Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614
Considered a representative of late Renaissance Spanish art, El Greco was actually born in Greece, on the island of Crete. After studying in Venice under Titian, El Greco settled in Toledo, Spain in 1577. At the time he was wildly popular, his emotionally religious paintings being just the ticket for the hometown of the Spanish Inquisition. After his death his work was largely ignored until the beginning of the 20th century; now he considered one of the inspired geniuses of Western art. His distinctive style features bold shapes and colors, with elongated and slightly distorted figures.
In Toledo El Greco was in constant demand and liked living large: he maintained a private orchestra to accompany his meals. Related Paintings of El Greco :. | the burial of count orgaz | Bust of an Apostle | Lady in a fur wrap | The Disrobing of Christ | A View of Toledo | Related Artists:
Jean Leon Gerome French
1824-1904
Jean Leon Gerome Galleries
French painter, sculptor, and teacher. Son of a goldsmith, he studied in Paris and painted melodramatic and often erotic historical and mythological compositions, excelling as a draftsman in the linear style of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. His best-known works are scenes inspired by several visits to Egypt. In his later years he produced mostly sculpture. He exerted much influence as a teacher at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; his pupils included Odilon Redon and Thomas Eakins. A staunch defender of the academic tradition, he tried in 1893 to block the government acceptance of the Impressionist works bequeathed by Gustave Caillebotte.
Peck SheldonAmerican portrait painter and artist
b.1797 d.1868
American painter. A self-taught painter, he used his family as subjects in his early works, employing dark colours against flat backgrounds. After moving to Jordan, NY, in 1828 he used brighter colours and included more detail. He continued to paint on panel, almost always making half-length portraits characterized by such features as a broad brow, a wide, intense stare from detailed eyes and the use of a decorative brushstroke
Charles Courtney Curran1861-1942
Charles Courtney Curran Gallery
Curran was born in Hartford, Kentucky in 1861 and moved to Sandusky, Ohio in 1881. He studied one year at the Cincinnati School of Design, and began a brilliant career after moving to New York City in 1882 where he enrolled in the National Academy of Design. He went on to study at the Acad??mie Julian in Paris and was a student of Benjamin Constant, Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and Henri Lucien Doucet. Curran himself would become a teacher at the Pratt Institute, New York City, the Cooper Union and the National Academy.