John Closterman (1660-1711) (also spelled Cloosterman, Klosterman), portrait-painter, born in Osnabruck, the son of an artist, who taught him the rudiments of design. In 1679 he went to Paris, accompanied by his countryman Tiburen, and there worked under Francois de Troy. In 1681 he came to England, and painted draperies for John Riley, at whose death, in 1691, Closterman finished several of his portraits. This recommended him to the Duke of Somerset, but he lost his favour on account of a dispute about a picture of Guercino, specially acquired for his grace, and which was afterwards purchased by Lord Halifax. In 1696 he was invited to the court of Spain, and executed the portraits of the king and queen; he also went to Italy twice, and made several acquisitions of works of art. On returning to England he obtained considerable employment, and married an Englishwoman. He buried his wife, Hannah, on 27 January 1702. According to Arnold Houbraken, he later took a mistress, who then ruined him by her extravagant habits, and ultimately left him in a state of dejection of body and mind that led to his ultimate decline. Jacob Campo Weyerman, who took much of his biographical material from Houbraken, states "Closterman had taken a beautiful mistress who, while he was away in the country, robbed him of his valuables and disappeared, actions which drove the painter into madness". He died in 1711, and was buried in Covent Garden churchyard.  Related Paintings of John Closterman :. | The Ghent Altarpiece: Singing Angels | Bathing Women | Mystische Verlobung der Hl. Katharina und die Hll. Leopold und Wilhelm | Portrait of Anne of Cleves, | Portrait of Victoria of the United Kingdom |
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FRANCIA, Francesco
Italian High Renaissance Painter, 1450-1517 He turned to painting c. 1485, and his first works already testify to the considerable technical accomplishment and gentle religious sensibility that remained constants of his art. His major surviving paintings are altarpieces, mostly images of the Virgin and saints, initially done for Bologna and later for nearby centres, notably Parma, Modena, Ferrara and Lucca. He also painted many small-scale devotional works and a few portraits. The apochryphal anecdote reported by Vasari that Francia died on seeing Raphael's altarpiece of St Cecilia
Jan Stanislawski
(June 24, 1860, Olshana near Korsun - January 6, 1907, Krakew) was a Polish modernist painter, art professor, originator and member of various art groups and societies. Initially, he studied mathematics at Warsaw University (1879 - 1882), and subsequently at the Imperial Technical Institute in St Petersburg. He began to learn painting in the so called Drawing Class (which later gave rise to the School of Fine Arts) in Warsaw under Wojciech Gerson. In 1883, he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Krakew. In 1885, he continued his studies in Paris under Charles Emile Auguste Durand. While based in Paris, he travelled much, visiting Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and also Ukraine. His early works were exhibited at the inauguration of the Salon du Champ-de-Mars in Paris in 1890 and at the Friends of the Arts Society in Krakew in 1892. In the 1890s, he travelled extensively and his sketchbooks filled up with drawings from Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Krakew, and various places in Ukraine. Together with Julian Fałat, he painted the landscape parts of Napoleones Army Crossing the Berezina, a panorama by Wojciech Kossak. In 1897, he initiated and helped organise the Separate Exhibition of Pictures and Sculptures at Krakewes Cloth Hall. That year, he become a teacher of landscape painting at the School of Fine Arts in Krakew, and in 1906 - after the school was upgraded to an academy in 1900 - was granted full professorship and also taught at Teodor Axentowiczes Private School of Painting and Drawing for Women and at Teofila Certowiczes Art School for Women in Krakew. He co-founded the "Sztuka" ("Art") Society of Polish Artists in Krakew in 1897. Later he became Deputy Chairman and finally Chairman of that society, and showed his works at numerous exhibitions organised by it. In 1898, he became a member of the Viennese Secession, and his works were exhibited among theirs in 1901, 1902 and 1905. In 1901, he became a founding member of the Polish Applied Arts Society. He worked in the Wawel Castle Reconstruction Committee and was involved in the activities of the Green Balloon (Zielony Balonik) Cabaret. After his death, two exhibitions were opened at the Palace of Art in Krakew in November 1907, one to show 154 of his oil paintings, as well as drawings and watercolours, and the other to present the works of his numerous outstanding students.
Ralph Curtis
(1854-1922 ) - Watercolours