 1850 and 1856. After that he
developed an individual technique utilizing half-tones
as little as possible and employing a restricted palette
rich in black. His subjects were drawn from contemporary
life, often from its lower ranks. Although his early
work included many Spanish themes and his style was
influenced by Velázquez and Goya, Manet did not visit
Spain until 1865. He first exhibited at the Salon in
1861, but two years later he showed at the Salon des
Refusés, where his work was received with the ridicule
that it would provoke throughout most of his career.
After 1870 Manet adopted an Impressionist technique and
palette and treated more lighthearted subjects than
during the previous decade; nevertheless, he refused to
take part in the Impressionist exhibitions organized by
Degas. Baudelaire and Zola eventually became his friends
and defenders, but the official recognition he longed
for came to Manet only in the year before his death,
when he was awarded the Legion of Honor.
Works in the Collection:
The
Bullfight
MEMLING, HANS
c.
1440–1494
Born at Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt, Memling spent much
of his life in Bruges, where he was recorded as a new
citizen in 1465. Documents show that he became one of
the city’s more prosperous residents, attracting a
cosmopolitan clientele from all over Europe. In addition
to portraits, Memling painted many religious subjects.
Works in the Collection:
Portrait of a Man
MILLET, JEAN-FRANÇOIS
1814–1875
The
son of Norman peasants, Millet studied in Cherbourg and
then Paris. His work was shown in several Salons in the
1840s, but it was not until the Winnower of 1848
that he began to exhibit the peasant subjects that made
him famous. In 1849 he moved to Barbizon, where he spent
most of his remaining years.
Works in the Collection:
Woman Sewing by Lamplight
MONET,
CLAUDE-OSCAR
1840–1926
Parisian by birth, Monet was still a child when his
family moved to Le Havre. There he later met Boudin, who
convinced him to become a landscape painter. His
artistic studies were interrupted by two years of
military service in Algeria, but in 1862 he returned to
Paris and worked briefly in Gleyre’s studio, where he
met Renoir, Bazille, and Sisley. He showed in the Salons
of 1865 and 1866. In 1870, at the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War, he went to England. Monet's
Impression — Sunrise was greeted with derision at
the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, and its
title would be adopted mockingly to name the whole
movement of Impressionism. Although extremely poor for
many years, the artist gradually won recognition,
comfort, and fame. He painted along the Seine, on the
Riviera, by the English Channel, in Brittany, the Midi,
Holland, London, and Venice, and, especially in his last
years, in his own elaborate garden at Giverny. Monet
died at Giverny.
Works in the Collection:
Vétheuil in Winter
PIERO
DELLA FRANCESCA
1410/20–1492
Born in the Tuscan town of Borgo Sansepolcro, Piero is
first recorded in 1439 assisting Domenico Veneziano in
Florence. He also worked in his birthplace and in
Ferrara, Rimini, Rome, Urbino, and elsewhere. Piero’s
best-known paintings form the celebrated fresco cycle
depicting the Legend of the True Cross in the
church of S. Francesco at Arezzo. In addition to
frescoes and altarpieces, Piero painted a number of
portraits.
Works in the Collection:
Augustinian Monk
Augustinian Nun
The
Crucifixion
St.
John the Evangelist
RAEBURN, SIR HENRY
1756–1823
Born at Stockbridge, now a part of Edinburgh, Raeburn
received his earliest training as a goldsmith’s
apprentice and may have gotten his start as a draftsman
producing miniatures for the jeweler’s lockets. By the
age of twenty he had painted his first full-length
portrait in oils, but little is known about this early
period of his career. His marriage around 1780 made him
financially independent. In 1784 Raeburn spent two
months in Joshua Reynolds’ studio in London and then, on
the master’s advice, traveled to Rome to broaden his
experience. He returned to Edinburgh in 1786 and soon
earned a reputation as the foremost Scottish portrait
painter. The Royal Academy elected Raeburn to membership
in 1815, and in 1822 he was knighted by George IV and
named His Majesty's Limner for Scotland.
Works in the Collection:
James Cruikshank
Mrs. James Cruikshank
REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN
1606–1669
Rembrandt first studied art in his native Leyden and
later worked under Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. Around
1625 he returned to Leyden, but in 1631/32 he settled
permanently in Amsterdam. Although he enjoyed a great
reputation and pupils flocked to him, he suffered
financial difficulties that led to insolvency in 1656.
By 1660 most of his debts were settled, and his last
years were spent in relative comfort. Rembrandt painted
many portraits, biblical scenes, and historical
subjects.
Works in the Collection:
The
Polish Rider
Nicolaes Ruts
Self-Portrait
Portrait of a Young Artist
(follower of Rembrandt)
RENOIR, PIERRE-AUGUSTE
1841–1919
Born in Limoges, Renoir was four when his family moved
to Paris. He began his career as a painter of porcelain,
but at twenty-one he entered Gleyre’s studio and
enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts. He first showed at
the Salon in 1864, and ten years later he took part in
the inaugural Impressionist exhibition, which he hung.
