Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614 Considered a representative of late Renaissance Spanish art, El Greco was actually born in Greece, on the island of Crete. After studying in Venice under Titian, El Greco settled in Toledo, Spain in 1577. At the time he was wildly popular, his emotionally religious paintings being just the ticket for the hometown of the Spanish Inquisition. After his death his work was largely ignored until the beginning of the 20th century; now he considered one of the inspired geniuses of Western art. His distinctive style features bold shapes and colors, with elongated and slightly distorted figures. In Toledo El Greco was in constant demand and liked living large: he maintained a private orchestra to accompany his meals.  Related Paintings of El Greco :. | el espolio | Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple | The Agony in the Garden | St Louis,King of France,with a Page | St John the Baptist |
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Loo, Jacob van
Flemish Baroque Era Painter, 1614-1670 was a Dutch painter and popularized around 1650 a close-focus concert on a loggia or terrace. So Van Loo became known for his conversation groupings with a subtle color palette, and according to Arnold Houbraken famous for his nudes. He was the founder of the Van Loo family of painters. Van Loo was born in Zeeland in the Dutch Republic. His father might have been a notary, but most time he is regarded as the son of a painter, Jan van Loo, who trained him. (As part of the city archives in Sluis have been destroyed during World War II it is impossible now to make out what is true). His early influences include Thomas de Keyser and Jacob Adriaensz Backer. In 1642, Jacob moved to Amsterdam, where his contemporaries included Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Bartholomeus van der Helst. In 1643 he married the sister of the painter Martinus Lengele and had six children. They lived on Rozengracht, in the Jordaan and Eglon van der Neer became one of his pupils. In 1660, Van Loo fled the city after having fatally stabbed someone in his belly, during a fight in an inn. He was sentenced to death in absentia and was forever banned from the state of Holland. Van Loo settled in Paris, where he was admitted to the Acad??mie de peinture et de sculpture and where he died in 1670. Van Loo's work was done in the Baroque style, which had begun in Rome and which was becoming a Europe-wide phenomenon in this period. He was a major influence on Johannes Vermeer, when painting Diana and Her Companions. He painted portraits of Johan Huydecoper van Maarssenveen, his wife, his sister Leonara Huydecoper, married to Jan J.
Ghasiram Hardev Sharma
1868-1930
BACKHUYSEN, Ludolf
Dutch Baroque Era Painter, ca.1631-1708 Ludolf Backhuysen (or Bakhuizen) (Dec 28, 1630 - Nov 17, 1708) was a Dutch painter, born in Emden, Hanover. Bakhuysen started his career as a bookkeeper. He had a very nice handwriting and loved arithmetic. Working for a wealthy merchant at Amsterdam, he discovered so strong a genius for painting that he relinquished the business and devoted himself to art. He studied first under Allart van Everdingen and then under Hendrik Dubbels, two eminent masters of the time, and soon became celebrated for his sea-pieces. He was an ardent student of nature, and frequently exposed himself on the sea in an open boat in order to study the effects of storms. His compositions, which are numerous, are nearly all variations of one subject, the sea, and in a style peculiarly his own, marked by intense realism or faithful imitation of nature. In his later years Backhuysen employed his skills in etching and calligraphy. During his life Backhuysen was visited by Cosimo III de' Medici and Peter the Great. In 1699 he opened a gallery on the topfloor of the famous Amsterdam townhall. After a visit to England he died in Amsterdam on November 17, 1708.