French Fauvist Painter and Sculptor, 1869-1954
Henri Matisse is considered the most important French artist of the 20th century and, along with Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential modernist painters of the last century. Matisse began studying drawing and painting in the 1890s. A student of the masters of Post-Impressionism, Matisse later made a reputation for himself as the leader of a group of painters known as Les Fauves. An ironic label given to them by a critic, the name reflected Matisse's aggressive strokes and bold use of primary colors. In 1905 Matisse gained sudden fame with three paintings, including Woman with the Hat, purchased by the wealthy American ex-patriot Gertrude Stein. Beyond painting, he worked with lithographs and sculpture, and during World War II he did a series of book designs. Later in his career he experimented with paper cutouts and designed decorations for the Dominican chapel in Vence, France. Along with Picasso, Related Paintings of Henri Matisse :. | Chat | Lying woman | Woman playing the piano and still life | Large-scale map Group | Three Sisters (mk35) | Related Artists:
Carlo BononiItalian, 1569-1632,Italian painter. He was among the last great painters of the Ferrarese school, his style uniting warm Venetian colour with the lyrical effects of light and elegant draughtsmanship of Ludovico Carracci. He was a pupil of Giuseppe Mazzuoli (c. 1536-89), but his early activity is little documented. The Martyrdom of St Paul (Pommersfelden, Schloss Weissenstein), which is indebted to Mazzuoli and combines elements of Ferrarese and Venetian traditions, may represent the earliest phase of his development. Later, through a study of the art of Ludovico Carracci, modified by a response to Dosso Dossi and to Correggio, he developed a more individual style. An altarpiece of the Virgin with SS Maurilius and George (Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.) is unanimously dated before 1600. It is probable that Bononi made study tours to Bologna, Parma, Verona and Venice. Between 1605 and 1610 he spent two years in Rome (Baruffaldi), a visit confirmed by three paintings of scenes from the Life of St Paternian in the church of S Paterniano in Fano; dated between 1610 and 1612 (Emiliani), these reflect a direct study of Caravaggio and of his early Roman followers, such as Orazio Borgianni.
William Powell Frith1819-1909 English painter. His parents were in domestic employment before taking a hotel in Harrogate in 1826. They encouraged him to become an artist, despite his own desire to be an auctioneer. While at school in Dover, Frith sketched caricatures and copies of Dutch genre scenes (Dover Mus.) that betray his disposition to narratives. His taste did not accord with the academic training he received at Henry Sass Academy in London (1835-7) and at the Royal Academy Schools (1837). Frith began his career as a portrait painter, using members of his family as models. He first exhibited at the British Institution in 1838, and during the 1840s he established himself with his entertaining historical and literary subjects in the popular tradition of C. R. Leslie, William Mulready and Sir David Wilkie. He was a member of THE CLIQUE, which included Richard Dadd, Augustus Egg, Henry O Neil and John Phillip. His friendship with Charles Dickens began with commissions for paintings of Dolly Varden (London, V&A) and Kate Nickleby (untraced) in 1842.
Neroccio di Bartolomeo1447 - 1500
was an Italian painter and sculptor of the early-Renaissance or Quattrocento period in Siena. He was a student of Vecchietta, and then he shared a workshop with Francesco di Giorgio from 1468. He painted Scenes from the life of St Benedict, now in the Uffizi, probably in collaboration with di Giorgio, and a Madonna and Child between Saint Jerome and Saint Bernard, which is in the Pinacoteca of Siena. In 1472 he painted an Assumption for the abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, and in 1475 he created a statue of Saint Catherine of Siena for the Sienese church dedicated to her. He separated from di Giorgio in 1475. In 1483, he designed the Hellespontine Sybil for the mosaic pavement of the Cathedral of Siena,