After visits to Algeria and Italy in 1881–82 his work
began to diverge from that of the Impressionists toward
a more classical tradition. Crippled with arthritis in
old age, he nevertheless continued to paint and to
produce sculpture. Renoir died at Cagnes.
Works in the Collection:
Mother and Children
REYNOLDS, SIR JOSHUA
1723–1792
Born at Plympton, Devonshire, Reynolds served a brief
apprenticeship under Thomas Hudson in London before
launching his career as a portrait painter in Plymouth.
Between 1749 and 1752 he was in Italy, where the study
of ancient art and the Italian masters profoundly
affected his style. Soon after his return he became the
most fashionable portraitist in London. Reynolds was a
prolific painter whose variety of approach was envied by
his rival, Thomas Gainsborough. As the first President
of the Royal Academy, Reynolds delivered a series of
“Discourses” that were highly influential in shaping
British aesthetic theory. He was a close friend of some
of the leading personalities of his time, including Dr.
Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, and Garrick.
Works in the Collection:
General John Burgoyne
Lady Skipwith
Lady Taylor
ROMNEY, GEORGE
1734–1802
Largely self-taught, Romney practiced in London after
traveling to Paris and Italy. Although he never joined
the Royal Academy, he became one of the most fashionable
portraitists of his time. Romney's ambitions to be a
history painter, evident in his many drawings, were
never realized in his painted work.
Works in the Collection:
Miss Mary Finch-Hatton
Lady Hamilton as ‘Nature’
Miss Frances Mary Harford
Charlotte, Lady Milnes
Countess of Warwick and Her
Children
ROUSSEAU, PIERRE-ÉTIENNE-THÉODORE
1812–1867
Rousseau was born and trained in Paris, where he studied
first with Charles Rémond, then with Guillon Lethière.
At an early age he began working from nature, inspired
by the Dutch seventeenth-century landscapes he saw in
the Louvre. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1831, but
he had little success with his non-Academic landscapes
until 1849, when he won a first-class medal. After the
Revolution of 1848, Rousseau settled in the village of
Barbizon with Millet, Daubigny, and others of the group
that came to be known as the Barbizon School.
Works in the Collection:
The
Village of Becquigny
RUISDAEL, JACOB VAN
1628/29–1682
Born in Haarlem, where he had an early exposure to
painting through his father’s art dealing and framing
business, Ruisdael entered the painters’ guild there in
1648, presumably after studying with his uncle Salomon
van Ruysdael. By 1657 he was living in Amsterdam, where
he seems to have spent the rest of his life. His many
paintings, drawings, and etchings are devoted entirely
to landscape. Ruisdael depicted a broad range of
scenery, from the flat, watery landscape around Haarlem
to thickly wooded mountains and forests.
Works in the Collection:
Landscape with a Footbridge
Quay at Amsterdam
STUART, GILBERT
1755–1828
Stuart was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and
received his first training in Newport with the Scottish
painter Cosmo Alexander. He accompanied Alexander to
Scotland, but after his teacher’s death in 1772 he
returned to America. In 1775 Stuart moved to London,
where soon afterward he entered the studio of his
compatriot Benjamin West. Back in America in the early
1790s, Stuart became the leading portraitist of his day
in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Works in the Collection:
George Washington
TIEPOLO, GIOVANNI BATTISTA
1696–1770
Tiepolo's brilliant talents, especially as a decorator
of palaces, villas, and churches, won him fame far
beyond his native Venice; already by the age of thirty
he was referred to as “celebre Pittor.” Tiepolo worked
for patrons not only throughout North Italy but also in
Würzburg and Madrid. A prolific artist, he painted —
both in oils and in fresco — religious, historical, and
mythological subjects.
Works in the Collection:
Perseus and Andromeda
TITIAN (TIZIANO VECELLIO)
1477/90–1576
Titian was born in the Alpine town of Pieve di Cadore;
the date of his birth is uncertain. He succeeded
Giovanni Bellini, under whom he had studied, as painter
to the Republic of Venice, and he included among his
many illustrious patrons the emperor Charles V, Charles’
son Philip II of Spain, and Pope Paul III. He died in
Venice in the great plague of 1576. After Giorgione’s
death in 1510, Titian was considered the greatest
painter of his day in Venice.
Works in the Collection:
Pietro Aretino
Portrait of a Man in a Red Cap
TURNER, JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM
1775–1851
Turner entered the Royal Academy Schools at the age of
fourteen and began his career painting watercolor. His
first employment was as a topographical draftsman, in
which capacity he traveled around England in the early
1790s. In 1796 he exhibited his first oil painting, and
by 1799 he was an associate member of the Royal Academy.
