Dutch Baroque Era Painter, ca.1625-1679 Daily life was Jan Steen's main pictorial theme. Many of the genre scenes he portrayed are lively to the point of chaos and lustfulness, even so much that a Jan Steen household, meaning a messy scene, became a Dutch proverb (een huishouden van Jan Steen). Subtle hints in his paintings seem to suggest that Steen meant to warn the viewer rather than invite him to copy this behaviour. Many of Steen's paintings bear references to old Dutch proverbs or literature. He often used members of his family as models. Jan Steen painted also quite a few self-portraits, in which he showed no tendency of vanity. Steen did not shy from other themes: he painted historical, mythological and religious scenes, portraits, still lifes and natural scenes. His portraits of children are famous. He is also well known for his mastery of light and attention to detail, most notably in textiles. Steen was prolific, producing about 800 paintings, of which roughly 350 survive. Steen's work was valued much by contemporaries and as a result he was reasonably well paid for his work. He did not have any students, but his work proved a source of inspiration for many painters.  Related Paintings of Jan Steen :. | A young woman playing a harpsichord to a young man | Bathsheba Receiving David-s Letter | A school class with a sleeping schoolmaster, oil on panel painting by Jan Steen, 1672 | The Morning Toilet | The merry family |
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Pontormo, Jacopo
b Pontormo, nr Empoli, 26 May 1494; d Florence, 31 Dec 1556). Italian painter and draughtsman. He was the leading painter in mid-16th-century Florence and one of the most original and extraordinary of Mannerist artists. His eccentric personality, solitary and slow working habits and capricious attitude towards his patrons are described by Vasari; his own diary, which covers the years 1554-6, further reveals a character with neurotic and secretive aspects. Pontormo enjoyed the protection of the Medici family throughout his career but, unlike Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari, did not become court painter. His subjective portrait style did not lend itself to the state portrait. He produced few mythological works and after 1540 devoted himself almost exclusively to religious subjects. His drawings, mainly figure studies in red and black chalk, are among the highest expressions of the great Florentine tradition of draughtsmanship; close to 400 survive, forming arguably the most important body of drawings by a Mannerist painter. His highly personal style was much influenced by Michelangelo
Henri-Lucien Doucet
(1856-1895) was a French figure and portrait painter, born in Paris, where he studied under Lefebvre and Boulanger, and in 1880 won the Prix de Rome. His pictures are usually piquant, sparkling representations of modern life, eminently Parisian in style, but the audacious realism of his earlier work is not maintained in his later, which is somewhat characterless. His portraits in pastel are also notable. His most widely known picture is Apres le bal (After the Ball, 1889). Other excellent examples are the portraits of Celestine Galli-Marie as Carmen (1884, Marseille Museum), La princesse Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte and My Parents (1890, Lyons Museum), A Spanish Woman (Pontoise Museum), and Nude Figure (1890). He was awarded a first-class medal for pastel in 1889 and the Legion of Honour in 1891. His painting A Skating Party, of 1893, was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair or the World's Columbian Exposition, which was held from May to October 1893 in Chicago in honour of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World. Goupil made a limited edition first impression photogravure of the painting.
Ferdinand von Wright
1822-1906,Brother of Magnus von Wright and Wilhelm von Wright. He grew up under the influence of his brothers and became a skilled ornithological illustrator at a very young age. He remained in Sweden from 1837 until 1844 and worked as a draughtsman, helping his brother Wilhelm. After returning to Finland he set his sights on a career as a painter. During the second half of the 1840s he was still searching for his proper path, and he experimented with a number of subjects: birds, still-lifes, landscapes and portraits.