art history
William Shakespeare was a British poet and playwright and writer.
William's father, John Shakespeare, was a merchant and official in Stratford. There are reports that he was a sailor for a time before joining a theater company in London. Beginning in the 1590s, Shakespeare began writing plays, and in 1593 he published a poem, Venus and Adonis, which became popular. He dedicated it to the Duke of Southampton, who was a philanthropist and patron of talent, and soon his business was booming.
From 1592 to 1600 Shakespeare wrote his dramas and romantic comedies "Richard III", "The Taming of the Shrew", "Romeo and Juliet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Merchant of Venice", as well as the comedies "Much Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night" and the tragedy "Julius Caesar". The playwright's business was so successful that he even bought a large house in Stratford. In 1599, Shakespeare became one of the owners, playwright and actor of the new theater "Globe". In 1603 King James took Shakespeare's troupe under his direct patronage. In the mature period, the great playwright turned to tragedies, there were "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth" and others.
Although in the 19th century researchers had some doubts about the authorship of many of these works, William Shakespeare is considered the greatest English playwright, one of the best playwrights in the world. His plays have been translated into all major languages and to this day form the basis of the world theatrical repertoire, most of them have been screened many times. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Shakespeare remains the world's best-selling playwright, and his plays and poems have sold more than 4 billion copies in the nearly 400 years since his death.
Joachim von Sandrart was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the Teutsche Academie, published between 1675 and 1680.
Bram Bogart was a Belgian expressionist painter most closely associated with the COBRA group.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Martersteig was a German historical and genre painter and drawing teacher. From 1828 to 1834 he studied at the Dresden Academy of Art under Ludwig Richter. Afterwards he spent four years at the academy in Dusseldorf and was a pupil of Carl Ferdinand Sohn, Theodor Hildebrandt and Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow.
Friedrich Martersteig was a member and professor of the Prussian Academy of Arts.
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, (sometimes called Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann), was a French furniture designer and interior decorator, who was one of the most important figures in the Art Deco movement. His furniture featured sleek designs, expensive and exotic materials and extremely fine craftsmanship, and became a symbol of the luxury and modernity of Art Deco. It also produced a reaction from other designers and architects, such as Le Corbusier, who called for simpler, functional furniture.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish painter, renowned for his contributions to the world of art and culture. Born in Seville, Spain, in the 17th century, Murillo specialized in religious and genre painting, leaving a lasting impact on the art world.
Murillo is known for his remarkable ability to infuse his paintings with deep emotion and realism. His works often depicted scenes from everyday life, as well as religious subjects. One of his notable specialties was his exceptional skill in capturing the innocence of children in his artwork. His use of soft colors and delicate brushwork gave his paintings a unique and timeless quality.
One of Murillo's most famous works is the series of paintings known as the "Immaculate Conception." These paintings, which depict the Virgin Mary as a young girl, have been praised for their beauty and devotion. Many of his works are housed in museums and galleries around the world, attracting art enthusiasts and collectors.
For collectors and art experts, Murillo's works hold a special place in the art world, with their ability to evoke powerful emotions and capture the essence of the human experience. To stay updated on the latest news and events related to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo's paintings and exhibitions, consider subscribing to our newsletter. We'll keep you informed about new product sales and auction events featuring this exceptional artist's works. Join us in celebrating the legacy of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and his invaluable contributions to the world of art.
Bartolomeo Passerotti was an Italian painter of the mannerist period, who worked mainly in his native Bologna.
He influenced many Bolognese who would later play a role in the rise of the Baroque. Annibale Carracci (whose brother Agostino studied with Passerotti) was influenced by Passerotti's genre scenes in a select set of paintings (such as The Beaneater and The Butcher's Shop, the latter being originally attributed to Passerotti). Lucio Massari and Francesco Brizzi were among his pupils. Three of Passerotti's sons, including Ventura (1566–1618), Aurelio (1560–1609) and Tiburzio, were painters.
Arthur Hughes was an English painter and illustrator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Hans Makart was an Austrian painter of the second half of the 19th century. He became famous as a master of historical painting, still life, allegory, landscape, and portrait. Most of his paintings were painted in the academic style. Makart was also a sought-after stage decorator, costume designer, furniture and interior designer.
Hans Makart was very popular in Vienna, and his studio was a place of attraction for the cream of Vienna's society. After the artist was even named a separate style of art with its characteristic flowing forms and bright colors - "Makartstil". Makart constantly organized grand festivals in his studio, which were willingly attended by members of the imperial family. He made it ultra fashionable to have a new style of interior and soon most of the apartments of wealthy citizens of Vienna were furnished on the model of his salon.
Makart was a professor of historical painting at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and head of the Künstlerhaus, the largest exhibition complex in the Austrian capital. In 1879, on the occasion of the silver wedding of the imperial couple, Makart organized a grandiose theatrical performance, the sketches for which have survived to this day.
Hartmann Schedel was a German humanist, medical scientist, historian and chronicler.
Schedel was the first to compile a world chronicle, the so-called Visual History of the Earth from the Creation of the World to the 1490s, known as Schedelsche Weltchronik (Schedel's World Chronicle). It was published in 1493 in Nuremberg. About 600 woodcuts for this book were created by the artists and engravers Michael Wolgemuth (1434-1519) and Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). The illustrations depict biblical scenes, family trees, portraits of famous personalities, and fairy tale or legendary creatures. However, the main ones here were maps of the world, Germany and Central Europe.
Hartmann Schedel was one of the first cartographers to use machine printing. He was also a renowned collector of books, artworks and engravings by old masters.
Martin Lister was a British naturalist and physician.
It could be argued that Lister founded two fields of natural history: arachnology (the study of spiders) and conchology (the study of the shells of organisms). He wrote more than 60 articles in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, published several volumes on natural history, speculated on the mysterious nature of fossils, and was successful as a physician.
Lister employed his artist daughters to illustrate his books on insects and molluscs - the names of Susanna and Anne appear on the title pages of the volumes. The Lister family published Historiæ Conchyliorum between 1685 and 1692.
Thomas Martyn was a British botanist and priest, a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Thomas Martyn was a priest and simultaneously taught botany at Cambridge University, serving as a professor there for 63 years.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full name Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was an Austrian composer and virtuoso musician. Mozart is one of the greatest composers in music history on par with Beethoven and Haydn.
Wolfgang was born into the family of violinist and composer Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), at the age of five he had already begun composing and gave his first public performance. His older sister Maria Anna (1751-1829) was also a prodigy, and from 1763 Leopold and his children began traveling around Europe with performances.
Mozart had a phenomenal musical ear, memory and was a superb improviser. Unlike any other composer in music history, he was versatile and wrote in all musical genres of his time. During his short life, Mozart composed more than 800 works, many of which are recognized as the pinnacle of the symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral repertoire. The general public is familiar with the composer's three operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.
Society did not immediately appreciate the scale of Mozart's genius. It was only many years later that the vivid image of a prodigy, a refined salon composer who could miraculously think through an entire work in his head, gave way to the image of a serious, meticulous and brilliant creator of music.
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washington, begun in 1796, which is sometimes referred to as the Athenaeum Portrait. Stuart retained the portrait and used it to paint scores of copies that were commissioned by patrons in America and abroad. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for more than a century and on various postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century.
Stuart produced portraits of more than 1,000 people, including the first six Presidents. His work can be found today at art museums throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Frick Collection in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, the National Portrait Gallery in London, Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
