Swiss-born French Art Nouveau Designer, 1845-1917 Born Eugene Samuel Grasset in Lausanne, Switzerland, his birth year is sometimes stated as 1841. He was raised in an artistic environment as the son of a cabinet designer maker and sculptor. He studied drawing under Francois-Louis David Bocion (1828-1890) and in 1861 went to Zurich to study architecture. After completing his education, he visited Egypt, an experience that would later be reflected in a number of his poster designs. He became an admirer of Japanese art which too influenced some of his creative designs. Between 1869 and 1870, Grasset worked as a painter and sculptor in Lausanne but moved to Paris in 1871 where he designed furniture fabrics and tapestries as well as ceramics and jewelry. His fine art decorative pieces were crafted from ivory, gold and other precious materials in unique combinations and his creations are considered a cornerstone of Art Nouveau motifs and patterns. Grasset poster for Mark Twain Joan of ArcIn 1877 Eugene Grasset turned to graphic design, producing income-generating products such as postcards and eventually postage stamps for both France and Switzerland. However, it was poster art that quickly became his forte. Some of his works became part of the Maitres de l Affiche including his lithograph, Jeanne d Arc Sarah Bernhardt. In 1890, he designed the Semeuse logo used by the dictionary publishers, Editions Larousse. With the growing popularity of French posters in the United States, Grasset was soon contacted by several American companies. In the 1880s, he did his first American commission and more success led to his cover design for the 1892 Christmas issue of Harper Magazine. In 1894 Grasset created The Wooly Horse and The Sun of Austerlitz for The Century Magazine to help advertise their serialized story on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Wooly Horse image proved so popular that Louis Comfort Tiffany recreated it in stained glass. Grasset work for U.S. institutions helped pave the way for Art Nouveau to dominate American art. At the end of the 19th century, Grasset was hired to teach design at Ecole Guerin and Ecole Estienne in Paris. Among his students were Maurice Pillard Verneuil, Augusto Giacometti, Paul Berthon and Otto Ernst Schmidt. At the Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, the G. Peignot et Fils typefoundry, introduced the Grasset typeface, an Italic design Eugene Grasset created in 1898 for use on some of his posters.  Related Paintings of Eugene Grasset :. | The Bathers | Portrait of the Poet Konstantin Balmont | Femme Jouant du piano (mk40) | Landscape with Magicians fs | Szene: Der Fruhling, Detail |
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Daniel Mijtens
(Delft, c. 1590 - The Hague, 1647/48), known in England as Daniel Mytens the Elder, was a Dutch portrait painter who spent the central years of his career working in England. He was born in Delft into a family of artists and trained in The Hague, possibly in the studio of Van Mierevelt. He was the nephew of the painter Aert Mijtens, the older brother of the painter Isaac Mijtens, and the father of the painter Daniel Mijtens the Younger. No known work survives from his first Dutch period. By 1618, he had moved to London where his initial patron was the leading art collector Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. Mijtens painted the Earl and his Countess, and was soon commissioned to paint King James I and his son Charles, Prince of Wales. In 1625 he became painter to Charles I. After the prince's accession to the throne as Charles I in 1625 Mijtens produced such a large number of full length portraits of Charles I and his courtiers, including duplicates, that it is assumed that he had workshop assistance. Two of his finest portraits are of the same man, James Hamilton later 1st Duke of Hamilton, whom he painted as a seventeen year old in 1623 and again in 1629. Mijtens made visits to the Netherlands in 1626 and 1630, perhaps to study the latest developments in his field, more particularly the works of Rubens and Van Dyck. Mijtens introduced a new naturalism into the English court portrait, but after the arrival in England of the far more distinguished Anthony Van Dyck in 1632 he was superseded as the leading court portraitist, and around 1634 he appears to have returned to the Netherlands permanently. He subsequently worked primarily as an art dealer in The Hague, acquiring works for the Earl of Arundel among others. Only four paintings survive from this final period. Some of Mijtens' works are still owned by the Royal Family. Mitjens also made copies of old portraits of royal sitters including; James IV of Scotland, his wife Margaret Tudor, and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Juan Antonio Ribera Y Fernandez
1779-1860 was a Spanish painter, born at Madrid. He first studied under Francisco Bayeu and enrolled into the Royal Academy of San Fernando, but afterwards went to Paris and become the pupil of Jacques-Louis David. There he painted his Cincinnatus which is now in the Prado Museum. In course of time he went to Rome, and in 1811 was appointed painter to Carlos IV and member of the Academy of St. Luke; and in 1820, honorary member of the Academy of San Fernando. In 1838 he was made professor, and two years afterwards Director of the Prado. He died at Madrid.
Alexander Benois
1856-1933