Spanish Painter and Print engraver , 1591-1652 Information concerning the life and personality of Jusepe de Ribera is sparse. He was born the son of a shoemaker in Jetiva, Valencia Province. He appears to have gone to the city of Valencia while still a boy, but nothing is known of his possible artistic training there. As an adolescent, he traveled to Italy and spent time in Lombardy. Next he was in Parma, from which, it is said, he was driven by the contentious jealousy of local artists. He located himself in Rome until an accumulation of debts forced him to flee. Finally he settled in Naples, where in 1616 he married Caterina Azzolino, the daughter of a painter, by whom he had seven children between the years 1627 and 1636. The Academy of St. Luke in Rome elected Ribera to membership in 1625, and 6 years later the Pope conferred upon him the Order of Christ. It is understandably speculated that Ribera revisited Rome for these events. Being sought after in Naples by the Church and the various Spanish viceroys who ruled there in the name of the Spanish monarchy, he dismissed the idea of returning to his homeland. He was quoted as saying that he was honored and well paid in Naples and that Spain was a cruel stepmother to its own children and a compassionate mother to foreigners. Nevertheless, he generally added his nationality when he signed his works. This practice inspired the Italians to nickname him "the Little Spaniard" (Lo Spagnoletto). The last decade of Ribera's life was one of personal struggle. He suffered from failing health, the taunts of other artists that his fame was "extinct," and difficulty in collecting payments due him. Nevertheless, he kept it from being a tragic defeat by continuing to paint until the very year of his death in Naples. Actually, he was the victim of the local politics and finances. Naples was in the throes of a severe economic depression for which the foreign rulers, the patrons of Ribera, were naturally blamed, and the desperate citizenry was rioting in the streets. It is significant that Ribera continued to receive commissions in such a time, even if there was a dearth of payments. Ribera was inventive in subject matter, ranging through visionary spectacles, biblical themes, genre, portraits, mythological subjects, and portraits of ascetics and penitents.   Related Paintings of Jose de Ribera :. | Kopf der Maria | View near Lubni | St John the Baptist in the Desert | St Jerome and the Angel | The Holy Trinity |
Related Artists:
Sven Birger Sandzen
(5 February 1871-19 June 1954), known more commonly as Birger Sandzen, was a Swedish-American painter best known for his landscapes. He produced most of his work while working as an art professor at the Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas. Sandzen was born in Blidsberg, Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, the son of a Lutheran minister and his wife, an accomplished watercolorist. A protege of Anders Zorn, Sandzen showed an interest in art at from early age, and at the age of 10 joined Cathedral School (Katedralskolan) situated in Skara, to study art under the tutelage of Olof Erlandsson, a graduate of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. After graduating in 1890, Sandzen studied for a short time at the University of Lund before moving to Stockholm. It was his intention to enroll at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. However, the waiting list proved too long for him. Instead, he sought out and joined a group of young artists who were studying under Anders Zorn, Richard Bergh and Per Hasselberg. This group would later be known as the Artists League (Konstnärsförbundet).At the end of his studies, Zorn and Bergh recommended that Sandzen complete his painting studies in Paris. In 1894, Sandzen left Stockholm to study under Edmond Aman-Jean who introduced Sandzen to pointillism.
Mulready, William
Irish Romantic Painter, 1786-1863
kaspar kenckel
portrait of olof rudbeck the elder 1630-1720