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 :. | Home of the Rainbow, Horseshoe Falls, Niagara | Bahama Cove | Departure of an Indian War Party | Bavarian_Landscape | Indian Summer on the Hudson River |
Related Artists:
Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch Ge
painted Conscience, Judas in 1891
k. e. jansson
Karl Emanuel Jansson, född 7 juli 1846 i Finström, Åland, död 1 juni 1874 i Jomala, var en åländsk konstnär. Han var näst äldst av sju syskon. Han far, Jan Jansson, var en bonde i Pålsböle. Sina konstnärliga inspiration fick han av sockenmålaren G Kjellgren, vid sex-sju års ålder, när han där lärde sig att läsa och skriva. Efter avlutad skolgång sattes han i skomakarlära. Efter ett år drogs han till Kjellgren och fungerade som hans hjälpreda. Kyrkoherden Frans von Knorring såg i slutet av 1859 några av hans teckningar. Han sände några till Finska Konstföreningens direktion och lovordade Karl. Förening gav ett bidrag för att kunna studera vid Finska Konstföreningens ritskola i Åbo, under ledning av Robert Wilhelm Ekman. Av Ekman fick han husrum, rit- och målningsmaterial och en hel del extra undervisning. Karl gjorde stora framsteg under de 2 åren han målade med Ekman. Jansson flyttade hösten 1862 till Stockholm, för att kunna utvecklas mer som artist, och inskrevs som elev vid Kongl. Akademin för de fria konsterna. Han tog anatomiexamen 1863. Han levde under svåra ekonomiska förhållanden och hade svårt att sälja sina verk. Jansson fick hård kritik för de målningar han sände hem, exempelvis, Babian ätande en råtta, och konstföreningen betraktade dem med avsky. Han började då kritisera sig själv allt mer och mer, och den inställningen behöll han. Han fick inte den uppmärksammad han behövde. Tavlan Den förlorade sonens återkomst, belönades med ett pris. Han avslutade sin utbildning vid akademien 1867 med mycket beröm. Jansson lyckades utverka statsstöd för studier i Dusseldorf och reste dit på hösten 1868. Han åkte hem igen sommaren 1870 och tillbringade ett år på Åland innan han återvände till Dusseldorf. Han var nu märkt av en tilltagande lungsjukdom. De sista verk han fullbordade var Talmannen och En slant i håven. För att lindra sin sjukdom reste han till Rom i mars 1872. Efter några månader åkte han runt till olika kurorter (Davos, Meran) men inget förbättrade hans tillstånd. Efter en liten tid i D??sseldorf kom han hem till Åland sensommaren 1873. Karl flyttade in på Jomala gård, där lagman Lönnblad och hans fru tog hand om honom. Han målade några verk, vilka blev ofullbordade. På dödsbädden fick han veta att han belönats på världsutställningen i Wien för sina konstverk Klöveress och Talmannen, samt att han blivit medlem i konstakademin i Sankt Petersburg. Han dog 1 juni 1874, inte ens fylld 28 år.
Sir Henry Raeburn
1756-1823 Scottish Sir Henry Raeburn Galleries He was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, a former village now within the city of Edinburgh. Orphaned, he was supported by his older brother and placed in Heriot's Hospital, where he received an education. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a goldsmith, and various pieces of jewellery, mourning rings and the like, adorned with minute drawings on ivory by his hand, still exist. Soon he took to the production of carefully finished portrait miniatures; meeting with success and patronage, he extended his practice to oil painting, at which he was self-taught. The goldsmith watched the progress of his pupil with interest, and introduced him to David Martin, who bad been the favourite assistant of Allan Ramsay the Latter, and was now the leading portrait painter in Edinburgh. Raeburn was especially aided by the loan of portraits to copy. Soon he had gained sufficient skill to make him decide to devote himself exclusively to painting. In his early twenties, he was asked to paint the portrait of a young lady whom he had previously observed and admired when he was sketching from nature in the fields. She was the daughter of Peter Edgar of Bridgelands, and widow of Count Leslie. Fascinated by the handsome and intellectual young artist, she became his wife within a month, bringing him an ample fortune. The acquisition of wealth did not affect his enthusiasm or his industry, but spurred him on to acquire a thorough knowledge of his craft. It was usual for artists to visit Italy, and Raeburn set off with his wife. In London he was kindly received by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who advised him on what to study in Rome, especially recommending the works of Michelangelo. Raeburn carried with him to Italy many valuable introductions from the president of the Royal Academy. In Rome he met Gavin Hamilton, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni and Byers, an antique dealer whose advice proved particularly useful, especially the recommendation that "he should never copy an object from memory, but, from the principal figure to the minutest accessory, have it placed before him." After two years of study in Italy he returned to Edinburgh in 1787, and began a successful career as a portrait painter. In that year he executed a seated portrait of the second Lord President Dundas. Raeburn's portrait of Sir Walter Scott (1822)Examples of his earlier portraiture include a bust of Mrs Johnstone of Baldovie and a three-quarter-length of Dr James Hutton, works which, if somewhat timid and tentative in handling and not as confident as his later work, nevertheless have delicacy and character. The portraits of John Clerk, Lord Eldin, and of Principal Hill of St Andrews belong to a later period. Raeburn was fortunate in the time in which he practised portraiture. Sir Walter Scott, Hugh Blair, Henry Mackenzie, Lord Woodhouselee, William Robertson, John Home, Robert Fergusson, and Dugald Stewart were resident in Edinburgh, and were all painted by Raeburn. Mature works include his own portrait and that of the Rev. Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood, the bust of Dr Wardrop of Torbane Hill, the two full-lengths of Adam Rolland]] of Gask, the remarkable paintings of Lord Newton and Dr Alexander Adam in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of William Macdonald of St Martin's. It was commonly believed that Raeburn was less successful in painting female portraits, but the exquisite full-length of his wife, the smaller likeness of Mrs R. Scott Moncrieff in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of Mrs Robert Bell, and others, argue against this. Raeburn spent his life in Edinburgh, rarely visiting London, and then only for brief periods, thus preserving his individuality. Although he, personally, may have lost advantages resulting from closer association with the leaders of English art, and from contact with a wider public, Scottish art gained much from his disinclination to leave his native land. He became the acknowledged chief of the school which was growing up in Scotland during the earlier years of the 19th century, and his example and influence at a critical period were of major importance. So varied were his other interests that sitters used to say of him, "You would never take him for a painter till he seizes the brush and palette." In 1812 he was elected president of the Society of Artists in Edinburgh, in 1814 associate, and in the following year full member of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1822 he was knighted by George IV and appointed His Majesty's limner for Scotland. He died at Edinburgh. The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known as The Skating Minister (1790s)Raeburn had all the essential qualities of a popular and successful portrait painter. He was able to produce a telling and forcible likeness; his work is distinguished by powerful characterisation, stark realism, dramatic and unusual lighting effects, and swift and broad handling of the most resolute sort. David Wilkie recorded that, while travelling in Spain and studying the works of Diego Vel??zquez, the brushwork reminded him constantly of the "square touch" of Raeburn. Raeburn was unusual amongst many of his contemporaries, such as Reynolds, in the extent of his philosophy of painting everything directly from life. This attitude partly explains the often coarse modelling and clashing colour combinations he employed, in contrast to the more refined style of Thomas Gainsborough and Reynolds. However these qualities and those mentioned above anticipate many of the later developments in painting of the nineteenth century from romanticism to Impressionism. Sir Henry Raeburn died in St Bernard's House, Stockbridge, Edinburgh.