German-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1830-1902 Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany. His family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1833. He studied painting with the members of the D??sseldorf School in D??sseldorf, Germany from 1853 to 1857. He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting. Bierstadt began making paintings in New England and upstate New York. In 1859, he traveled westward in the company of a Land Surveyor for the U.S. government, returning with sketches that would result in numerous finished paintings. In 1863 he returned west again, in the company of the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he would later marry. He continued to visit the American West throughout his career. Though his paintings sold for princely sums, Bierstadt was not held in particularly high esteem by critics of his day. His use of uncommonly large canvases was thought to be an egotistical indulgence, as his paintings would invariably dwarf those of his contemporaries when they were displayed together. The romanticism evident in his choices of subject and in his use of light was felt to be excessive by contemporary critics. His paintings emphasized atmospheric elements like fog, clouds and mist to accentuate and complement the feel of his work. Bierstadt sometimes changed details of the landscape to inspire awe. The colors he used are also not always true. He painted what he believed is the way things should be: water is ultramarine, vegetation is lush and green, etc. The shift from foreground to background was very dramatic and there was almost no middle distance Nonetheless, his paintings remain popular. He was a prolific artist, having completed over 500 (possibly as many as 4000) paintings during his lifetime, most of which have survived. Many are scattered through museums around the United States. Prints are available commercially for many. Original paintings themselves do occasionally come up for sale, at ever increasing prices.  Related Paintings of Albert Bierstadt :. | A River Estuary | Indian Summer on the Hudson River | Sunset on the Mountain | Landscape, New Hampshire | Albert Bierstadt's art |
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Juan de Juanes
1523-1579 Spanish Juan de Juanes Gallery Born in Bocairent and was considered the premier painter of the Valencian school of painters, and often called "the Spanish Raphael", was born at La Font de la Figuera in the province of Valencia. He is said to have studied his art for some time in Rome, with which school his affinities are closest, but he greater part of his professional life was spent in the city of Valencia, where most of the extant examples of his work are now to be found. All relate to religious subjects, and are characterized by dignity of conception, accuracy of drawing, ruth and beauty of color, and minuteness of finish. He died at Bocairent (near X??tiva) while engaged upon an altarpiece in the church there. Since his name Macip made him sound like a laborer (macero), he adopted the name of Juanes or de Juan, and the heraldy of that family of nobility. He painted a Raphaelesqe Holy Family for the sacristy in the Cathedral of Valencia. He never painted a profane subject, and emulated Luis de Cargas and Fra Angelico de Fiesole, in never painting unless he had underwent holy communion. Painting for him was a solemn exercise, an oratory process, full of prayers and fasts. He never lacked church patronage; the archbishop of Valencia, St. Thomas of Villanova, ordered a set of cartoon panels about the Life of the Virgin to model for some tapestries. He also painted for the churches of the Jesuits, Domicans, Minims, Augustinians, Franciscans, and for the churches of San Nicol??s , Santa Cruz , Carmen Calzado, St Esteban, Corona, Temple, San Andr??s, San Bartolom?? and San Miguel de los Reyes. Among his best works is the Immaculate Conception painted for the Jesuit church, supposedly inspired by a revelation undergone by the painter's confessor, Father Martin Alberto, confesor del pintor. Macip also painted portraits. His son, Juan Vicente Joanes, imitated his style. His two daughters, Dorotea and Margarita were also painters. Him most prominent pupil was Nicolas Borras.
Perov, Vasily
Russian Painter, 1834-1882 Russian painter. Son of a public prosecutor, he studied intermittently at Arzamas from 1846 to 1849 at the Art School of Alexander Stupin (1776-1862), a classicist painter whose School was the first of its type in provincial Russia, and during the 1850s at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Sergey Zaryanko. The work of Pavel Fedotov, pictorial satire in the press and genre scenes by the Old Dutch masters and William Hogarth were the greatest formative influences on Perov. His early works, permeated by a Biedermeier romantic spirit, combine detailed brushwork with anecdotal narrative and aim at criticizing social behaviour in line with the contemporary democratic doctrines of such writers as Nikolay Chernyshevsky. Such anti-clerical pictures as the Village Sermon (1861; Moscow, Tret'yakov Gal.) are distinguished by a particular irony. As in the prose of Nikolai Leskov, which has many affinities with Perov's painting, there is a conflict between feelings of love and hatred, and between an intimate knowledge of the daily life of the people and an alienating irony. In 1862-4 Perov travelled abroad, working mainly in Paris, where he painted a series of vivid genre scenes of city life. Perov's success as a genre painter reached its peak in the latter half of the 1860s. His compositions become more laconic and expressive; overcoming an indisciplined use of colour, he achieved an impressive unity with an austere greyish-brown palette. Such works as the Drowned Girl (1867) and the Last Tavern by the City Gates
Stefano della Bella
Italian Baroque Era Printmaker, 1610-1664,was an Italian printmaker known for etchings of many subjects, including military ones. He was born at Florence, and apprenticed initially to a goldsmith, but became an engraver working under Orazio Vanni and then Cesare Dandini. He studied etching under Remigio Cantagallina, who had also been the instructor of Jacques Callot, who had lived in Florence 1612-1621, and whose prints imparted a strong influence to printmakers. The patronage of Don Lorenzo de Medici enabled della Bella to study for three years in Rome. In Rome, he created a then admired print of the cavalcade celebrating the entry of the Polish ambassador into Rome in 1633. He also created a number of prints of views of Rome. In 1642 he went to Paris, introduced by the Tuscan ambassador, Alessandro del Nero, and where he resided for seven years. Cardinal Richelieu engaged him to go to Arras and make drawings of the siege and taking of that town by the royal army. After residing a considerable time at Paris he returned to Florence, where he obtained a pension from the grand duke, whose son, Cosimo de Medici, he instructed in drawing. His productions were very numerous, amounting to over 1000 separate pieces. He is known to have illustrated some discoveries for Galileo. See entry for Hansken for his etching of the famous elephant after death. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stefano della Bella