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 :. | master parker and his sister, theresa | cupid as link boy | Miss Bowles | Portrait of John Murray | Simplicity Dawson |
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Aleksander Orlowski
Aleksander Orłowski Aleksander Orłowski (March 9, 1777 - March 13, 1832) was a Polish painter and sketch maker, pioneer of lithography in the Russian Empire. Orłowski was born in 1777 in Warsaw to a tavern-keeper. In his early childhood he became known as a prodigy and soon Izabela Czartoryska financed his first classes of painting with the notable artist Jan Piotr Norblin. In 1793 Orłowski joined the Polish Army and fought in the Kościuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia and Prussia, but was wounded and returned to Warsaw for further studies, financed by Prince Jezef Poniatowski. He studied with many notable painters of the epoch, among them Norblin, Marcello Bacciarelli and Wincenty Lesserowicz. In 1802, after the Partitions of Poland, he moved to Russia, where he became one of the pioneers of lithography. Among his works are countless sketches of everyday life in Poland and Russia, as well as scenes of the Kościuszko Uprising and other Polish wars.
Testelin,Henri
French , 1616-1695 Painter, printmaker and writer, brother of Louis Testelin. As a member of the circle of Charles Le Brun, he endorsed his connection with the Academie Royale by submitting an allegorical portrait of Louis XIV in Childhood as Patron of the Arts as his morceau de reception. He was secretary of the Acad?mie from 1650 and a professor from 1656. He produced several tapestry cartoons based on designs by Le Brun for the Gobelins, including the Wedding of Louis XIV and Maria-Theresa on 9 June 1660 (before 1665) and the Founding of the Academie des Sciences and the Observatory in 1666. He was active also as a court portrait painter, exhibiting portraits of Louis XIV as Patron of the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (exh. Salon 1673; Versailles, Cheteau) and of Maria-Theresa, Queen of France . Also at the Salon of 1673 he showed a history painting,
Jean Joseph Vaudechamp
(1790 - 1866) was a French painter born in Rambervillers, Vosges. He was a pupil of Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. The market in Paris was competitive, so in the winter of 1831 - 32, he went to try his fortunes in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisiana Creole people identified with French culture and selected Vaudechamp to paint portraits for them. Over the next ten years he spent winters in New Orleans, and was a leading portrait painter in the region. He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1866.