CASTIGLIONE, Giovanni Benedetto
Italian Baroque Era Painter, ca.1609-1664
Painter, printmaker and draughtsman. Most of his works are scenes of the journeys of the patriarchs (e.g. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), drawn from the book of Genesis and filled with animals and still-life detail. His oeuvre also, however, includes many spectacular mythological and religious compositions set in expansive landscapes, and for these he found inspiration in Classical mythology, ancient history, Aesop's Fables, 16th-century Italian literature and the lives of the saints. Early biographers claim that he was also a prolific portrait painter, but few examples, save the so-called portrait of Gianlorenzo Bernini (c. 1648-50; Genoa, Pal. Bianco), have been conclusively identified. His surviving subjects reveal his interest in magic and metamorphosis and in philosophical questions such as the frailty of human life, the inevitability of death and the search for truth.
Related Paintings of CASTIGLIONE, Giovanni Benedetto :. | Entrada dos Animais na Arca de Noe | Christ Chasing the Moneylenders from the Temple f | Adoration of the Shepherds (mk05) | Fable of Diogenes | Embrace the glory of the Son and Our Lady of Angels | Related Artists: GIUNTA PISANOItalian painter, Pisan school (active c. 1229-c. 1254 in Pisa).
Blarenberghe was the name of a dynasty of painters, originally from French Flanders but the most famous descendants lived in Lille and Paris in France. They were all descendants from Joris van Blarenberghe (1612-1670).
The first two painters were Hendrick van Blarenberghe (1646-1712) and his son Jacques-Guillaume van Blarenberghe (1679-1742). Their style was still heavily influenced by the Flemish Baroque style. Jacques-Guillaume had two painting sons, Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe (15 July 1716 - 1 May 1794) and Henri Desire van Blarenberghe (1734-1812).
Louis-Nicolas had a son who was also a painter and with who he often collaborated: Henri-Joseph van Blarenberghe (24 November 1750 - 1 December 1826). Together with his father, they stayed at the Palace of Versailles, where they worked as miniaturists for the high society of their day. They were especially famous for their paintings on snuff boxes. Louis-Nicolas also worked as official campaign painter of the French court, following the French army as a war reporter. Two of his daughters, Catherine-Henriette and Isabelle, were chamber maids to the children of the French kings. The works of Louis-Nicolas and Henri-Joseph were collected in profusion in the 19th century by the Rothschild family. There is a collection of their work on public display at Waddesdon Manor.
Henri-Joseph painted, besides the miniatures, mainly Panoramic paintings, often in gouache. The subjects were, as with his father, often military, and also included the French revolution. Margaret CollyerBritish, -1910
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