RA (December 23, 1769 - August 13, 1850) was a British portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy. He was born in Dublin, of an old Catholic Irish family, and his father, a merchant, regarded the profession of a painter as an unsuitable occupation for a descendant of the Shees. Martin Shee nevertheless studied art in the Dublin Society, and came to London. There, in 1788, he was introduced by William Burke to Joshua Reynolds, on whose advice he studied in the schools of the Royal Academy. In 1789 he exhibited his first two pictures, the "Head of an Old Man" and "Portrait of a Gentleman." Over the next ten years he steadily increased in practice. He was chosen an associate of the Royal Academy in 1798, in 1789 he married, and in 1800 he was elected a Royal Academician. He moved to George Romney's former house in Cavendish Square, and set up as his successor. Shee continued to paint with great readiness of hand and fertility of invention, although his portraits were eclipsed by more than one of his contemporaries, and especially by Thomas Lawrence. The earlier portraits of the artist are carefully finished, easy in action, with good drawing and excellent discrimination of character. They show an undue tendency to redness in the flesh painting defect which is still more apparent in his later works, in which the handling is less "square," crisp and forcible. In addition to his portraits he executed various subjects and historical works, such as Lavinia, Belisarius, his diploma picture "Prospero and Miranda", and the "Daughter of Jephthah." In 1805 he published a poem consisting of Rhymes on Art, and a second part followed in 1809. Lord Byron spoke well of it in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Shee published another small volume of verse in 1814, entitled The Commemoration of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and other Poems, but this was less successful. He also produced a tragedy, Alasco, set in Poland. The play was accepted at Covent Garden, but was refused a licence, on the grounds that it contained treasonable allusions, and Shee angrily resolved to make his appeal to the public. He carried out his threat in 1824, but Alasco was still on the list of unacted dramas in 1911. He also published two novels - "Oldcourt" (1829, in 3 volumes) and "Cecil Hyde" (1834).  Related Paintings of Martin Archer Shee :. | Venus and Adonis, detail AR | The Natchez | Love Scene in a park | The Vintagers | The Miracle of St Mark Freeing the Slave |
Related Artists:
Clarence a gagnon
Canadian Painter, 1881-1942 was a Quebecois painter. A native of Montreal, he studied at the Art Association of Montreal in 1897. Early in life, his mother had encouraged him to learn drawing and painting, but his father wanted him to become a businessman. Desiring to improve his knowledge about art, he went to the Academie Julian, Paris, and studied under Jean-Paul Laurens from 1904 to 1905. He then lived in Baie-Saint-Paul, where he produced many paintings depicting nature and the Canadian people. He invented a new kind of winter landscape that consisted of mountains, valleys, sharp contrasts, vivid colours, and sinuous lines. He became a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts in 1910. Gagnon took a trip to Venice, Rouen, Saint-Malo and the Laurentians to paint landscapes. He illustrated the pages of the novel Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hemon. As well, he was the illustrator for Louis-Frederic Rouquette in 1929 in the white silence. He lived in France from 1924 to 1936. Gagnon opened modernity painting within Canada. He died in 1942. One of his disciples is the painter Rene Richard.
Barend van Orley
Brussels ca 1488-1541
SANCHEZ COELLO, Alonso
Spanish Painter, ca.1531-1588 was a portrait painter of the Spanish Renaissance and one of the pioneers of the great tradition of Spanish portrait painting. Alonso Senchez Coello spent his childhood in Benifair de les Valls, until the death of his father when he was around ten years old. He was educated in Portugal at his grandfather's home. Coello's years in Portugal and his family name of Portuguese origin led to a long-standing belief that he was in fact Portuguese. His grandfather (after whom he was named) was in the service of King John III of Portugal who sent the young painter to study with Anthonis Mor (also known as Antonio Moro) in Flanders around 1550. He was under the service of Antoine de Granville, bishop of Arras, learning from Mor. While studying in Flanders, Coello also spent time copying some of Titian's works. In 1552, the painter went to Lisbon with Anthonis Mor when Charles V commissioned Mor to paint the Portuguese royal family. For a few years, Senchez Coello remained in Portugal working for the court of the heir to the throne, John, Crown Prince of Portugal. After the prince's death, Senchez Coello moved to the Spanish court of Philip II, having been recommended by the widow of John, Juana, who was the sister of the Spanish king. In 1555, S??nchez Coello was in Valladolid working for the Spanish court, and when Mor left Spain in 1561, Senchez Coello took his former master's place as Court Painter. Senchez Coello married Louisa Reyaltes in either 1560 or 1561 in Valladolid, and they had seven children. Coello's daughter, Isabel Senchez (1564-1612),