Fra Angelico Galleries b.c. 1400, Vicchio, Florence d.Feb. 18, 1455, Rome Fra Angelico (c. 1395 ?C February 18, 1455), born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter, referred to in Vasari's Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent". Known in Italy as il Beato Angelico, he was known to his contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (Brother John from Fiesole). In Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists, written prior to 1555, he was already known as Fra Giovanni Angelico (Brother Giovanni the Angelic One). Within his lifetime or shortly thereafter he was also called Il Beato (the Blessed), in reference to his skills in painting religious subjects. In 1982 Pope John Paul II conferred beatification, thereby making this title official. Fiesole is sometimes misinterpreted as being part of his formal name, but it was merely the name of the town where he took his vows, used by contemporaries to separate him from other Fra Giovannis. He is listed in the Roman Martyrology as Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus??"Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, nicknamed Angelico". Fra Angelico was working at a time when the style of painting was in a state of change. This process of change had begun a hundred years previous with the works of Giotto and several of his contemporaries, notably Giusto de' Menabuoi, both of whom had created their major works in Padua, although Giotto was trained in Florence by the great Gothic artist, Cimabue, and painted a fresco cycle of St Francis in the Bardi Chapel in Santa Croce. Giotto had many enthusiastic followers, who imitated his style in fresco, some of them, notably the Lorenzetti, achieving great success.  Related Paintings of Fra Angelico :. | Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian before Lisius | Abraham,Sarah,and the Angel | Annalena Altarpiece | Deposition | Hauptaltar der Heiligen Kosmas und Damian aus dem Dominikanerklosters San Marco in Florenz, Predella |
Related Artists:
Edouard Richter
French, 1844-1913
Rosa Bonheur
1822-1899 Realism,French,French painter and sculptor. She received her training from her father, Raymond Bonheur (d 1849), an artist and ardent Saint-Simonian who encouraged her artistic career and independence. Precocious and talented, she began making copies in the Louvre at the age of 14 and first exhibited at the Salon in 1841. Her sympathetic portrayal of animals was influenced by prevailing trends in natural history (e.g. Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire) and her deep affinity for animals, especially horses. Bonheur's art, as part of the Realist current that emerged in the 1840s, was grounded in direct observation of nature and meticulous draughtsmanship. She kept a small menagerie, frequented slaughterhouses and dissected animals to gain anatomical knowledge. Although painting was her primary medium, she also sculpted, or modelled, studies of animals, several of which were exhibited at the Salons, including a bronze Study for a Bull and Sheep .
Ludwig Knaus
German Painter, 1829-1910 was a German genre painter of the younger Desseldorf school. He was born at Wiesbaden and studied from 1845 to 1852 under Sohn and Schadow in Desseldorf. His early works, like "The Gamblers," in the Desseldorf Gallery, are in the manner of that school, being dark and heavy in color. This deficiency was remedied by study at Paris, whither he went in 1852 and enrolled as a pupil of Couture. In 1853 his "Morning after the Kermess" received the second gold Medal of the Salon and made him a celebrated painter. Except for a year's study in Italy he remained in Paris until 1860.New International Encyclopedia His chief works of this period include "The Golden Wedding," "The Baptism," and "The Promenade," purchased for the Luxembourg. From 1861 to 1866 he practiced at Berlin, producing such works as "Boys Playing Cards," "Looking for a Bride" (Wiesbaden Museum), and "His Highness on His Travels." The next eight years of his life saw the production of much of his best work, including "The Children's Festival" (Nation Gallery, Berlin), "In Great Distress," and "The Village Prince." From 1874 to 1883 he was professor at the Academy of Berlin, continuing to reside in that city until his death. Among the most importand works of his last period were: "The Holy Family" and "The Road to Ruin," both painted in 1876 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; "Behind the Curtain" (1880), Dresden Gallery; "The Rag Baby" (1880) and "A Village Festival" (1881), both in the Vanderbilt collection, Metropolitan Museum, New York; and "A Duel." During his last period Knaus also painted a series of "Idyls," with nudes in a rather classical style, of which an important example is in the Wiesbaden Museum.