Italian Early Renaissance Painter, 1401-1428 was the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. His frescoes are the earliest monuments of Humanism, and introduce a plasticity previously unseen in figure painting. The name Masaccio is a humorous version of Tommaso, meaning "big", "fat", "clumsy" or "messy" Tom. The name was created to distinguish him from his principal collaborator, also called Tommaso, who came to be known as Masolino ("little/delicate Tom"). Despite his brief career, he had a profound influence on other artists. He was one of the first to use scientific perspective in his painting, employing techniques such as vanishing point in art for the first time. He also moved away from the Gothic style and elaborate ornamentation of artists like Gentile da Fabriano to a more natural mode that employed perspective for greater realism. Masaccio was born to Giovanni di Mone Cassa??i and Jacopa di Martinozzo in Castel San Giovanni di Altura, now San Giovanni Valdarno (now part of the province of Arezzo, Tuscany). His father was a notary and his mother the daughter of an innkeeper of Barberino di Mugello, a town a few miles south of Florence. His family name, Cassai, comes from the trade of his grandfather Simone and granduncle Lorenzo, who were carpenters - cabinet makers ("casse", hence "cassai"). His father died in 1406, when Tommaso was only five; in that year another brother was born, called Giovanni after the dead father. He also was to become a painter, with the nickname of "Scheggia" meaning "splinter". The mother was remarried to an elderly apothecary, Tedesco, who guaranteed Masaccio and his family a comfortable childhood.  Related Paintings of MASACCIO :. | Tribute money | The Distribution of Alms and the Death of Ananias | Plate of Nativity (Berlin Tondo) sg | Madonna and child | Fresco in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence |
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Sebastian Stoskopff
Strasbourg 1597-Idstein 1657 was an Alsatian painter. He is considered one of the most important German still life painters of his time. His works, which were rediscovered after 1930, portray goblets, cups and especially glasses. The reduction to a few objects, which is characteristic of early still life painting, can again be recognized in Stoskopff's painting. His chief works hang in Strasbourg and in Saarbr??cken. Sebastian Stoskopff was born in 1597 in Strasbourg. His father was employed by the city since 1590 and acted as a mounted courier or royal escort, driving a one-horse-carriage. In 1614, Stoskopff's father asked the Strasbourg council for help for his 17-year-old son. He wanted him to be able to learn the craft of painting, since Sebastian had already been extremely talented in drawing and painting since he was 15. The council agreed to provide their support and probably sent the young artist at first to the Strasbourg painter and copper engraver, Friedrich Brentel. However, he only learned how to further refine his drawing and was not, as hoped, introduced to the art of painting. In 1615, Stoskopff's father died and his widowed mother went to the Strasbourg council once again to ask for support for training from a recognized painter. Stoskopff was then sent to Daniel Soreau, a painter who was active in Hanau. In the beginning, Soreau was not very enthusiastic, since he usually chose his apprentices from among his relatives and close friends. However, he finally complied with the request of the council and assured them that would "make an Albrecht Derer of this apprentice". There is not a single definite picture by Daniel Soreau existing. It is only possible to draw conclusions about how well the master passed on his artistic skills to his students through the works of his sons, other apprentices of his workshop and through Stoskopff's works. After Soreau's death in 1619, Stoskopff took over his workshop with the apprentices, as well as his function as the master. One of the apprentices was Joachim von Sandrart, who later became a successful painter and who wrote the first important work on the history of art in the German language: "Teutsche Academie der Bau-, Bild,- und Malerey- Kenste". This work contains descriptions of the lives of earlier and contemporary artists, including descriptions of the time in Hanau with his master, Sebastian Stoskopff. After his attempt to get permission to settle in Frankfurt failed, Stoskopff went to Paris. He stayed there from about 1622 until 1639, which can be reconstructed from indirect reports and property inventories of Parisians. His first works in larger format were also created here, such as "Summer" or "Winter" (now both in Strasbourg).
