paintings, watercolors, drawings
Thomas Lawrence was a prominent English painter, celebrated for his mastery in portraiture, who made a significant mark in the world of art and culture during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Born in Bristol in 1769, Lawrence was a child prodigy, supporting his family through his artistic talents from a young age. His journey took him to Bath and eventually to London, where he swiftly established himself as a leading portrait artist, capturing the likenesses of society's most influential figures.
Thomas Lawrence's work is renowned for its elegance, capturing the essence and personality of his subjects with remarkable finesse. His ability to portray the delicate nuances of expression and character made his portraits highly sought after by the aristocracy and royalty alike. His commissions included portraits of King George III, Queen Charlotte, and the Prince Regent, as well as numerous other figures from the British and European nobility. Among his notable works are the portraits of Elizabeth Farren, soon to be the Countess of Derby, characterized by its vibrant expression and elegance, and the depiction of actress Sarah Siddons' daughters, which underscored his personal entanglements and the emotional depth he could convey through his art.
Despite his success, Thomas Lawrence's life was not without its challenges. He was perpetually in debt, a situation that puzzled his contemporaries given his tireless work ethic and the absence of any overt extravagance in his lifestyle. Furthermore, his romantic life was complicated, marked by his unfulfilled love for the Siddons sisters, which added a layer of personal tragedy to his story.
Thomas Lawrence's contributions to art were recognized by his election as a full member of the Royal Academy in 1794, and he later served as its president. His legacy is preserved in galleries and collections worldwide, including the National Gallery in London, which houses several of his masterpieces. His portraits of abolitionists and slave-owners alike reflect the complex social fabric of his time, offering a window into the era's cultural and historical context.
For collectors and experts in art and antiques, Thomas Lawrence's works represent not just aesthetic achievements but also valuable historical documents that capture the essence of an era. His portraits are a testament to the power of art to convey both the external likeness and the inner soul of the subject.
For those interested in the intersection of art, history, and culture, and who wish to stay informed about new discoveries, sales, and auction events related to Thomas Lawrence's work, signing up for updates is an invaluable resource. This ensures that enthusiasts and collectors alike remain at the forefront of developments in the world of art and antiques related to this illustrious painter.
John Constable was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home — now known as "Constable Country" — which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".
Gerard ter Borch was one of the leading masters of Dutch genre painting of the Golden Age. His realistic aesthetic was developed by the Delft masters Pieter de Hooch and Jan Vermeer.
Roelant Savery was a Flanders-born Dutch Golden Age painter.
Savery primarily painted landscapes in the Flemish tradition of Gillis van Coninxloo, often embellished with many meticulously painted animals and plants, regularly with a mythological or biblical theme as background. He also painted multiple flower still lifes; bouquets in stone niches, sometimes with lizards such as Flowers with Two Lizards, insects or fallen petals and regarded as his best work.
His unique style of painting, related to the then reigning Mannerism, has been highly popular with collectors and can be found in many museums in Europe and North America. His preparatory drawings are also valued highly.
Jacob Adriaensz Backer was a prolific artist of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his dynamic portraits, religious subjects, and mythological scenes. Over a span of twenty years, Backer produced approximately 140 paintings, standing out for his quick execution and attention to detail. His ability to capture intricate details like cuffs, fur, and collars within a short period was renowned, exemplifying the Dutch wet-on-wet painting technique's success during his era.
Influenced by notable figures such as Wybrand de Geest, Peter Paul Rubens, and Abraham Bloemaert, Backer was also celebrated for his drawings of nudes, showcasing his versatile skill set. His works were a testament to the baroque movement, characterized by vivid expression and intricate detail. Notable among his works are portraits that convey the subject's essence with exceptional clarity and depth, earning him a distinguished place among his contemporaries in Amsterdam.
Despite his significant contributions to Dutch art, Backer led a life focused solely on his art, never marrying or purchasing a home, possibly sharing his living quarters with relatives. He was deeply embedded in the artistic milieu of Amsterdam, having been one of the most independent pupils of Rembrandt between 1632 and 1634, absorbing and reflecting the master's style in his works.
