Spanish 1618-1682 Bartolome Esteban Murillo Galleries Murillo began his art studies under Juan del Castillo in Seville. Murillo became familiar with Flemish painting; the great commercial importance of Seville at the time ensured that he was also subject to influences from other regions. His first works were influenced by Zurbaran, Jusepe de Ribera and Alonso Cano, and he shared their strongly realist approach. As his painting developed, his more important works evolved towards the polished style that suited the bourgeois and aristocratic tastes of the time, demonstrated especially in his Roman Catholic religious works. In 1642, at the age of 26 he moved to Madrid, where he most likely became familiar with the work of Velazquez, and would have seen the work of Venetian and Flemish masters in the royal collections; the rich colors and softly modeled forms of his subsequent work suggest these influences. He returned to Seville in 1645. In that year, he painted thirteen canvases for the monastery of St. Francisco el Grande in Seville which gave his reputation a well-deserved boost. Following the completion of a pair of pictures for the Seville Cathedral, he began to specialise in the themes that brought him his greatest successes, the Virgin and Child, and the Immaculate Conception. After another period in Madrid, from 1658 to 1660, he returned to Seville. Here he was one of the founders of the Academia de Bellas Artes (Academy of Art), sharing its direction, in 1660, with the architect, Francisco Herrera the Younger. This was his period of greatest activity, and he received numerous important commissions, among them the altarpieces for the Augustinian monastery, the paintings for Santa Mar??a la Blanca (completed in 1665), and others.  Related Paintings of Bartolome Esteban Murillo :. | Prodigal Son | Birth of the Virgin | santa catalina cadiz | The Immaculate Conception of the Escorial | Meet the aristocratic Don Juan Pope Lane Bei Liou |
Related Artists:
Adolphe William Bouguereau
Bouguereau made more than seven hundred finished works. French painter. From 1838 to 1841 he took drawing lessons from Louis Sage, a pupil of Ingres, while attending the coll?ge at Pons. In 1841 the family moved to Bordeaux where in 1842 his father allowed him to attend the Ecole Municipale de Dessin et de Peinture part-time, under Jean-Paul Alaux. In 1844 he won the first prize for figure painting, which confirmed his desire to become a painter. As there were insufficient family funds to send him straight to Paris he painted portraits of the local gentry from 1845 to 1846 to earn money. In 1846 he enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in the studio of Francois-Edouard Picot. This was the beginning of the standard academic training of which he became so ardent a defender later in life. Such early works as Equality reveal the technical proficiency he had attained even while still training. In 1850 he was awarded one of the two Premier Grand Prix de Rome for Zenobia Discovered by Shepherds on the Bank of the River Araxes (1850; Paris, Ecole N. Sup. B.-A.). In December 1850 he left for Rome where he remained at the Villa Medici until 1854, working under Victor Schnetz and Jean Alaux (1786-1864). During this period he made an extensive study of Giotto's work at Assisi and Padua and was also impressed by the works of other Renaissance masters and by Classical art. On his return to France he exhibited the Triumph of the Martyr (1853; Luneville, Mus. Luneville; ) at the Salon of 1854. It depicted St Cecilia's body being carried to the catacombs, and its high finish, restrained colour and classical poses were to be constant features of his painting thereafter. All his works were executed in several stages involving an initial oil sketch followed by numerous pencil drawings taken from life. Though he generally restricted himself to classical, religious and genre subjects, he was commissioned by the state to paint Napoleon III Visiting the Flood Victims of Tarascon in 1856
Niccolo di Pietro Gerini
