British 1723-1792 Sir Joshua Reynolds Locations Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723. As one of eleven children, and the son of the village school-master, Reynolds was restricted to a formal education provided by his father. He exhibited a natural curiosity and, as a boy, came under the influence of Zachariah Mudge, whose Platonistic philosophy stayed with him all his life. Showing an early interest in art, Reynolds was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable portrait painter Thomas Hudson, with whom he remained until 1743. From 1749 to 1752, he spent over two years in Italy, where he studied the Old Masters and acquired a taste for the "Grand Style". Unfortunately, whilst in Rome, Reynolds suffered a severe cold which left him partially deaf and, as a result, he began to carry a small ear trumpet with which he is often pictured. From 1753 until the end of his life he lived in London, his talents gaining recognition soon after his arrival in France. Reynolds worked long hours in his studio, rarely taking a holiday. He was both gregarious and keenly intellectual, with a great number of friends from London's intelligentsia, numbered amongst whom were Dr Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Giuseppe Baretti, Henry Thrale, David Garrick and fellow artist Angelica Kauffmann. Because of his popularity as a portrait painter, Reynolds enjoyed constant interaction with the wealthy and famous men and women of the day, and it was he who first brought together the famous figures of "The" Club. With his rival Thomas Gainsborough, Reynolds was the dominant English portraitist of 'the Age of Johnson'. It is said that in his long life he painted as many as three thousand portraits. In 1789 he lost the sight of his left eye, which finally forced him into retirement. In 1791 James Boswell dedicated his Life of Samuel Johnson to Reynolds. Reynolds died on 23 February 1792 in his house in Leicester Fields, London. He is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.  Related Paintings of Sir Joshua Reynolds :. | mercury as cut purse | self-portrait shading the eyes | Lady Skipwith | Portrait of Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess of Hamilton and Duchess of Argyll ) was a celebrated Irish belle and society hostess. | anne dashivood |
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Jusepe Leonardo
Spanish Baroque Era Painter , 1601-c.1652
Ludwig Knaus
German Painter, 1829-1910 was a German genre painter of the younger Desseldorf school. He was born at Wiesbaden and studied from 1845 to 1852 under Sohn and Schadow in Desseldorf. His early works, like "The Gamblers," in the Desseldorf Gallery, are in the manner of that school, being dark and heavy in color. This deficiency was remedied by study at Paris, whither he went in 1852 and enrolled as a pupil of Couture. In 1853 his "Morning after the Kermess" received the second gold Medal of the Salon and made him a celebrated painter. Except for a year's study in Italy he remained in Paris until 1860.New International Encyclopedia His chief works of this period include "The Golden Wedding," "The Baptism," and "The Promenade," purchased for the Luxembourg. From 1861 to 1866 he practiced at Berlin, producing such works as "Boys Playing Cards," "Looking for a Bride" (Wiesbaden Museum), and "His Highness on His Travels." The next eight years of his life saw the production of much of his best work, including "The Children's Festival" (Nation Gallery, Berlin), "In Great Distress," and "The Village Prince." From 1874 to 1883 he was professor at the Academy of Berlin, continuing to reside in that city until his death. Among the most importand works of his last period were: "The Holy Family" and "The Road to Ruin," both painted in 1876 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; "Behind the Curtain" (1880), Dresden Gallery; "The Rag Baby" (1880) and "A Village Festival" (1881), both in the Vanderbilt collection, Metropolitan Museum, New York; and "A Duel." During his last period Knaus also painted a series of "Idyls," with nudes in a rather classical style, of which an important example is in the Wiesbaden Museum.
Cornelius Johnson
1593-1661 British Cornelius Johnson Gallery