English Romantic Painter, 1775-1851 Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 ?C 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Although Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, he is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. Turner's talent was recognised early in his life. Financial independence allowed Turner to innovate freely; his mature work is characterised by a chromatic palette and broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint. According to David Piper's The Illustrated History of Art, his later pictures were called "fantastic puzzles." However, Turner was still recognised as an artistic genius: the influential English art critic John Ruskin described Turner as the artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature." (Piper 321) Suitable vehicles for Turner's imagination were to be found in the subjects of shipwrecks, fires (such as the burning of Parliament in 1834, an event which Turner rushed to witness first-hand, and which he transcribed in a series of watercolour sketches), natural catastrophes, and natural phenomena such as sunlight, storm, rain, and fog. He was fascinated by the violent power of the sea, as seen in Dawn after the Wreck (1840) and The Slave Ship (1840). Turner placed human beings in many of his paintings to indicate his affection for humanity on the one hand (note the frequent scenes of people drinking and merry-making or working in the foreground), but its vulnerability and vulgarity amid the 'sublime' nature of the world on the other hand. 'Sublime' here means awe-inspiring, savage grandeur, a natural world unmastered by man, evidence of the power of God - a theme that artists and poets were exploring in this period. The significance of light was to Turner the emanation of God's spirit and this was why he refined the subject matter of his later paintings by leaving out solid objects and detail, concentrating on the play of light on water, the radiance of skies and fires. Although these late paintings appear to be 'impressionistic' and therefore a forerunner of the French school, Turner was striving for expression of spirituality in the world, rather than responding primarily to optical phenomena. Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway painted (1844).His early works, such as Tintern Abbey (1795), stayed true to the traditions of English landscape. However, in Hannibal Crossing the Alps (1812), an emphasis on the destructive power of nature had already come into play. His distinctive style of painting, in which he used watercolour technique with oil paints, created lightness, fluency, and ephemeral atmospheric effects. (Piper 321) One popular story about Turner, though it likely has little basis in reality, states that he even had himself "tied to the mast of a ship in order to experience the drama" of the elements during a storm at sea. In his later years he used oils ever more transparently, and turned to an evocation of almost pure light by use of shimmering colour. A prime example of his mature style can be seen in Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway, where the objects are barely recognizable. The intensity of hue and interest in evanescent light not only placed Turner's work in the vanguard of English painting, but later exerted an influence upon art in France, as well; the Impressionists, particularly Claude Monet, carefully studied his techniques.  Related Paintings of Joseph Mallord William Turner :. | Fly | Tiwoli | Hafulier | Details of Mortlake terrace:early summer morning | The Angel Standing in the Sun |
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John Brett
John Brett (1831-1902) was an artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement (although is not considered to be a Pre-Raphaelite painter himself), mainly notable for his highly detailed landscapes. Brett was born near Reigate on 8 December 1831, the son of an army vet. In 1851 he began lessons in art with James Duffield Harding, a landscape painter. He also studied with Richard Redgrave. In 1853 he entered the Royal Academy schools, but was more interested in the ideas of John Ruskin and William Holman Hunt, whom he met through his friend the poet Coventry Patmore. Inspired by Hunt's ideal of scientific landscape painting Brett visited Switzerland, where he worked on topographical landscapes and came under the further influence of John William Inchbold.
j. h. scheffel
Wismar 1690 - Västerås 1786 J.H. Scheffel kom från en borgasläkt i Wismar, en nordtysk stad som på 1600-talets införlivats med Sverige. Om Scheffels läroår vet man ingenting utöver uppgiften i en gammal biografi att han studerade till målare i Berlin, Paris och Brabant. Scheffel dök upp i Stockholm år 1723. Uppenbarligen samarbetade han först med David von Krafft. Efter dennes död 1724 grundade Scheffel, då redan fullärd porträttör, sin egen atelj??. Ett av de första uppdragen, porträttet av borgmästare Bergstedts unga dotter, ledde till ett lyckligt och av en riklig hemgift åtföljt äktenskap med fröken Bergstedt. Scheffel samlade redan tidigt kring sig en trogen kundkrets bland adeln och det förmögna borgarskapet. Han behöll sin framgångsrika position från 1720-talet till 1760-talet. Någon ledande hovmålare eller mest gynnad societetsmålare i Stockholm var Scheffel aldrig. Hans stadiga popularitet som pålitlig och kompetent porträttmålare rubbades emellertid inte av modets växlingar, ty han hade förmågan att smidigt följa de nya strömningarna utan att pruta på sin karga och förnuftiga konstnärliga egenart. Scheffels porträtt visar sällan prov på pretentiösa barockgester eller affekterad romantisk tillgjordhet. Hans personåtergivning var utfunderad och konstaterande. I hans digra produktion ingår stela rutinarbeten, men i bästa fall är hans målningar karaktärsstudier som bygger på en stark vision. Hans målningsteknik var kompetent men anspråkslös: i helheten fäster man uppmärksamhet vid mänskobilden, inte vid utförandet. När Scheffel i 75-årsåldern som pensionerad drog sig tillbaka för att tillbringa tiden med sin familj var han en rask och förmögen gammal herre. Han uppnådde den för tiden ovanligt höga åldern av 91 år, enligt dottersonen till följd av sitt glada och jämna humör, sina ordentliga levnadsvanor och en till åldern anpassad flit och motion .
POST, Frans
Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1612-1680 Painter and draughtsman, brother of Pieter Post. He was one of the first trained European landscape artists to paint in the New World. His paintings and drawings without exception depict Brazilian scenery with exotic buildings, plants, animals and natives. He probably received his early training from his father and was also influenced by his brother's early landscapes, although no works exist from this period. When Johan Maurits, Count of Nassau-Siegen went to Brazil as Governor General of the Dutch colony in the north-east in October 1636, Frans Post, together with ALBERT ECKHOUT, was among the artists and scientists on board to record various aspects of Brazilian life, landscape,