For collectors and experts in art and antiques, Jacob Adriaensz Backer's work offers an insight into the Dutch Golden Age's rich cultural and artistic landscape. His legacy continues to be celebrated in major museums and collections worldwide, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Museum in Warsaw, where his influence on portrait and genre painting remains undisputed.
To stay updated on exhibitions, sales, and auctions related to Jacob Adriaensz Backer, subscribing to newsletters from reputable art galleries and auction houses is advisable. This ensures you receive timely information on opportunities to engage with the works of this masterful Dutch Golden Age painter.
Benvenuto di Giovanni di Meo del Guasta, an Italian painter hailing from Siena, was recognized for his compelling panel paintings, frescoes, and manuscripts produced over a span of 43 years, during the Renaissance period. Born around 1436, his work life was largely based in Siena, where he was first documented as a young artist in 1453. His teacher was likely Vecchietta, with whom he collaborated on fresco decoration in Siena's baptistry. Di Giovanni married Jacopa di Tommaso da Cetona in 1466, which marked the beginning of a productive period that saw the creation of notable works such as the Annunciation and Saints (1466) and the Nativity (1470).
Benvenuto di Giovanni's style was characterized by its noble, classical forms and bright, intensely lit, glassy consistency, influenced by his interaction with North Italian miniaturists like Liberale da Verona and Girolamo da Cremona. His works, such as the triptych from Montepertuso (1475), the Borghesi altarpiece, and the triptych in the National Gallery, London (1479), stand as masterpieces of his sharply defined and surreal world. In the later years of his career, di Giovanni was commissioned for floor designs in the Siena cathedral and miniatures for its choir books, showing a style that occasionally simplified due to collaboration with his son, Girolamo di Benvenuto, but remained distinctively his.
Significant works by Benvenuto di Giovanni include "The Adoration of the Magi" and "The Crucifixion," both showcasing his mastery in perspective and religious narrative. For collectors and experts in art and antiques interested in the evocative and historically rich works of the Renaissance, Benvenuto di Giovanni's oeuvre offers a captivating exploration of 15th-century Sienese artistry.
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Aert de Gelder was a Dutch painter. He was the only Dutch artist to paint in the tradition of Rembrandt's late style into the 18th century.
As author of biblical scenes and portraits his style was inspired by Rembrandt's, using his artistic ideas, well into the 18th century, without being influenced by contemporary new fashions. From the artistic point of view his work can not be considered as passive imitation of the master; indeed, it stands for inventiveness in the narrative, taste for the theatrical and a strong emotional charge of the characters. All these traits made him one of the most important interpreters of Dutch painting of the late seventeenth century.
Ludolf Bakhuizen was a Dutch painter of the 17th and early 18th centuries. He is known as an outstanding master of seascapes. Bakhuizen also painted biblical themes and portraits of his contemporaries as well as engravings and miniature models of ships.
Ludolf Bakhuizen is considered one of the best marine painters of the Golden Age of Dutch painting. Among the admirers of his work were many influential European rulers, including the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. The master met Peter I, who visited Amsterdam in the mid-1690s and, according to contemporaries, even managed to give some painting lessons to the Russian tsar. In addition, Вakhuizen made models of all kinds of ship designs on commission from Peter the Great.
Toward the end of his life, the Amsterdam authorities honored Bakhuizen by opening his own gallery on the top floor of the City Hall for his achievements in the fine arts. The best masterpieces of his work are now preserved in museums in the Netherlands, Germany, England, France, and Italy.
Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt was a Dutch portrait painter of the Golden Age.
Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt studied painting in Utrecht and soon became a recognized master of portraiture. He also painted on historical and mythological subjects.
Jan Fyt (March 15, 1611 – September 11, 1661) was a prominent Flemish painter and engraver of the Baroque period, celebrated for his refined still lifes and animal depictions. Born in Antwerp to a wealthy merchant family, Fyt began his artistic training in 1621 under Hans van den Bergh. He later apprenticed with Frans Snyders, a leading master of still life and animal paintings, working in his workshop until 1631. In 1630, Fyt became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.
