1702-1785 Italian Pietro Longhi Galleries Pietro Longhi was born in Venice in the parish of Saint Maria, first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and his wife, Antonia. He adopted the Longhi last name when he began to paint. He was initially taught by the Veronese painter Antonio Balestra, who then recommended the young painter to apprentice with the Bolognese Giuseppe Maria Crespi, who was highly regarded in his day for both religious and genre painting. He was married in 1732 to Caterina Maria Rizzi. Among his early paintings are some altarpieces and religious themes. In 1734, he completed frescoes in the walls and ceiling of the hall in Ca' Sagredo, representing the Death of the giants. Henceforward, his work would lead him to be viewed in the future as the Venetian William Hogarth, painting subjects and events of everyday life in Venice. The gallant interior scenes reflect the 18th century's turn towards the private and the bourgeois. Many of his paintings show Venetians at play, such as the depiction of the crowd of genteel citizens awkwardly gawking at a freakish Indian rhinoceros (see image). This painting chronicles Clara the rhinoceros brought to Europe in 1741 by a Dutch sea captain and impresario from Leyden, Douvemont van der Meer. This rhinoceros was exhibited in Venice in 1751. There are two versions of this painting, nearly identical except for the unmasked portraits of two men in Ca' Rezzonico version. Ultimately, there may be a punning joke to the painting, since the young man on the left holds aloft the sawed off horn (metaphor for cuckoldry) of the animal. Perhaps this explains the difference between the unchaperoned women. Other paintings chronicle the daily activities such as the gambling parlors (Riddoti) that proliferated in the 18th century. In some, the insecure or naive posture and circumstance, the puppet-like delicacy of the persons, seem to suggest a satirical perspective of the artists toward his subjects. Nearly half of the figures in his genre paintings are faceless, hidden behind Venetian Carnival masks. Like Crespi before him, Longhi was commissioned to paint seven canvases documenting the seven Catholic sacraments. Longhi is well-known as a draughtsman, whose drawings were often done for their own sake, rather than as studies for paintings. Pietro's son, Alessandro, was also an accomplished painter. A paraphrase of Bernard Berenson states that "Longhi painted for the Venetians passionate about painting, their daily lives, in all dailiness, domesticity, and quotidian mundane-ness. In the scenes regarding the hairdo and the apparel of the lady, we find the subject of gossip of the inopportune barber, chattering of the maid; in the school of dance, the amiable sound of violins. It is not tragic... but upholds a deep respect of customs, of great refinement, with an omnipresent good humor distinguishes the paintings of the Longhi from those of Hogarth, at times pitiless and loaded with omens of change".  Related Paintings of Pietro Longhi :. | The Spice-vendor s shop | Portrait of Francesco Guardi | Masks in the Foyer | Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice (nn03) | Die Schule der Arbeit |
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BONFIGLI, Benedetto
Italian painter, Umbrian school (b. ca. 1420, Perugia, d. 1496, Perugia) Benedetto Bonfigli (c. 1420?CJuly 8, 1496) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento born in Perugia, and active around Umbria. He is also known as Buonfiglio. He was the teacher of the painter Pietro Perugino. His earliest work was an ' Annunciation,' originally in the Orfanelli at Perugia. His masterpiece is a series of frescoes in the Palazzo del Consiglio in the same city, which represent the Lives of St. Louis of Toulouse and St. Herculanus; they were begun in 1454 and not finished in 1496, in which year Bonfigli's will is dated. An Adoration of the Magi (c. 1460) was painted for San Domenico. A Banner (gonfalone) was painted in 1465 for the brotherhood of San Bernardino, and representing the deeds of their patron saint; another Gonfalone painted for the brotherhood of San Fiorenzo in 1476, in honor of the Virgin, who had been prayed to intercede for the cessation of the plague. He painted a Virgin of Mercy' (1478) for the church of the Commenda di Santa Croce; and several others in and around Perugia. He was much influenced by Domenico Veneziano and Pietro della Francesca. He also painted frescoes of Sant Ercolano and San Ludovico (1454) for the Palazzo del Consiglio. He died in Perugia.
Phillips, Thomas
English, 1770-1845 From a respectable but impoverished family, he left school aged 13 to be apprenticed to Francis Eginton of Birmingham, a glass painter and early pioneer in reproduction by a 'photographic method'. The chiaroscuro effects of this process were a lasting influence on Phillips's style. In 1790 he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy and simultaneously assisted in Benjamin West's studio. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1794 to 1844 and was elected ARA in 1804, RA in 1808 and Professor of Painting in succession to Henry Fuseli from 1825 to 1832.
Jean Beraud
1848-1935 French Jean Beraud Galleries Berauds father (also called Jean) was a sculptor and was likely working on the site of St. Isaacs Cathedral at the time of his sons birth. Berauds mother was one Genevieve Eugenie Jacquin; following the death of Beraudes father the family moved to Paris. B??raud was in the process of being educated as a lawyer until the occupation of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. Beraud became a student of Leon Bonnat, and exhibited his paintings at the Salon for the first time in 1872, however he only gained recognition in 1876, with his On the Way Back from the Funeral. He exhibited with the Society of French Watercolorists at the 1889 Worldes Fair in Paris. He painted many scenes of Parisian daily life during the Belle epoque, in a style that stands somewhere between the academic art of the Salon and that of the Impressionists. He received the Legion d honneur in 1894. Berauds paintings often included truth based humour and mockery of late 19th century Parisian life. Along with frequent appearances of biblical characters in then contemporary situations. Paintings such as Mary Magdalene in the House of the Pharisees aroused controversy when exhibited because of these themes. Towards the end of the 19th century Beraud dedicated less time to his own painting, but worked in numerous exhibition committees including the Salon de la Societe Nationale. Beraud never married and has no children, he is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery beside his mother.