thomas malton
Thomas Malton (1748 - 7 March 1804), the younger, was an English painter of topographical and architectural views, and an engraver. J M W Turner and Thomas Girtin were amongst his pupils. He is designated the younger to differentiate him from his father Thomas Malton the elder. Malton was born in London, the son of Thomas Malton the elder, a notable architectural draughtsman and writer on geometry. He was with his father during the latter's residence in Dublin, Ireland, and then passed three years in the office of James Gandon the architect, in London. In 1774 Malton received a premium from the Society of Arts. He entered the Royal Academy and in 1782 gained a gold medal for his design for a theatre. In 1773 he sent the Academy a view of Covent Garden, and was afterwards a constant exhibitor, chiefly of views of London streets and buildings, drawn in Indian ink and tinted. In these there is little attempt at pictorial effect, but their extreme accuracy in the architectural details renders them of great interest and value as topographical records. They are enlivened with groups of figures, in which Malton is said to have been assisted by Francis Wheatley. After leaving Ireland, Malton appears to have always lived in London - with the exception of a brief stay at Bath in 1780. From 1783 to 1789 he resided in Conduit Street (London), and at an evening drawing class which he held there, received as pupils Thomas Girtin and young J M W Turner, whose father brought him to be taught perspective. Turner paid tribute to him in later life by saying My real master was Tom Malton. In 1791 Malton removed to Great Titchfield Street, and finally, in 1796, to Long Acre. He made a few of the drawings for Watts's Seats of the Nobility and Gentry published in 1779, and executed some large aquatints of buildings in both London and Bath, being one of the first to avail himself of the newly introduced art of aquatinta for the purpose of multiplying copies of his views. He also painted some scenes for Covent Garden Theatre. In 1792 Malton published the work by which he is now best known, A Picturesque Tour through the Cities of London and Westminster, illustrated with a hundred aquatint plates. Between 1798 -1800 he produced Views from Cambridge, and at the time of his death was engaged upon a similar series of views of Oxford, some of which appeared in parts in 1802, and were reissued with others in 1810. Malton died in Long Acre, London on 7 March 1804, leaving a widow and six children. His portrait, painted by Gilbert Stuart, was engraved by William Barney in 1806. A portrait of his son Charles, when a child, drawn by Sir Thomas Lawrence, was engraved by F C Lewis. Malton's brother James Malton was also a notable artist, draughtsman and engraver.
Juan de Juanes
1523-1579 Spanish Juan de Juanes Gallery Born in Bocairent and was considered the premier painter of the Valencian school of painters, and often called "the Spanish Raphael", was born at La Font de la Figuera in the province of Valencia. He is said to have studied his art for some time in Rome, with which school his affinities are closest, but he greater part of his professional life was spent in the city of Valencia, where most of the extant examples of his work are now to be found. All relate to religious subjects, and are characterized by dignity of conception, accuracy of drawing, ruth and beauty of color, and minuteness of finish. He died at Bocairent (near X??tiva) while engaged upon an altarpiece in the church there. Since his name Macip made him sound like a laborer (macero), he adopted the name of Juanes or de Juan, and the heraldy of that family of nobility. He painted a Raphaelesqe Holy Family for the sacristy in the Cathedral of Valencia. He never painted a profane subject, and emulated Luis de Cargas and Fra Angelico de Fiesole, in never painting unless he had underwent holy communion. Painting for him was a solemn exercise, an oratory process, full of prayers and fasts. He never lacked church patronage; the archbishop of Valencia, St. Thomas of Villanova, ordered a set of cartoon panels about the Life of the Virgin to model for some tapestries. He also painted for the churches of the Jesuits, Domicans, Minims, Augustinians, Franciscans, and for the churches of San Nicol??s , Santa Cruz , Carmen Calzado, St Esteban, Corona, Temple, San Andr??s, San Bartolom?? and San Miguel de los Reyes. Among his best works is the Immaculate Conception painted for the Jesuit church, supposedly inspired by a revelation undergone by the painter's confessor, Father Martin Alberto, confesor del pintor. Macip also painted portraits. His son, Juan Vicente Joanes, imitated his style. His two daughters, Dorotea and Margarita were also painters. Him most prominent pupil was Nicolas Borras.