He became a full Academician in 1802. Influenced by
Reynolds and the eighteenth-century landscapist Richard
Wilson, Turner intended to unite landscape with the
noble genre of history painting. He traveled extensively
in England and on the Continent and made innumerable
sketches, many of which he used as the basis for
paintings and prints. Turner’s style changed
considerably over his long career, but, while his late
works demonstrate the increasing dominance of abstract
pictorial qualities, he never abandoned his interest in
subject matter. His pictures have a poetic depth that is
unsurpassed in British landscape painting.
Works in the Collection:
Antwerp: Van Goyen Looking
Out for a Subject
Cologne: The Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening
Fishing Boats Entering Calais
Harbor
The
Harbor of Dieppe
Mortlake Terrace: Early Summer Morning
VELÁZQUEZ,
DIEGO
RODRÍGUEZ
DE SILVA Y
1599–1660
Born in Seville, the son of a lawyer of Portuguese
descent, Velázquez was apprenticed at the age of eleven
to the painter Francisco Pacheco. In 1623 he was called
to Madrid, where he soon painted his first portrait of
King Philip IV. Velázquez became not only court painter,
but also a close friend of the King, who ennobled him
and made him a knight of the Military Order of Santiago
and a gentleman in waiting. His work undoubtedly
profited from study of the royal collection, which was
rich in works of the Venetians, and he probably also was
influenced by Rubens during the latter’s visit to Madrid
in 1628–29. Apart from sojourns in Italy in 1629–31 and
1649–51, Velázquez remained at the Spanish court until
his death.
Works in the Collection:
King Philip IV of Spain
VENEZIANO, PAOLO AND GIOVANNI
Paolo
active 1321–1358; Giovanni 14th century
Paolo Veneziano is considered the leading figure of
Venetian trecento painting. Among his most
important works is the painted cover for the Pala d’Oro
in S. Marco, Venice (signed with his sons Luca and
Giovanni and dated 1345). The 1358 Coronation of the
Virgin in The Frick Collection is Paolo’s last dated
work. In addition to his brother Marco and his sons Luca
and Giovanni, several other artists were trained in his
influential workshop.
Works in the Collection:
The
Coronation of the Virgin
VERMEER, JOHANNES
1632–1675
Vermeer was born in Delft and apparently spent his whole
life there. Although nothing is known of his early years
and training, he was influenced by the Caravaggesque
painters of Utrecht and Carel Fabritius, who may have
been his teacher. In 1653 he became a member of the
Guild of St. Luke in Delft. Vermeer did not paint many
pictures and sold very few, although he commanded high
prices. He may have supplemented his income by art
dealing. In 1696, two decades after his death, his widow
sold twenty-one of his works. Only about thirty-five
paintings are now accepted as being by Vermeer.
Works in the Collection:
Girl Interrupted at Her Music
Mistress and Maid
Officer and Laughing Girl
VERONESE, PAOLO (PAOLO CALIARI)
c.
1528–1588
Paolo Caliari was called Il Veronese after his
birthplace, Verona. By 1553 he was painting in Venice at
the Palazzo Ducale. Thereafter, apart from trips to
Mantua and Rome during the 1550s and 1560s, he worked in
Venice and in neighboring towns. Veronese painted
monumental religious, mythological, and allegorical
works as well as portraits and magnificent decorations
for the villas of patrician families.
Works in the Collection:
Allegory of Virtue and Vice (The Choice of Hercules)
Allegory of Wisdom and Strength
WATTEAU, JEAN-ANTOINE
1684–1721
Born at Valenciennes, Watteau, who early displayed an
interest in drawing, left for Paris to study art in
1702. After a harsh struggle to survive, he won
recognition in 1709, when he garnered second prize in a
student competition at the Academy. Three years later he
was invited to join the Academy, and success followed
swiftly. His patrons, who came from diverse levels of
society, included dealers, antiquaries, and such
connoisseurs as the great collector Pierre Crozat. Long
frail of health, Watteau died from tuberculosis soon
after a visit to London, at the age of thirty-seven.
Works in the Collection:
The
Portal of Valenciennes
WHISTLER, JAMES McNEILL
1834–1903
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Whistler spent part of
his childhood and most of his mature life in Europe.
After three years at the West Point Military Academy, he
went in 1855 to Paris, where he worked for two years in
Gleyre’s studio and later became an associate of
Fantin-Latour, Legros, and Courbet. He exhibited in the
Salon des Refusés in 1863, and throughout his career he
associated with his more experimental contemporaries.
Whistler’s colorful personality and advanced style of
painting involved him in many lively controversies.
Works in the Collection:
Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de
Montesquiou-Fezensac
Miss Rosa Corder
Mrs. Frederick R. Leyland
Lady Meux
The
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