American Colonial Era Painter, 1738-1815 John Singleton Copley (1738[1] - 1815) was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects. His paintings were innovative in their tendency to depict artifacts relating to these individuals' lives.  Related Paintings of John Singleton Copley :. | Jonathan Jackson | Captain Sir Edward Berry | The Death of Major Peirson,6 January 1781 | Mrs Richard Skinner | Portrait of Nathaniel Sparhawk od Kittery Point, Maine, son-in-law of Sir William Pepperrell. Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachuset |
Related Artists:
Peter Johannes Brandl
Petr Brandl (Peter Johannes Brandl or Jan Petr Brandl) (October 24, 1668 - September 24, 1735) was a painter of the late Baroque, famous in his time but - due to isolation behind the Iron Curtain - rather forgotten until recently. He was of German-speaking Austrian descent in the bilingual kingdom of Bohemia. His mother was from Czech peasant family, that lived in Přestanice (a village in Bohemia, now part of Hlavnovice). According to the Grove Dictionary of Art and other sources, Brandl was born into a craftsmanes family (his father seems to have been a goldsmith) and apprenticed around 1683 - 1688 to Kristien Schröder (1655 - 1702). Brandl employed strong chiaroscuro, areas of heavy impasto and very plastic as well as dramatic figures. The major art museum in Prague, called the National Gallery, has an entire hall devoted to the artist's works, including the wonderful "Bust of an Apostle" from some time before 1725.
Machuca, Pedro
Spanish, approx. 1490-1550 Spanish painter and architect. The form of his signature (Petrus Machuca, Hispanus. Toletanus ...) on his earliest known work, the Virgin of Succour (1517; Madrid, Prado), suggests he was active at an early age in Italy. On the basis of the style of that work, a number of frescoes in the Vatican have been attributed to him, including Isaiah Blessing Jacob. Other works from the same period that have been attributed to him include a copy (Paris, Louvre) of the destroyed Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci and two paintings of the Virgin and Child
William Barak
Australian Aboriginal, ca.1824-1903 was the last traditional ngurungaeta (elder) of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, based around the area of present-day Melbourne, Australia. He became an influential spokesman for Aboriginal social justice and an important informant on Wurundjeri cultural lore. Barak was born in the early 1820s at Brushy Creek near present-day Croydon, in the country of the Wurundjeri people. His mother, Tooterrie, came from the Nourailum bulluk at Murchison, Victoria. His father, Bebejern, was an important member of the Wurundjeri clan. Beruk was said to have been present when John Batman met with the tribal elders to 'purchase' the Melbourne area in 1835. Before he died he described witnessing the signing of the treaty in a ceremony he called a tanderem. Ninggalobin, Poleorong and Billibellary were the leading song makers and principal Wurundjeri leaders in the Melbourne region. European colonisation had caused disruptions to initiation ceremonies. In response these three men gathered at South Yarra in the late 1830s and inducted the young William Barak into Aboriginal lore. This entailed formally presenting Barak with the symbols of manhood: strips of possumskin tied around his biceps; the gombert around his neck; given his ilbi-jerri, a sharp and narrow bone or nose-peg; and his branjep, the apron worn by men to cover their genitals. At the end of the ceremony Barack presented his uncle, Billibellary, a possumskin cloak. Beruk attended the government's Yarra Mission School from 1837 to 1839. When he joined the Native Mounted Police in 1844, he was given the name of William Barak. He was Police Trooper No.19. In early 1863, Barak moved to Coranderrk Station, near Healesville, Victoria with about thirty others. Upon the death of Simon Wonga in 1875, Barak became the Ngurungaeta of the clan. He worked tirelessly for his people and was a successful negotiator on their behalf. He was a highly respected man and leader, with standing amongst the Indigenous people and the European settlers. Figures in possum-skin cloaks, 1898 by William Barak.Barak is now best remembered for his artworks, which show both traditional Indigenous life and encounters with Europeans. Most of Barak's drawings were completed at Coranderrk during the 1880s and 1890s. They are now highly prized and exhibited in leading public galleries in Australia. His work is on permanent display in the National Gallery of Victoria Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square, Melbourne. Ceremony (1895) is housed at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. Barak died at Coranderrk in 1903 and is buried at the Coranderrk cemetery.