Flemish Baroque Era Painter, 1577-1640 Peter Paul Rubens (June 28, 1577 ?C May 30, 1640) was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. He is well-known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp which produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically-educated humanist scholar, art collector, and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV, king of Spain, and Charles I, king of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. His commissioned works were mostly religious subjects, "history" paintings, which included mythological subjects, and hunt scenes. He painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house. He also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the Joyous Entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. His drawings are mostly extremely forceful but not detailed; he also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. He was one of the last major artists to make consistent use of wooden panels as a support medium, even for very large works, but he used canvas as well, especially when the work needed to be sent a long distance. For altarpieces he sometimes painted on slate to reduce reflection problems. His fondness of painting full-figured women gave rise to the terms 'Rubensian' or 'Rubenesque' for plus-sized women. The term 'Rubensiaans' is also commonly used in Dutch to denote such women.  Related Paintings of Peter Paul Rubens :. | Hippoptamus and Crocodile Hunt | Girl with fan | Christ and the Penitent (mk01) | La Chasse au tigre | Perseus Freeing Andromeda |
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Homer Dodge Martin
American Barbizon School Tonalist Painter, 1836-1897, He was an American artist, particularly known for his landscapes. Martin was born at Albany, New York. A pupil for a short time of William Hart, his earlier work was closely aligned with the Hudson River School. He was elected as associate of the National Academy of Design, New York, in 1868, and a full academician in 1874. During a trip to Europe in 1876 he was captivated by the Barbizon school, and thereafter his painting style gradually became darker, moodier, and more loosely-brushed. From 1882 to 1886 he lived in France, spending much of the time in Normandy.
Aleksey Antropov
(Russian: 25 March [O.S. 14 March] 1716 - 23 June [O.S. 12 June] 1795) was a Russian barocco painter active primarily in St. Petersburg, where he was born and died. He also worked in Moscow and frescoed churches in Kiev. His preferred medium was oil, but he also painted miniatures and icons. Alexei was born to a family of government official working in Armory and in the Department of Building (kantselyatiya stroeniy). Since 1732 Alexei also working at the same department under his relative A. Matveyev, since 1739 he is a member of the painting team (zhivopisnaja komanda) of the Department under Ivan Vishnyakov. As the member of the team Alexei took part in fresoeing of Summer Palace, Winter Palace, Anichkov Palace and other buildings of Saint Petersburg. He also studied portrait art from the court painter Louis Caravaque of France. In 1749 Alexei received the rank of the Painter's apprentice (zhivopisniy podmasterye) and in the end of 1750ies the rank of the Master Painter (zhivopisniy master). In 1752-1755 he worked on the interiors of the St Andrew's Church of Kiev. He supervised the installation of the iconostasis, frescoed cupolas and walls. The most prominent of his frescoes in the church is the Last Supper in the altar. He started to paint portraits before his Kiev period. The earliest known portraits of his are portraits of Elizabeth of Russia. He did not met his model but based the paintings on the works of his teacher, Louis Caravaque. Unknown lady, 1760iesIn 1755-1757 he worked in Moscow frescoeing the Golovkin palace. Here he met prince Ivan Shuvalov who supported Antropov's works for the rest of his life. In 1757 - 1759 Antropov returned to Saint-Petersburg and learned art from court painter Pietro Rotari of Italy. Historians consider his portrait of A.M. Izmaylova to be a sort of a graduation work. The 1760ies were probably the most productive period of the artist. He painted many good portraits among the Portrait of Ataman Krasnoschekov, Portrait of Rumyantseva. Ivan Shuvalov planned to move him to Moscow, so Antropov could teach art the Moscow University. For some reason this plan was canceled and Antropov instead got the job at the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, there he supervised icon painting, decorating of the churches, drew the portraits of church hierarchs and supervised art students. Among his apprentices was Dmitry Levitzky, who actually lived in the house of his teacher. In 1762 Peter III of Russia became the new Emperor. Antropov soon became his favorite painter. For the six month of Peter III rule Antropov painted at least four of his portraits. After the palace revolt the new Emperess, Catherine II was of much lower opinion of the talents of Antropov. At that time the artists appreciated the soft combinations of colors and some sort of a fine flattering on the ceremonial portraits.
Willem Maris
Dutch Painter, 1844-1910 Brother of Jacob Maris. He received his training as a painter from his brothers, Jacob Maris and Matthijs Maris. Although he briefly attended evening classes at the Academie in The Hague and was advised by the animal painter Pieter Stortenbeker (1828-98), he was basically self-taught; he was the only self-made man in the circle of Hague school artists. In 1862 he visited Oosterbeek where he met Anton Mauve, with whom he established a long friendship. In the same year he first entered a painting, Cows on the Heath (untraced), in the Tentoonstellung van Levende Meesters in Rotterdam. The themes of cows at pasture and ducks by the side of a ditch, which characterized the Dutch polder landscape in summer, became his hallmark. In the following year he exhibited Cows by a Pool (The Hague, Gemeentemus) in The Hague; it received discouraging reviews, as did the picture entered by his brother Matthijs. Painted in 1863, this work already employs Willem main motif and shows his attention to the handling of light (with effects of haze and backlighting).