Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1577-1621
was an Italian portrait painter of the late Florentine Mannerist school. Allori was born at Florence and received his first lessons in painting from his father, Alessandro Allori, but becoming dissatisfied with the hard anatomical drawing and cold coloring of the latter, he entered the studio of Gregorio Pagani (1558-1605) who was one of the leaders of the late Florentine school, which sought to unite the rich coloring of the Venetians with the Florentine attention to drawing. Allori also appears to have worked under Cigoli. His pictures are distinguished by their close adherence to nature and the delicacy and technical perfection of their execution. His technical skill is shown by the fact that several copies he made of Correggio's works were thought to be duplicates by Correggio himself. His extreme fastidiousness limited the number of his works. Several specimens are to be seen at Florence and elsewhere. The finest of his works is his Judith with the Head of Holofernes. It exists in two copies in the Pitti Palace in Florence and in the Queen's Gallery in London. Related Paintings of Cristofano Allori :. | Judith with the Head of Holofernes | The Body of Christ with Two Angels | Isaaks Opferung | John the Baptist in the desert | John the Baptist in the desert | Related Artists:
KAUFFMANN, AngelicaSwiss Neoclassical Painter, 1741-1807
Swiss-born Italian painter. She began studying art in Italy as a child, showing great precocity, and in 1766 her friend Joshua Reynolds took her to London. There she became known for her decorative work with architects such as Robert Adam. Her pastoral compositions incorporate delicate and graceful depictions of gods and goddesses; though her paintings are Rococo in tone and approach, her figures are Neoclassical (see Classicism and Neoclassicism). Her portraits of female sitters are among her finest works.
Madeleine LemaireFrench
1845-1928
Klimt, GustavAustrian Art Nouveau Painter, 1862-1918
Artist Gustav Klimt, like composer Gustav Mahler, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and big-time thinker Sigmund Freud, was a hotshot of Vienna's glory days as it ushered in the 20th century. Influenced by Impressionism, Symbolism and Art Nouveau, Klimt founded the Vienna Secession (1898), an avant-garde art movement that included a broad base of artisans and craftsmen as well as painters. Klimt himself was known more for elaborate graphic schemes than "painterly" work -- his most famous piece, The Kiss (1908), shows his distinctive gold-encrusted decorations over a semi-realistic portrait of an embracing couple. He used the framework of myth and allegory and he painted women, in ornate portraits and erotic exposures that were scandalous by Victorian-era standards. He also had time for more than painting -- after his death he was credited with as many as 14 illegitimate children. A big influence on the decorative arts in Austria, his most famous paintings include Salome