Italian Painter, active ca.1368-1415 died in Florence in 1415, earned reputation of an important Italian painter. He represents giottesque school, in the tradition of the Andrea di Orcagna (1320-1368) and of Taddeo Gaddi. His father Pietro Geri is registered as a member of Lucas Guild in 1339. Niccolo worked mainly in Florence, although he also carried out commissions in Rome (Vatican), Pisa and Prato. He was first recorded in 1368 as a member of the Arte dei Medici e Speziali in Florence but is identifiable with the Niccolo dipintore who collaborated with Jacopo di Cione on frescoes for the Guildhall of the Judges and Notaries in Florence in 1366. It is self-evident that he is the Niccolaio dipintore who worked with Jacopo di Cione on the altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin (presently in London, National Gallery) for St Pier Maggiore, Florence in 1370 and was paid 12 golden florins per disegnare la tavola dell altare in November of the same year. He designed the altarpiece and the elaborate throne canopy with his usual fine painting and detailed ornaments whilst Jacopo di Cione was depicting side saints. This altarpiece is amongst of very few largest commissioned in 14th century Florence. It was seemingly commissioned by Albizzi family. He was collaborating with Jacopo di Cione on Coronation of the Virgin (Accademia, Florence) in 1372. Offner and Steinweg suggest that he was responsible for the design and fine painting and Jacopo for the execution of saints. It was commissioned by the mint of Florence Zecca Vecchia on the same year. In 1383 Gerini again worked with Cione on a fresco of the Annunciation in the Palazzo dei Priori, Volterra. This fresco clearly shows the work of two very different artists: Niccolo di Pietro Gerini (design and very fine painting) and Jacopo di Cione (broadly painted saints and side decoration). In 1386 Niccolo frescoed the façade of the Bigallo, Florence. He also frescoed Sant Ambrogio church in Florence Gerini performed the Crocefissione of St Felicita church in Florence. His hand is clearly on sacrestia of the basilica of Saint Croce to Florence with Scenes of the life of Christ. Between 1391 and 1392 he worked in Prato where he frescoed Palazzo Datini, church of Saint Francisco with Lorenzo di Niccolo and Agnolo Gaddi. He also frescoed capitolare of the church of Saint Francisco, Pisa. Very typically for Gothic depiction Gerini figures have large chins, sloping foreheads, and sharp noses whilst their bodies are squat and frontally displaced. Another important artist Lorenzo di Niccol?? di Martino was trained in Niccol?? di Pietro Gerini workshop and later collaborated with the master but was not his son as sometimes erroneously stated. Gerini though had a son Bindo di Niccolo di Pietro Gerini, born in 1363, who is registered as member of Lucas Guild since 1408. Niccolo di Pietro Gerini works can be found in major art galleries of Rome, Vatican, Florence, London, Milan, New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, St Petersburg, Boston, Cambridge, Budapest, Birmingham, Pegalo, Prato, Pisa, Altenburg, Avignon, Denver and several other museums.
Andries van Eertvelt
1590-1652 Flemish Andries van Eertvelt Location Flemish painter. He enrolled as a member of Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1609. In 1615 he married Catherine Vlieger (d 1627), after whose death he went to Genoa, where he worked for Cornelis de Wael. By c. 1630 he was back in Antwerp, where he had his portrait painted by Anthony van Dyck (1632; Augsburg, Schaezlerpal.). In 1633 Eertvelt married Elisabeth Boots, probably a daughter of the Antwerp painter Jan Boots (b before 1620). Eertvelt is regarded as the first Flemish marine painter. Over the years his palette and style changed. His first paintings, mostly of ships in storms (e.g. Sea Battle in a Storm; Schwerin, Staatl. Mus.), were painted in greenish-black and brown tones, often using white to highlight the rigging against the dark sea. After his tour of Italy he favoured views of southern harbours, with calm seas painted in soft tones (e.g. Spanish Ships Leaving a Port; Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.). In his day Eertvelt was a man of distinction whose artistic qualities were praised by the poet Cornelis de Bie and whose marine paintings were appreciated abroad, some being exported as far as Seville and Lisbon. His pupils included Gaspard van Eyck (1613-73), Hendrik Minderhout (1632-96) and Matthieu van Plattenberg.