Between 1633 and 1640, Fyt traveled extensively across Europe, visiting cities such as Paris, Rome, and Venice. In Rome, he joined the Bentvueghels, a society of Northern European artists, where he was nicknamed "Goudvink" (Bullfinch). During his time in Venice, he received commissions from noble families like the Sagredo and Contarini.
Upon returning to Antwerp in 1641, Fyt established his own workshop, producing numerous works that catered to the tastes of aristocratic patrons. His paintings are distinguished by their vibrant palettes, dynamic compositions, and meticulous rendering of textures, particularly the fur and feathers of animals. Contemporaries highly valued his hunting still lifes, as well as his portrayals of flowers and fruits.
On March 22, 1654, Fyt married Françoise van de Sande, with whom he had four children. In 1650, he joined the Antwerp "Sodaliteit der Bejaerde Jongmans" (Sodality of Elder Bachelors), a fraternity that required members to have visited Rome. By 1652, he was elected dean of this guild.
Fyt's artistic legacy comprises approximately 280 paintings, many of which are signed and dated. His works are housed in major museums worldwide, including the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Louvre in Paris, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. In addition to painting, Fyt was an accomplished engraver, creating etchings that featured animals and birds.
Jan Fyt passed away on September 11, 1661, in his native Antwerp, leaving an indelible mark on Flemish painting and influencing subsequent generations of artists.
Philippe de Momper the Elder was a Flemish landscape painter and a member of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp.
Philippe was born into the famous family of landscape painters and engravers Momper of Bruges, who settled in Antwerp in the 16th century. His father was the famous landscape painter Joos de Momper (1564-1635). Together with Jan Brueghel the Younger, he traveled in Italy and created several views of Rome and its environs. As a pupil of his father, Philippe painted in a similar style, but contributed his own touches as well. Philippe de Mompera's paintings of winter landscapes, river valleys with deer and groups of walking people are also known.
Adriaen van Ostade was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing everyday life of ordinary men and women.
Leonard Bramer, Leonaert Bramer or Leendert Bramer, war a Dutch painter best known for his genre, religious, and historical paintings.
Adriaen Brouwer was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century. Brouwer was an important innovator of genre painting through his vivid depictions of peasants, soldiers and other "lower class" individuals engaged in drinking, smoking, card or dice playing, fighting, music making etc. in taverns or rural settings. Brouwer contributed to the development of the genre of tronies, i.e. head or facial studies, which investigate varieties of expression. In his final year he produced a few landscapes of a tragic intensity. Brouwer's work had an important influence on the next generation of Flemish and Dutch genre painters. Although Brouwer produced only a small body of work, Dutch masters Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt collected it.
Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer was a Franco-Flemish painter who specialised in flower pieces. He was attached to the Gobelins tapestry workshops and the Beauvais tapestry workshops, too, where he produced cartoons of fruit and flowers for the tapestry-weavers, and at Beauvais was one of three painters who collaborated to produce cartoons for the suite The Emperor of China.
Quiringh van Brekelenkam or Quiringh Gerritsz. van Brekelenkam was a Dutch genre painter of the Golden Age.
He is known for his Baroque genre scenes of everyday life.
Joachim Patinir (Dutch. Patinier, Patenier) was a Flemish painter, one of the founders of European landscape painting.
Bartholomeus Breenbergh was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italian and Italianate landscapes, in Rome (1619-1630) and Amsterdam (1630-1657).
Maria Anna Angelica Kauffmann was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, Kauffmann was a skilled portraitist, landscape and decoration painter. She was, along with Mary Moser, one of two female painters among the founding members of the Royal Academy in London in 1768.
Edwaert Collier or Evert Colye was a Dutch painter of the Golden Age.
He became known for his vanitas still lifes and trompe-l'oeil paintings.