1528-after1587 was a Flemish Renaissance painter. She is the earliest female Flemish painter for whom there is verifiable extant work. As with many Renaissance female painters, she was the daughter of a painter, Jan Sanders van Hemessen (c. 1500-after 1563), who was likely her teacher. She went on to create portraits of wealthy men and women often posed against a dark background. Included in her body of work is a self-portrait done in Basel. She has inscribed the painting with the year, 1548, and her age, 20 years. Her success is marked by her good standing in the Guild of St. Luke and her eventual position as teacher to three male students. Van Hemessen gained an important patron in the 1540s, Maria of Austria, who served as regent of the Low Countries for her brother Charles V. In 1554, she married Christian (or Christien) de Morien, an organist at the Antwerp Cathedral, which was at that time an important post. In 1556, when Maria resigned her post and returned to Spain, Caterina and her husband also moved, on invitation of her patron, to Spain. And two years later, when Maria died, Caterina was given a sizeable pension for life. Caterina and her husband returned to Antwerp. She was mentioned in Guicciardini's Description of the Low Countries of 1567 as one of the living women artists. She died after 1587. She mainly created portraits characterized by realism. The sitters, often seated, were usually seen against a dark or neutral ground. This type of framing and setting made for an intimate portrait. There are no extant works from after 1554, which has led some historians to believe her artistic career might have ended after her marriage. Van Hemessen is often given the distinction of creating the first self-portrait of an artist, of either gender, depicted seated at an easel.   Related Paintings of Catharina Van Hemessen :. | Whoop | Samson and Delilah | landskap | Valeton portrait | My Wee White Rose |
Related Artists:
George Romney
1734-1802 George Romney Galleries By 1757 he was becoming well-known as a portraitist. He fell ill during his apprenticeship and was nursed back to health by Mary Abbott, daughter of his landlady. In 1762, by which time he was married with two children, he went to London, and saw early success with a painting, The Death of General Wolfe which won a prize from the Royal Society of Arts. Romney soon had a thriving portrait business in Long Acre. Despite his great success George Romney was never invited to join the Royal Academy nor did he ever apply to join. While there has been much speculation about his relationship with the Academy there is no doubt that he normally remained aloof maintaining that a good artist should succeed without being a member. His own career certainly supported this belief and it was only towards the end of his life that he expressed the slightest regret for his views Portrait of Miss Juliana Willoughby, 1781-83 (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) Emma Hamilton as a bacchante by George Romney, 1785In 1773 he travelled to Italy with fellow artist Ozias Humphrey to study art in Rome and Parma, returning to London in 1775 to resume business, this time in Cavendish Square (in a house formerly owned by noted portraitist Francis Cotes). In 1782 he met Emma Hamilton (then called Emma Hart) who became his muse. He painted over 60 portraits of her in various poses, sometimes playing the part of historical or mythological figures. He also painted many other contemporaries, including fellow artist Mary Moser. After an absence of almost forty years, he returned to his family in Kendal in the summer of 1799. He was greeted by his loyal, devoted and unquestioning wife. George Romney is a kinsman of Mitt Romney, U.S politician.
Carnicero, Antonio
Spanish, approx. 1748-1814 Painter and draughtsman, son of Alejandro Carnicero. He arrived at the Court in Madrid with his father in 1749 and took part in the competitions held by the Real Academia de S Fernando, winning second prize in 1769 with the Coronation of Alfonso XI and Queen Mary in the Monastery of Huelgas de Burgos (Madrid, Real Acad. S Fernando, Mus.). In 1760 he won a scholarship to Rome, subsequently winning prizes from the Accademia di S Luca. On his return to Madrid in 1766 he worked as a portrait painter, producing works such as the portrait of Do?a Tomasa de Aliaga, Widow of Salcedo (Madrid, Prado). In 1788 he was elected an honorary member of S Fernando. Under the protection of the Spanish prime minister, Manuel Godoy, Prencipe de la Paz, whom he painted on several occasions , and after painting the portraits of Charles IV and Maria Luisa (both Madrid, Monasterio de la Encarnacien), he was appointed Pintor de Cemara in 1796. In 1798 he applied unsuccessfully for the post of drawing-master to the Prince of Asturias, the future Ferdinand VII, although by 1806 he was teacher of the Infante Princes. He was a refined draughtsman and prepared illustrations for the editions of Cervantes's El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha published by the Real Academia Espa?ola (Madrid, 1780; 1782). He also made the drawings for the handsome engravings (Madrid, Calcografra N.) of the Real Picadero (Royal Riding School). In addition to his portraiture, which displays a talent for realism and wit, although at times combined with slightly garish colours, Carnicero executed attractive and descriptive costumbrista paintings, depicting everyday life, popular gatherings and hunting scenes, for instance Duck Shooting on the Albufera, Valencia
William Heysham Overend
1851-1898